Santander 123 - is it worth the hassle?

homerhotspur

I have had an RBS current account for 30+ years and never had any problem whatsoever. When the Santander takeover was announced, I wasn't too pleased but consoled myself with the thought that it should at least make it a simple process to transfer to a 123 account.

Now that the takeover has been abandoned, I still look at the 123 account and think it seems a very good idea but cannot quite bring myself to start the process of switching ,with all that entails, added to which is the Santander reputation for being not very good with such things.

With interest rates stuck at a pathetic low, I wonder if I should take the plunge and use this as a Pseudo savings account as well as current account. Do others think it is worth the hassle and I suppose there is always the strong possibility that Santander will simply cease the account or drop the interest rate to 0.1% etc.

YorkshireBoy

homerhotspur wrote: »

...cannot quite bring myself to start the process of switching ,with all that entails, added to which is the Santander reputation for being not very good with such things.

I don't think using their switching service is a requirement is it?

Switch your own DDs, then you're in control.

ic

If the account works out well for you, it would be worth the switch. The switch process is very easy - they do it for you and you just get forms ready completed to scan over, sign and return. They will contact all the companies you have direct debits with, your employer and move across standing orders. I wouldn't call it a hassle. The only thing you need to do is to make sure anybody else paying you is aware of the change of details.

Don't forget they're offering £55 cashback on Top Cashback at the moment.

YoungBaker

Not sure who has told you they arent good at switching but they did mine very quickly with abso no problems, couldnt have went smoother.

Purple_Rein

I am similar to OP - been with RBS for over 30 years and overall, generally happy with their service.
I have this week applied for additional 123 Account (with £60 bonus payment from Quidco) and have manually arranged for Direct Debit payments for Council Tax / Energy and Utilities to be paid from the new account. So far so good - have registered for online banking - this is easy to use

Also - have transferred ISA into the 3% fixed

ColdIron

I just use it as a savings and utility bills account. It's easy to set up and each of your DDs for the cashback only take a phone call each to switch. Set up 2 opposing standing orders for the £1,000 and you're done. It's not a bad idea to have 2 accounts and debit cards anyway as recent events have shown

gld73

Sounds like I'm in a similar position to many other people - happy with the current account I've had for years (HSBC in my case), but have finally given in to the temptation of the 3% interest on the 123 Account. I'm using the Santander switching service, though really I want to keep both Santander and HSBC running as current accounts, so may need to move a couple back to HSBC. I also want to keep my salary going in to HSBC (I get free travel insurance through that account, though no interest), so will set up a standing order to move half of it to Santander each month.

I'll be pretty annoyed if Santander slash the interest rate on the 123 account mind ....! (I'm already kicking myself for forgetting to use a cashback site to initiate the account opening - Doh!)

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reported - ive never read so much bs!

ColdIron

CHRISSYG wrote: »

reported - ive never read so much bs!

But since you've quoted it we still have to read after it's removed? Suggest you delete your post

innovate

if we all press the spam button in the BS post, it will be gone in no time

EDIT: Whoopey it's gone (except from CHRISSYG's post - -- may be you can edit your post to remove that idiot's BS?)

davethorp

Hassle? What hassle?

Santander do get a bad rep and whilst it may be deserving we haven't had any issues with them in nearly 1 year of having a 123 account with them. If your bills or balances mean the cashback and interest cover the £2 account fee then the account really is a no brainer and you would need to have some pretty tiny bills for you not to earn more than £2 cashback a month (we earn about £8 after the £2 fee comes off)

We also used the switching service to bring twenty odd direct debits over. All but 3 came over without issues with the 3 that didn't come over requiring some form of manual intervention to come over but the process was still relatively painless and it was a lot easier to use the switching service and manually switch 3 direct debits than it would have been to manually do the lot.