Santander 123 Current Account - minimum requirements to ensure interest/cashback

allycatraz

Hello Everyone,

I'm thinking of opening a Santander 123 Current Account and using it as a pure Savings Account (3% for £3k+) but I was wondering if anyone is able to clarify a few points regarding the criteria to be met to ensure you get interest each month?

1. MSE is saying that you need to "Pay In" £500 per month. To me and as per MSE that means you can pay in £500 and literally immediately withdraw it and therefore have met this criteria. However the Santander website uses the term "Fund" which in my head is different to "Pay In" or are Santander just purposefully trying to make this criteria ambiguous? Can you just pay in £500 and withdraw it immediately and meet this criteria?

2. MSE states you can/have to transfer over 2 Direct Debits and 2 Standing Orders (implying these would be ones you have already setup in a previous current account). However Santander website states you have to "setup 2 direct debits". This suggests they have to be newly created direct debits to be set up once the account is open. Is this correct or can 2 just be transferred?

3. I assume the Standing Orders don't have to be with different recipients? I have a standing order for a family member and plan to split this value into two standing orders. I assume this is OK, I can't see it mentioned on the Santander website.

Any information or others with experience on this account would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks!
Alex

BugsyBrowne

Filtering money through bank accounts is very common wether its in there for 5 mins or 5 days its still being deposited.

YorkshireBoy

1) I'd leave it in overnight personally (may be unnecessary, but I always err on the side of caution)

2) Set up 2 new DDs yourself or transfer 2 DDs from elsewhere via their switching service. It doesn't matter which. There's no mention of SOs on the Santander website.

3) See 2) above.

MissE001

You might as well transfer DDs for council tax, mobile phone, gas, electricity, TV, broadband and phone bills. They get 1%, 2% or 3% cashback - no hassles, the cashback just appears in your account the following month.....

pamthomp

I have just assisted my mother with transferring her account with Santander over to the 123 account to take advantage of the good interest rates. As my mother already has a current account elsewhere with the usual DD's we felt it might be a bit messy transferring just 2 DD's over to this account to qualify. As an alternative the adviser suggested setting up my mother's current credit card as a DD and applying for another, also setting it up as a DD. He stated that it was not essential that the cards were used so to just put them in a drawer and forget about them!

By far the best way to take advantage of this account is to transfer the DDs for your utilities and as long as the cashback equals more than the £24 per year to run this account you are quids in. I am certainly looking at it as a flexible savings account. I personally would not recommend the credit card as there is a £24 annual fee (refundable for the first year) plus the interest rate seems quite high.

Cardew

pamthomp wrote: »

I personally would not recommend the credit card as there is a £24 annual fee (refundable for the first year) plus the interest rate seems quite high.

I would think most people would be well in profit with the 123 card - as long as you pay off the card in full each month.

You get 1% cashback from most of the major supermarkets, 2% from high street stores, and 3% for petrol/diesel.

The Sainsburys petrol station near me is a mini-supermarket with goods at the same price as the main store.

Does anyone know if, say, soft drinks etc, were bought when buying petrol would the same 'code' be applied and attract a 3% cashback? Or is the scanning too sophisticated.

dtaylor84

Hmm, never thought of that!

I can't see how they could tell how much of your spend is fuel and how much is other shopping -- they just get the merchant and the total.

innovate

Cardew wrote: »

Does anyone know if, say, soft drinks etc, were bought when buying petrol would the same 'code' be applied and attract a 3% cashback? Or is the scanning too sophisticated.

Seems they can identify petrol - - - and you have a £300/mth limit, anyway

1.3.1. fuel purchases (which include petrol, diesel and LPG) made at petrol stations which are identified by Petrol Station Merchant Category Codes 5541, 9752 and 5542. Petrol stations within the Merchant Category Codes include, but are not limited to, BP, Esso, Texaco, Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's. Cashback may also apply to other supermarket petrol stations falling within the above Petrol Station Merchant Category Codes;

Source: http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&c=Page&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1237897102290&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_ViewSelector

I love my 123 current account but I have no use really for the cashback card. I buy almost no petrol, and not a lot in department stores. I already have cashback cards that only pay 0.5% cashback but I get that for all my purchases, and they don't cost £24 a year. So it's a "thanks but no thanks" from me to the 123 card.

Someone driving a lot and buying lots at the outfits where you can get 1% or 2% cashback will of course find a the card a lot more useful than I do.

dzug1

dtaylor84 wrote: »

Hmm, never thought of that!

I can't see how they could tell how much of your spend is fuel and how much is other shopping -- they just get the merchant and the total.

They can differentiate between the main supermarket and its petrol station using the Merchant Category Codes but I doubt if they can differentiate groceries bought in the petrol station from petrol bought there

Scrounger

Cardew wrote: »

Does anyone know if, say, soft drinks etc, were bought when buying petrol would the same 'code' be applied and attract a 3% cashback?

Yes, you do get 3% cashback on the total spend.
I always buy my postage stamps with 3% cashback (+ 1% Clubcard points). :beer:
Scrounger

innovate

Hmh, may be I need to get on of these cards, too, then....our local BP stocks a damn good range of wines and beers