Santander 123 Account

Gromitt

Mickygg wrote: »

In terms of the interest on the £20k.Earlier posts mention the Interest rate is 3% on the whole £20k, but reading the 1,2,3 details is it not 0-1k 0%, 1-2k 2% then over 3k 3%?
So really you are getting 2.7% overall for £20k.
Can anyone please confirm?

If your account balance is upto £999 you get no interest.
If your account balance is between £1000 and £2999 you get 2% on the entire balance.
If your account balance is over £3000 or more you get 3% on the entire balance.

So it makes sense to keep your balance >= £3000.

LardyCake

You seem to have missed out the 1% tier

From the Santander website (123 Current Account-> Find out more)

Interest - on your current account balance:

• 1.00% AER/gross (variable) on balances from £1,000
• 2.00% AER/1.98% gross (variable) on balances from £2,000
• 3.00% AER/2.96% gross (variable) on balances from £3,000 and up to a maximum of £20,000.

adewalton

Hello,
I have just opened a 123 account for my Mum and Dad earlier this evening and have a couple of questions I was hoping you guys could help with?
They pay most of the items that are acceptable for cash back via monthly set amounts.

But....

Say gas and elec they pay a set amount each month then when bills comes in and there is a amount outstanding (which is every month) they pay that with a credit card (no charge) or via PC banking - would that still count for cash back or does it have the be paid via a monthly direct debit?

With BT they pay their line rental all up front as its cheaper and each month they get billed for their broadband and calls via direct debit - would any of that get cash back ?

With their water they pay nothing in direct debits and just get billed every six months, they pay that again via a credit card or PC banking - how can they get cash back on their water bills?

Does the account just pick up on the companies that qualify for cash back no matter how and when you pay them.

Sorry for all the questions but I need to fully understand how this works so I can inform them correctly etc.

Cheers for now.
(Amazing what you think of when you can't sleep)!!!!!!

KTF

In short, you have to use direct debits to get the cash back. From the way they make payments at the moment they may not cover the £2 monthly fee.

Ximian

You can search for the name of the provider to see if Santander will pay cashback for those Direct Debits: http://www.santander-products.co.uk/banking/calculator/cashbacksearch.html

Any payment that is made by Direct Debit and is listed/recognised by Santander should pay cashback, payments made via cheque will not earn cashback since they were not paid using Direct Debit. There is a cashback calculator which might help: http://www.santander-products.co.uk/banking/calculator/123dual.html

The 123 account is worth it for me since I have a mortgage with Santander which pays 1% cashback and even after the £2 monthly charge is taken off, I'm £24 better off per year, that's excluding any other Direct Debits such as broadband, council tax, gas and elec.
The interest rates aren't too bad either if you have over £3k in the account you get 3% interest.

adewalton wrote: »

Hello,
I have just opened a 123 account for my Mum and Dad earlier this evening and have a couple of questions I was hoping you guys could help with?
They pay most of the items that are acceptable for cash back via monthly set amounts.

But....

Say gas and elec they pay a set amount each month then when bills comes in and there is a amount outstanding (which is every month) they pay that with a credit card (no charge) or via PC banking - would that still count for cash back or does it have the be paid via a monthly direct debit?

With BT they pay their line rental all up front as its cheaper and each month they get billed for their broadband and calls via direct debit - would any of that get cash back ?

With their water they pay nothing in direct debits and just get billed every six months, they pay that again via a credit card or PC banking - how can they get cash back on their water bills?

Does the account just pick up on the companies that qualify for cash back no matter how and when you pay them.

Sorry for all the questions but I need to fully understand how this works so I can inform them correctly etc.

Cheers for now.
(Amazing what you think of when you can't sleep)!!!!!!

Vortigern

adewalton wrote: »

Say gas and elec they pay a set amount each month then when bills comes in and there is a amount outstanding (which is every month) they pay that with a credit card (no charge) or via PC banking - would that still count for cash back or does it have the be paid via a monthly direct debit?

It has to be direct debit - including the "set amount each month"

With BT they pay their line rental all up front as its cheaper and each month they get billed for their broadband and calls via direct debit - would any of that get cash back ?

They'll get cashback on their broadband and calls. I wish I could pay BT's Line Rental Advance by direct debit.

With their water they pay nothing in direct debits and just get billed every six months, they pay that again via a credit card or PC banking - how can they get cash back on their water bills?

Pay by DD!

Does the account just pick up on the companies that qualify for cash back no matter how and when you pay them.

No. You have to pay by direct debit.

Standing orders, credit cards and cheques will not get cashback on utility bills.

innovate

Vortigern wrote: »

It has to be direct debit - including the "set amount each month"

Santander won't check whether you pay the entire bill by DD - - they just simply pay you a %age of what you pay by DD.

Bronniedog

If this has been covered elsewhere, I apologise but can someone explain how the interest on the credit balance is calculated. The interest shown on the web page and printed flyers shows the interest on £3354 to be £99, at 3% this should be £100.62, not a lot more but in these times of poor interest rates, every little helps. On £20,000 the online calculator shows the interest to be £592 !!! Only 2.96%. Also when the small print says "not a calender month" but refers to a month being (quote) " between the 7th and 6th of the following month", what does this mean? Surely between the 7th and 6th of the following month is a calender month and most people and direct debits are paid on a calender month basis.

marathonic

A calendar month is generally accepted to be the 1st to the last day of the month.

Just like the Tax Year isn't a calendar year as it runs from April - April as opposed to January - December.

marathonic

For those who applied for this account, what was your first communication that your application was accepted or rejected - an email or a letter?

My application went to the underwriters last week and I've heard nothing since.