Quick question regarding Santander 123 accounts

chris9393

Now I understand if you meet the requirements of the 123 account they pay up to 3% interest monthly up to £20,000.

Does this mean if I stick £20,000 in an account and do everything to get the 3% interest will it be 3% off £20,000? Or is the 3% spread over the year.

Surely £480 a month after tax for interest is far to good to be true haha

Could someone please explain it a little better for me?

BookerTee

Lol yes it would, its 3% a year!...unfortunately

chris9393

BookerTee wrote: »

Lol yes it would, its 3% a year!...unfortunately

Haha thank you! I knew this was to good to be true

Archi_Bald

You also need to take out the £2/mth charge, unless you can make that amount from DD cashback.

BookerTee

You can get a good amount back from all of your DD's and use the credit card well to gain from that too, petrol, supermarkets etc. Its way better than anything else around at the moment.

chris9393

I'm currently with Halifax using their Ultimate Reward Account. Do you think it would be a good idea then to open up a Santander 123 account and start using that with all my main DD's so I get cash back as well as gain a nice bit of interest at the end of the year?

I've just opened a FlexDirect account today to take advantage of the 5% up to £2500 so it would be good to have a few savings accounts whilst still earning interest on my main account. i.e the Santander 123

Archi_Bald

Santander will pay you a lot more cashback on DDs than Halifax who pay you none.

However, if you only want to pay £10 for the monthly fee, you must have 2 monthly DDs going out of your URCA (and £750 going into it each month, and keep the account in credit). Otherwise they charge you £15.

BookerTee

I would have thought so, what interest do you get from your Ultimate Reward Account?

I currently have 12 different current accounts including a FlexDirect account paying a min of 3% before tax. TSB will be offering 5% on £2000 from the 30th March, indefinitely, not just for a year. This gives me space for £92,500 at 3%+ AND I could open another 123 account for additional £20k

chris9393

BookerTee wrote: »

I would have thought so, what interest do you get from your Ultimate Reward Account?

I currently have 12 different current accounts including a FlexDirect account paying a min of 3% before tax. TSB will be offering 5% on £2000 from the 30th March, indefinitely, not just for a year. This gives me space for £92,500 at 3%+ AND I could open another 123 account for additional £20k

I only receive £5 a month from Halifax which knocks the price of the Ultimate Reward Account down to £10. I don't mind paying £15 for it though as the benefits are fantastic and has actually saved me before.

I will be looking at opening 2 TSB accounts when they become available.

Now for the interest on the 123 account do I need to keep £20,000 in there for a whole year or could I just put it In then take it back out?

Archi_Bald

BookerTee wrote: »

AND I could open another 123 account for additional £20k

you are now only allowed 1 sole and 1 joint account.

chris9393 wrote: »

Now for the interest on the 123 account do I need to keep £20,000 in there for a whole year or could I just put it In then take it back out?

It is a normal current account so you have instant access.

BookerTee

The 123 account pays interest monthly based on you daily balance so you dont need to have the £20k all year. dont leave your interest in the account as anything above £20k earns no interest. I usually keep mine about £19500 to allow for the monthly payment.
I didnt check weather you could have two TSB accounts, bonus!
The only down side is shuffling all the monthly amounts through the accounts to qualify for the interest.