Having more than £20k in Santander 123 current account

Looter

Hi

I've just read on the best buy tables on here that you receive 3% interest in the Santander 123 current account if you've got 3k - 20k in it. What happens if my balance is more than 20k? Would I be ineligible for the interest or would I just receive interest on the first 20k?

Stompa

Looter wrote: »

Would I be ineligible for the interest or would I just receive interest on the first 20k?

The latter.

ceredigion

http://www.santander.co.uk/csdlvlr/ContentServer?c=SANDocument_C&pagename=WCSUKPublicaLte%2FSANDocument_C%2FSANDocumentPreview&cid=1324575553949


#5.1

Looter

It says "you won't earn any interest on balances below £1,000 or over £20,000". Doesn't that imply that you won't receive any interest if your balance is more than 20k?

Pincher

I keep my account around £21k, so that the direct debits don't bring the balance too low. The interest keeps coming, for the £20k.

djpailo

Looter wrote: »

It says "you won't earn any interest on balances below £1,000 or over £20,000". Doesn't that imply that you won't receive any interest if your balance is more than 20k?

Whilst the other posts have answered the questions, I agree, the statement is misleading, perhaps you could email them and ask them to make it clearer.

LXdaddy

I can tell you from personal experience that in a month where the balance is over £20,000 (and the other requirements are met) interest is paid.

Makkusu

It means you receive 3% on the first £20k and 0% on anything over.

[Deleted User]

Makkusu wrote: »

It means you receive 3% on the first £20k and 0% on anything over.

Not quite, as there is some small print:
http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/123-current-account
Note the tiered interest rate, need for 2 Direct Debits, £500 / month from outside and £2/month fee. Be aware that they are very fussy about you adhering strictly to these conditions. For example, if your £500 funding comes in a day late, you get zero interest that month.

ztkr

Pincher wrote: »

I keep my account around £21k, so that the direct debits don't bring the balance too low. The interest keeps coming, for the £20k.

You would make more savings interest if you kept the balance between £19k-£20k, rather than £20-21k (assuming you have another savings account for the rest of your savings). That's because the extra £1k could be sat in your normal savings account all year earning, say, 1.6%, rather than earning 0% in Santander.

ColdIron

Or you could just keep precisely £20K in there and transfer cash on the day that the direct debits are paid, Most DDs fall on the same or close days each month. You can set up alerts at Santander for payments of £50 or over to help yo remember, setting your DD date to be the same for all of them makes it even easier