Santander 123 account fee increasing to £5 from January

hohum

My brain is melting trying to work out whether to keep the account. Our bills are low, so after the £5 fee we will make just £0.80 in cashback. However our cash balance is just under £3700, to which I shortly will be adding another £16k. About £2k of that money is allocated for works, but not all at once.In the short to medium term, nothing is going to beat the 3% before tax on up to £20k is it?

We also have a 123 credit card. It has 0% on purchases up to June 2017, which is useful for us having moved into a new house but it looks like our purchases aren't quite netting us the cashback. My partner doesn't really want to have a credit card and he's the one who buys the fuel..

Kernel_Sanders

hohum wrote: »

it looks like our purchases aren't quite netting us the cashback. My partner doesn't really want to have a credit card and he's the one who buys the fuel..

A TSB debit card gets an amazing 5% back off contactless payments.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5338748

colsten

hohum wrote: »

In the short to medium term, nothing is going to beat the 3% before tax on up to £20k is it?

Between 2 people, you have been able to get 4 and 5% on at least £21,000 for some time now.

Consumerist

hohum wrote: »

My brain is melting trying to work out whether to keep the account. Our bills are low, so after the £5 fee we will make just £0.80 in cashback. However our cash balance is just under £3700, to which I shortly will be adding another £16k. About £2k of that money is allocated for works, but not all at once.In the short to medium term, nothing is going to beat the 3% before tax on up to £20k is it? . . .

I ran up a rough and ready <table> which might help.

hohum

Consumerist wrote: »

I ran up a rough and ready <table> which might help.

Thanks!

Our Santander account is joint and for household. We each hold our own current accounts - he's self employed and the related admin to get all of his suppliers to change account details is not worth it to me. It would be me doing the admin It might be worth me switching my current account and I've been vowing to do it for years.

@colsten what would make your post really helpful is to link to resources about how to do that. I mean me dropping into a conversation 'you've been able to save money for years' and then not elaborating is not really adding much, is it?

Part of my consideration about how to set up is ease of admin. Is extra time spent on managing accounts worth the extra £0.80 a month I might gain by paying lower fees? For some it might be but for me I'm not sure. I will have to do some sums and work out what my tipping point is..

colsten

And countless discussions on the MSE forum.

Keith_F

Having opened a 123 credit card account in August, I was liable for a yearly fee of £24,
But 5 months into the agreement, I find it will become £3 month in January. But I have paid for a year already, until next August.
So if I am charged £3 month from January, then the fee for the first year of this card will become £45!!

That cannot be right!

EssexExile

I've just got the letter from Santander & it says that the first £3 fee will be taken next August, does yours not say that?

Nick_C

Keith_F wrote: »

Having opened a 123 credit card account in August, I was liable for a yearly fee of £24,
But 5 months into the agreement, I find it will become £3 month in January. But I have paid for a year already, until next August.
So if I am charged £3 month from January, then the fee for the first year of this card will become £45!!

That cannot be right!

Indeed, that is not right. The £3 a month fee will not start until after your first year.

See the Santander web site.

An annual fee of £24 applies: it's important you’re aware that if you apply on or after the 11 January 2016, you will be charged a monthly fee of £3. If you apply before that date, you will be charged a £24 annual fee, then 12 months later this will change to a £3 monthly fee (equivalent to £36 a year).

http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/credit-cards/123-credit-card?gclid=Cj0KEQjwqZKxBRDBkNmLt9DejNgBEiQAq8XWPr1CNELElMQtEwo2WiixuTPP1rx4E4TbWq5PvijQyxwaAr7S8P8HAQ

hohum

masonic wrote: »

The information is quite readily available. There are even websites dedicated to giving step by step instructions, like http://bankaccountsavings.co.uk/

But if you don't know they're there...the site looks great, belated thankyou!