Santander Current Account

mpeel68

Hi,

Me again You all very kindly helped me out exactly last year and I have been enjoying the Santander Saver account with a nice bonus giving me almost 3% on my savings. Sadly that's come to an end and it seems things have changed while I've not been paying attention!

Looking at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest it says the best interest-earning account is the Santander 1-2-3 current account, good for up to 20K.

This looks great to me but I have a few questions:

1) I have more than 20K to save - how many Santander 1-2-3 accounts can I have? The interest from 20k is well worth the £24/year fee, but I'm not sure if they have rules and limits like Halifax. I live on my own and don't have any partners to share in the fun with

1b) If it's not possible to open an unlimited number of Santander accounts, where should I put the rest of my money? Are there other Current Account high-interest type wheezes?

2) Are there any rules about having a Santander 1-2-3 account - I know I have to pay £500 in per month (I thought I would have a standing order from my NatWest account for £500 into the account, and another standing order for £500 back to my NatWest account on the same day) - would this fit their definition of a "month"?

3) What about Direct Debit requirements? I know there are benefits to having direct debits on the 1-2-3 account (and I may well arrange to put some over there - why not!) but is there a requirement to have D/Ds set up.

Thanks so much for your help in getting me another year of reasonable-interest savings!!!

-MP

Archi_Bald

You are allowed 2 123 current accounts. It says so on http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1237892266671&empr=Abbeycom&launch=NO&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_ViewSelector

You don't say how much you have to save, but if more than £40K, there's Lloyds and BoS Vantage accounts....all mentioned on the forum

The Santander "month" is specific to your account(s) - it runs from account opening date rather than by calendar month.

You do need 2 Direct Debits on each 123 account (and pay in £500 a month from an external account) if you want to get interest. DDs are easy to set up: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4168667

badger09

Archi_Bald wrote: »

You don't say how much you have to save, but if more than £40K, there's Lloyds and BoS Vantage accounts....all mentioned on the forum

And Nationwide FlexDirect