Santander 123 current account fees rising to £5 in January

jamesd

roddydogs wrote: »

Its "Easy" to get 12% plus..... with no risk? How.

It's investing. There's always some sort of risk when investing. Even though the places I'm mentioning do secured lending, there's still some level of risk. You also need to know that there is no FSCS protection against fraud losses for P2P and for investing in general, no capital value protection except in very limited other situations. But UK P2P is regulated by the FCA now and you can use the FOS. Your key protection is diversifying across different P2P platforms and across different loans at the same platform. If you were stcking in that £5k I mentioned I suggest that you should do it on three different platforms at least.

Pay a visit to the P2P Independent Forum and look in the sections for: Moneything (currently looking to raise several million at 1.5% a month, a few upcoming loan renewals at 12% scheduled this week also), SavingStream (a steady steam of 12% deals) and Ablrate (anything from 10-14% and perhaps higher at times, currently have a new offer at 11% for waste to energy equipment and you'll find older loans on the secondary market at anything from 7-12% or so).

There's no way these places can handle the amount of money currently in 123 accounts but for some of the people who are reading this they may be able to handle it. Just don't tell the Mail journalists or MSE or they will be flooded with more money than they can handle at the moment.

For some other things that you might not have considered, you might find Options: 10% tax free, 7% tax free, 11% taxable, 6% taxable of interest.

Declaration of interest: it's quite common for me to have bids and/or offers on the Ablrate secondary market so there's a chance that I might make some money if you use that. Or not, just depends what you do and happenstance of whether I have anything at the time you do it.

Gaffy

This is going to cost me a bit as I have six 123 accounts. On a full £20k balance the interest rate is now 2.75%, which I guess is still good.

apt

roddydogs wrote: »

Still worth it if youve got £20k to spare which is worth £40 pm. Its a pain but cant say im surprised.

Not really worth £40 pm as you'd be getting interest on your £20,000 elsewhere. With no mortgage and relatively low utility bills it is no longer worth it for me.

[Deleted User]

Well I'm glad this discussion has been opened up in the forum today. I have been debating whether to get the 123 account for some time, and I was going to arrange an appointment this week to open one.

However, if the monthly fee is going up to £5, then this simply isn't for me. I can't get close to having a balance of £20,000, and won't get enough from the other benefits to make it worthwhile.

Thanks everyone for posting today. Santander is now an account I can now cross off my list of potentials.

I'm an old fashioned type of person too, and don't believe in paying to bank.

colsten

cmondynamite wrote: »

I'm an old fashioned type of person too, and don't believe in paying to bank.

You have been "paying a bank" for years. May be in the form of not getting any interest on you current account balance, or by paying extra on your mortgage or a loan or an overdraft etc.

You won't get anything for free.

colsten

Gaffy wrote: »

This is going to cost me a bit as I have six 123 accounts.

Hope they aren't all in your sole name if they are full as this would bust the current FSCS limit, not to talk about the new one.

I agree with you that 2.75% is still good if you have exhausted all the 3%, 4%, 5% and 6% opportunities and still need a place for more cash.

soulsaver

colsten wrote: »

I agree with you that 2.75% is still good if you have exhausted all the 3%, 4%, 5% and 6% opportunities and still need a place for more cash.

When I see a post like this from a credible poster I always wonder whether I'm missing something...

Are these 3%+ bank accounts regular savers?
Or are you thinking other than bank acs?

colsten

The 6% ones are Regular Savers, and they can boost the 3% you can get from a current account. The 3%, 4% and 5% ones are current accounts. There are also 4% and 5% Regular Savers.

Jsscmm

colsten wrote: »

The 6% ones are Regular Savers, and they can boost the 3% you can get from a current account. The 3%, 4% and 5% ones are current accounts. There are also 4% and 5% Regular Savers.

For completeness....

Current accounts (numbers for 1 person, joint ones possible)

Nationwide 5% 2.5k 1 year only
TSB 5% 2k
Lloyds club 4% 5k
BoS 3x 3% 5k each
Tesco 2x 3% 3k each
Santander.... See this thread

Regular savings, all need current accounts
HSBC, first direct, M&S 6%
TSB 5%
Lloyds, N&P 4%

All the above have some hoops such as DDs, payment amounts etc.

The thread on this board covers the regular savers very well and the current accounts are covered on the budgeting and bank accounts board.

olip74

cmondynamite wrote: »

Well I'm glad this discussion has been opened up in the forum today. I have been debating whether to get the 123 account for some time, and I was going to arrange an appointment this week to open one.

However, if the monthly fee is going up to £5, then this simply isn't for me. I can't get close to having a balance of £20,000, and won't get enough from the other benefits to make it worthwhile.

Thanks everyone for posting today. Santander is now an account I can now cross off my list of potentials.

I'm an old fashioned type of person too, and don't believe in paying to bank.

I wouldn't be too hasty. Some points to consider:

Next April savings for most people will become tax free. If you have £6k to put in your 123 you'd be no worse off than you were before: £6000 * 0.03 (I know, 0.0297!) = £180, of which HMRC would have taken £36 anyway. It's just that Santander have nobbled the interest you would have had.

Consider that the interest rate is 3% in perpetuity rather than a 1 year fix, like some of the regular savers, so take into account the hassle of setting up a saver and then moving the money at the end.

Just do the sums and compare. You may find it's still the best product for your needs!