£20k savings Santander 123?

TickersPlaysPop

You will only get the 3% if you can successfully transfer at least 2 qualifying direct debits to Santander... In my experience this can be troublesome, especially if you try to ask NPower ( the 2nd worst customer service in UK). I've been trying to move the NPower DD since April with no success. They admitted 2 errors, gave £25 compensation and still haven't transferred the DD!

So I'm losing out on a lot of cash back due to NPower.

TickersPlaysPop

At last! somebody else that has posted a concern about a deal that is too good to be risk free.... I am no financial wizz kid.... Just learn't the hard way...

My advice.... don't use the 123 Current account as your main current account. Only save money in it if you will not need access to it quickly in future...... Read on....

The deal they are offering is way above what any other banks are offering when you consider all of the account parameters, I.e. 3% on up to 20k, other banks offer 3% but no where near the 20k balance.

I was hit by the bank crash badly.... after selling my house and moving into a rented flat before the housing crash I had a lot of house equity and savings in IceSave within the FSCS limit.... So nothing to worry about no?... WRONG.... I spent mths chasing and worrying, after 3-4 mths finally got the money back with no interest. So the FSCS is great.... But don't expect your money back immediately, or think you won't need to fight for your case. Luckily I didn't need the money quickly, but it was a lesson I will never forget.

I am half expecting to not get all my money back, but greed, high risk attitude and no need to get at the 20k quickly is keeping it with Santander.

Can a financial expert please comment on the Santander situation? For years before the financial melt down we were all saying "the way bankers make money doesn't add up" .... Turned out it didn't..... paving over a lie with overly complicated hedge funds and futures should not be allowed....

Santander is surely capitalising or propping up its Spanish mother company.... It will all be fine as long as there is not another big global financial shock.... If Spain pulls out of trouble Santander will soon turn down the interest rate, or the amount of money it pays 3% on.

Peace

Archi_Bald

Get a grip, man, and stop spamming the board with the same rubbish. You made an identical post in another thread.

TickersPlaysPop

Sorry people.... Just trying to get a response from people.

Please put me right..... What did I say that is wrong?

Gromitt

TickersPlaysPop wrote: »

You will only get the 3% if you can successfully transfer at least 2 qualifying direct debits to Santander...

Wrong again. The DD's don't need to be 'qualifying' and they don't even need to pay out. In fact, they don't even need to be transferred - just need to be setup, which can easily be done within 5 days.

TickersPlaysPop

Hi Grommitt

Yes, In a very nit picking way my single statement was technically incorrect, however, in reality I was very correct.....

Please resist jumping to try and discredit me by paraphrasing and taking out of context.

The DD's in reality need to be 'qualifying' ones so you get cash back to cancel out the £2 charge per mth, if you transfer non cash back DD's you won't be getting 3% interest in real terms.

I am resiting counter parapharsing you.... So I wont claim that you are recommending people to transfer non qualifying DD's.

I came here hoping for financial enlightenment, but some people seem to enjoy pushing others down (even falsely) to make themselves look good....

Peace

Archi_Bald

TickersPlaysPop wrote: »

The DD's in reality need to be 'qualifying' ones so you get cash back to cancel out the £2 charge per mth, if you transfer non cash back DD's you won't be getting 3% interest in real terms.

You are wrong again, not least because you are confusing the qualification for the 3% AER with the absolute return you could make.

It is 100% correct that to qualify for the 3% AER, you need to

• pay the monthly account fee, currently £2
• pay in a minimum amount per month, currently £500
• have 2 DDs (qualifying or not, doesn't matter)
• and, of course, have at least £3K in the account every day

This statement is supported by the T&Cs and the Interest Rates and Fees document on the Santander website. Please read them.

The AER % you achieve is entirely unaffected by the fact that there is a £2 fee. Your actual return is, of course, affected by the fee, may or may not be affected by cashback, and is of course also subject to your tax rate.

The second point you are wrong about is that 2 qualifying DDs will cancel out the monthly fee. By what logic / magic would 2 qualifying DDs reliably produce at least £2 a month? They may, they may not. Even 1 qualifying DD might produce more than £2 cashback. However, qualifying DDs aren't required, see above.

TickersPlaysPop

Hi Archi

Thanks for taking the time to respond....

I thought the phrases "real terms" and "actual return" were the same thing?

I would advise people to only transfer money back DD's, and only the ones that give the biggest return.... It's very easy to get consistently more than £2 cash back from only 2 DD's based on UK average bills. Why would it be better to do anything else?

Many thanks

Gromitt

TickersPlaysPop wrote: »

I would advise people to only transfer money back DD's, and only the ones that give the biggest return.... It's very easy to get consistently more than £2 cash back from only 2 DD's based on UK average bills. Why would it be better to do anything else?

For a first Santander 123 account I'd agree.

For a second one, then two DDs setup to savings accounts will still give you an effective 2.8%, assuming your storing 20K in the account. (3% 'real', but you still need to pay the £24 fee, so effective depends on how much cash you have in there).

lolly5648

I would like this account for the 3% interest and need to transfer my Halifax savings somewhere. At the moment I don't have any direct debits (husband pays all bills except my credit card which I pay by bank transfer).

I could pay the cc by direct debit but what could I use for the second one? I do have a Nationwide loyalty saver. Can I set up a dd from there somehow?