Santander 123 - Interest conditions?

pazza2000

Thinking about opening a 123 acc purely as a secondary savings account. I am wondering how strict the conditions are to receive the 3% interest? I understand 2 D/D's must be active, though im not keen to bring these across from my main long standing current account. Can (& how?) I simply open up 'phantom' D/D's for the purpose of receiving interest and obviously send across £1000 each month or do Satander want the account to be more active to receive the interest?

Hope that makes sense.

nearlyretired2004

Search all the other threads on this subject - set up two Tesco online savings accounts (one of each of the online versions - cant remember exact account names ) these will accept DDs

If your utility/council tax DDs arent earning you anything in the account theyre in they could earn you cashback in a 123 account though......

colsten

The conditions are very clearly described on the Santander website - £500 (not £1,000) to be paid in monthly, 2 DDs, the monthly £2 charge, and a balance of between £3,000 and £20,000 if you want the 3% AER.

Not moving the DDs that qualify for cashback will mean you have to reduce the interest you arean by £24 a year. Did you check how much cashback you could get? http://www.santander-products.co.uk/banking/calculator/123ca.html

andrewmp

all I did was set up two direct debits, both of which qualified for cashback thus paying the £2 account fee (and more).

Pay in £500 per month.

missile

Santander are very strict and will not pay interest if you do not meet their stated conditions.

pazza2000

Thanks for the insight.

So strictly two D/Ds, though they do not have to be active (monthly)? The tesco e-savers sound like a good idea. Re. The £500 a month, I assume out and in via my main bank will be fine, as long as £500 in 'paid in' each month. Unfortunately other than maybe phone bills, I do not think ill have any other eligible DD's for cashback, sadly.

YorkshireBoy

There may be better accounts/account combinations than the 1-2-3 for you.

How much will you be depositing initially?
If <£20K, how long do you envisage it'll take to reach £20K?

grumbler

pazza2000 wrote: »

Thinking about opening a 123 acc purely as a secondary savings account. ... I understand 2 D/D's must be active, though im not keen to bring these across from my main long standing current account. Can (& how?) I simply open up 'phantom' D/D's for the purpose of receiving interest and obviously send across £1000 each month or do Satander want the account to be more active to receive the interest?

What's the point in keeping your DDs in your 'long standing' account and wasting efforts on 'phantom' DDs - if you can easily switch some DDs and earn up to 3% cashback on them? Especially as the account costs you £2 p.m.

pazza2000

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

There may be better accounts/account combinations than the 1-2-3 for you.

How much will you be depositing initially?
If <£20K, how long do you envisage it'll take to reach £20K?

I have a little over the 20k.

I wish to keep my long standing current account and I do not really have any DDs other than phone bills that would be eligible for the cashback (though may move that one across)

pazza2000

...maybe a silly question, but I assume I do not have to move these DD's from my main current Acc via switching service but can manually move them (some) across?

grumbler

Yes, you just call the company and change the DD details. Some companies allow doing this online.