Reason for DD's on Santander 123 Account ?

nearlyretired2004

Am I right in saying that a Santander 123 account can be operated as a fee-paying account WITHOUT the two DD's on it - the DD's only being required to be eligible for cashback?

Situation is that OH has opened a 123 account to be eligible for the 123 Exclusive ISA (...also now opened)

All eligible bills are paid from, and generate cashback in, my 123 account so we dont really want the extra hassle of two more direct debits to find .....

dr_adidas01

I'm sure its a requirement of the account to have at least 2 direct debits minimum on any 123 account or they can if they want to downgrade the account to a normal account.

Important information about the 123 Current Account

• To benefit from cashback on household bills and interest on your balance, just follow these steps:
  
  
• Pay a monthly account fee of £2 (which will be automatically taken from your account each month);
  
  
• Fund the account with £500 a month (a minimum balance of £1,000 is required to receive interest). This is not a calendar month, it is the month from the date you opened your account. Interest and transfers from any other Santander accounts do not count towards the monthly funding amount.
  
  
• Set up a minimum of two Direct Debits. For cashback household bills must be paid by Direct Debit to organisations within eligible categories.
  
  
• Household bills include electricity, gas, council tax, water and communications such as mobile and home phone, broadband, paid for TV packages and Santander mortgages.2 The maximum mortgage payment amounts that qualify for cashback are limited to £1,000 per month (for either single or multiple monthly Direct Debits). Mortgage cashback applies to Santander UK plc mortgages. The 1% cashback on water and council tax bills applies to rates in Northern Ireland. Household bills do not include TV licence, maintenance or insurance contracts, commercial use or commercial mortgages. Cashback paid monthly.
  
  
• Cashback can only be earned through Direct Debit payments within the categories to companies categorised as water, electricity, gas or communications suppliers or as council tax issuing institutions in the Santander 123 Current Account Eligible Originators Classification Listing ©, which contains all major providers.
  
  
• Santander has categorised all companies within eligible cashback categories as accurately as possible. Click here to check if your provider is listed as eligible for cashback.
  
  
• The monthly account fee will be taken even if you do not qualify for cashback/interest benefits in a specific month.
  
  
• Cashback is paid monthly.

grumbler

nearlyretired2004 wrote: »

...the DD's only being required to be eligible for cashback?..

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

I'm sure its a requirement of the account to have at least 2 direct debits minimum on any 123 account or they can if they want to downgrade the account to a normal account.

To benefit from cashback on household bills and interest on your balance, just follow these steps:

• ...
  
  
• Set up a minimum of two Direct Debits.

Does this really answer the OP's question?

nearlyretired2004

Thanks both, but Grumbler has picked up on exactly my point - the requirement for DD's is under the section 'To benefit from cashback ....' and doesn't APPEAR to be a specific requirement of the account itself.

dr_adidas01

No you have to have 2 minimum direct debits on the account they don't have to be for cashback. It states this in the terms and conditions of the account. So yes it does answer the OP's question GRUMBLER!!!

Set up a minimum of two Direct Debits. For cashback household bills must be paid by Direct Debit to organisations within eligible categories.

I read this as there must be 2 direct debits on the account, if you want them to be for cashback purposes then they must be from the eligible categories.

If not then they can be 2 other direct debits!!!

Gizmo247

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

No you have to have 2 minimum direct debits on the account they don't have to be for cashback. It states this in the terms and conditions of the account. So yes it does answer the OP's question GRUMBLER!!!

Set up a minimum of two Direct Debits. For cashback household bills must be paid by Direct Debit to organisations within eligible categories.

I read this as there must be 2 direct debits on the account, if you want them to be for cashback purposes then they must be from the eligible categories.

If not then they can be 2 other direct debits!!!

I agree with Grumber. 2 DDs are a requirement to enable the payment of cashback, not to open and continue to operate a 123 account.

So if you have only 1 DD that is on the Santander list for paying cashback you must add a second DD (this does not after to be on the cashback list) in order for cashback to be paid.

nearlyretired2004

...... two for my interpretation and one against!

Any more views?

innovate

2 DDs are also one of the pre-reqs to get interest. There is nothing that suggests your account would be downgraded if you didn't have the two DDs.

It's all in the T&Cs. http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223428158785&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600

innovate

nearlyretired2004 wrote: »

...... two for my interpretation and one against!

Any more views?

Surely you aren't making financial decisions based on opinions of people on a forum! As per my earlier post, read the T&Cs. They are correct, and they apply to your account(s).

macman

I had read the two DD's as a requirement to operate the account (the purpose presumably being to discourage people from simply using this as a high interest savings account, which was my motivation to open one). But the wording is ambiguous.
Assuming that you have a minimum of 4 DD's already set up on your account to get the cashbacks, why not switch 2 of them over to your OH? If necessary adjust your inter-partner domestic budgeting by setting up a standing order in her favour for the approx amount going out once a month. A bit of a palaver, but you've only got to do it once.

nearlyretired2004

OK .....just phoned Santander (cant I go back to calling them shAbbey ...??)

Initially told you need the two DD's and £500 funding to operate the account at all.

Asked her if she was sure and quoted the Ts and Cs to her and the specific sections ('Eligibility, .... To Earn cashback......') that the requirements were listed in and she changed her mind !

She then went away to check with 'the people who open the accounts' and confirmed NO NEED for the DD's if you dont need the cash back .....

Well, as thats my interpretation as well, I'll go with it ..... although another example of their 'front line staff' not knowing their products......