Santander 123 Vs First Direct Current accounts?

Kamran

Dear all,

Back in October 2012 I switched to First Direct's current account, and have had no regrets since. I love it, very good customer service etc etc. Furthermore, I have their popular regular savings account open earning 6%.

However, having built up some savings into the account, I am looking into the best savings account and naturally came across the Santander 123 current account - sounds great.

BUT, my question is about logistics. Can I manually switch the minimum 2 direct debits over to Santander (just the ones that I would get cashback on), the lump sum of cash I wish to invest, and then pay in the minimum £500/month from FD to Santander as a standing order?

Or must it be a proper "Santander is my official new current account" and wave goodbye to FD and their 6% regular saver?

Thanks again! :T

YorkshireBoy

Kamran wrote: »

Can I manually switch the minimum 2 direct debits over to Santander (just the ones that I would get cashback on), the lump sum of cash I wish to invest, and then pay in the minimum £500/month from FD to Santander as a standing order?

Or must it be a proper "Santander is my official new current account" and wave goodbye to FD and their 6% regular saver?

Yes and no, in that order.

Kamran

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Yes and no, in that order.

Thanks. So that's good news then! I'll keep the FD as my main account, keep the salary coming into there, enjoy the regular saver account at 6%, and at the same time transfer the minimum £500/m into Santander, (along with keeping the direct debits which allow decent cashback) and enjoy the interest on lump sum savings too. Everyone's a winner.

Cheeky question - what's to say I can't set up a standing order to pay the £500/m back to FD? :rotfl:

loonytunes123

It's not cheeky, do it, it makes sense. While I'm on, if you don't already know, qualifying for Santander 123 current account gives you access to Santander money back credit card with no account fee for year 1 (normally £24). I use the credit card for petrol only, with a monthly spend of circa £200, and pay it off in full to avoid attracting interest. Gives me back £6 a month at the 3% cash back on offer. Also gives money back on other purchases, see there website for details.

Archi_Bald

Kamran wrote: »

Cheeky question - what's to say I can't set up a standing order to pay the £500/m back to FD? :rotfl:

Nothing, apart from perhaps the fact that you get no interest in FD.

You haven't mentioned how much savings you are talking about, but you can get better interest on the first £4,000 with TSB Plus accounts, and then another £5,000 at Club Lloyds.

loonytunes123

Yeah, but to get this better interest it's worthwhile pointing out that TSB Plus and Club Lloyds require pretty hefty monthly minimum pay-ins (£500 each for TSB Plus and £1500 for Lloyds plus 2 direct debits)

Archi_Bald

You don't have to deposit it in one go. As long as you have £500 (or 5 x £100 etc), you can service all those accounts, and with the same £500. DDs aren't any issue either, you just need a couple of Tesco savings accounts.

Eco_Miser

loonytunes123 wrote: »

Yeah, but to get this better interest it's worthwhile pointing out that TSB Plus and Club Lloyds require pretty hefty monthly minimum pay-ins (£500 each for TSB Plus and £1500 for Lloyds plus 2 direct debits)

By the time Lloyds Club is paying at its maximum rate, there's £4000 in there, which can be moved out and back each month. No problem. And as Archi Bald says, you can do it with just £100 shuffling back and forth.