money to save and no idea what to do with it!

eskbanker

wallofbeans wrote: »

This is why I wanted to know what happens if i don't pay the £500 minimum every month.

At the moment, if my main job pay went directly into that account, it would be a lot more than £500 a month. I wondered if I should have my pay sent directly to another account and I just pay £500 into the 123. Or something?

If you have a 123 and at least one other non-Santander account (such as HSBC) then you can simply bounce £500 out of and back into the 123 every month to satisfy the funding requirement, it doesn't really matter where your salary actually goes in initially.

Eco_Miser

I'd keep the HSBC open at first, then maybe use it to get £100 by switching it to a bank paying £100 for switches.

I wouldn't have an overdraft; I would have a credit card - and make sure it's paid in full every month. This gives you a month after an emergency payment to find the money, before you have to pay any interest, unlike with an overdraft.

If you don't pay the £500, you don't get the interest, but so long as you've got £500, or even £250, or £100, you can take it out and put it back in again. Having a second bank account helps with this, but is not essential.

If times are hard, you can drop your balance below £3000, and have less interest, but this is cheaper than paying interest elsewhere.