Is the Santander 123 Account Worth it?

cfw1994

Just checking companies covered on the 1-2-3 account.....Eon Energy don't appear to be there !

Why would they not include one of the top 5 energy companies ?!

Since that is a large chunk of our monthly bills, that could skew our decision!

innovate

macman wrote: »

So if you've more than £5K to save, the 123 is the one to go for.

That's not at all a logical conclusion. What would you do if you have more than £20K (which is more than £5K)?

innovate

cfw1994 wrote: »

Just checking companies covered on the 1-2-3 account.....Eon Energy don't appear to be there !

Why would they not include one of the top 5 energy companies ?!

Since that is a large chunk of our monthly bills, that could skew our decision!

Their real name is E.ON, and they are on the Santander list with that name.

macman

innovate wrote: »

That's not at all a logical conclusion. What would you do if you have more than £20K (which is more than £5K)?

Use Santander 123 for the first £20K, the the rest in other high interest accounts.

innovate

macman wrote: »

Use Santander 123 for the first £20K, the the rest in other high interest accounts.

Like Lloyds Vantage, BoS Vantage, perhaps?

matttye

RP2X wrote: »

Can you open up more then one Santander 123 account, lets say 3 of them and still get the 3% interest on them each ?

Unless you fill each account with the maximum £20k I don't think that would make a lot of sense.

Let's say you put £3k into one account and you get 2.4% interest on it after tax (not sure if this is the exact amount but just an example). Then you open another account, again put £3k into it and again get 2.4% NET interest.

You would get exact same amount of money in interest as you would if you just put £6k into one account but you would have two fees to pay.

(3000 * 0.024) + (3000 * 0.024) = 144 interest per year.
6000 * 0.024 = 144 interest per year.

You might have already realised this, just thought I'd point it out!

macman

innovate wrote: »

Like Lloyds Vantage, BoS Vantage, perhaps?

Indeed, whatever pays the higher rate and offers the highest cap. Which is clearly Santander for the initial £20K.

macman

I doubt that they'd allow you to open more than one account though, since it is (in theory at least), a current account and not a savings account. And in addition to the tripled monthly fees, you'd also have to fund an extra £1K per month, and set up 4 more DD's.

matttye

macman wrote: »

Use Santander 123 for the first £20K, the the rest in other high interest accounts.

I think it would make more sense to put £2.5k in a Nationwide FlexDirect account (5% interest) and £17.5k in a Santander account.

Not a big difference but an increased rate of interest nonetheless.

It would make sense to fill an account with a higher rate of interest but smaller cap before an account with a lower rate of interest but higher cap.

Gromitt

matttye wrote: »

It would make sense to fill an account with a higher rate of interest but smaller cap before an account with a lower rate of interest but higher cap.

Indeed, and considering the £24 fee, that means Santander is actually 2.85% (BRT), so:

Nationwide FlexDirect @ 5% - £2500
TSB @ 3% - £15000
BoS @ 3% - £15000
Santander @ 2.85% - £20000

So Santander should be the last one you apply for to use as a savings account, not the first.