Santander 123 current account fees rising to £5 in January

olip74

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Comparing the current Santander 123 with the future Santander 123 completely misses the point that even the current Santander is not, and never was, as good a deal in terms of interest as several other accounts.

Don't know why you're arguing with what I'm saying, we both agree it's horses for courses. The reality is you need to take everything into account, DDs and interest combined.

The 123 will still be the best account for me by a country mile and for many others. People just need to work out what's best for them.

Rollinghome

moneyfoolish wrote: »

So, according to this article, I can stop paying in £750 per month and still get 3% on my £3000. Is that true?

That's right. You always could get 3% on £3k but there was a £5 pm fee unless you paid in £750 pm. Now there is no fee whether or not money is paid in and the clause concerning the monthly fee has been removed from the terms and conditions.

moneyfoolish

I took the 123 Credit Card about 3 months ago to transfer £3000 from another Credit Card because there was no fee and it gave me a long time to pay it back in instalments. I also bought my petrol with it each month which wiped out the charges (although if I had set up a direct debit instead of paying by debit card I wouldn't have had any charges for the first 12 months). With this monthly increase, I'm thinking of transferring again to the Tesco Credit Card which is fee free and 0% for 19 months. However, I already have a Tesco Credit Card. Does anybody know if I will be able to get the Balance Transfer credit card if I already have another Tesco credit card? Also, how do I cancel the Santander credit card online once I have done the transfer?

abdul56

I read that they have 3 million (Which I appreciate will be an estimate) paying the original fee.

This increasing to £5 a month, this will be 15million they are taking each day from these current accounts excluding the credit card.

Thats hell of jump from 6 million?

Archi_Bald

abdul56 wrote: »

This increasing to £5 a month, this will be 15million they are taking each day from these current accounts

Not exactly each day. More like each month.

slinga

I went into our local Santander branch yesterday to sign up and was told I'd have to book an appointment which would be more than 3 weeks in the future.

I know you can do all this online but in this instance I wanted to talk to someone about things.

Mickygg

slinga wrote: »

I went into our local Santander branch yesterday to sign up and was told I'd have to book an appointment which would be more than 3 weeks in the future.

I know you can do all this online but in this instance I wanted to talk to someone about things.

It really is all xplained clearly on their website. It's probably 3 weeks as all they will do in the meeting is read from the website or refer you to it.

Keeping slots free to discuss mortgages or loans or to discuss whether or not to open up a current 123 account...... I Wonder which they would prefer to offer earlier appointments to.

Mickygg

abdul56 wrote: »

I read that they have 3 million (Which I appreciate will be an estimate) paying the original fee.

This increasing to £5 a month, this will be 15million they are taking each day from these current accounts excluding the credit card.

Thats hell of jump from 6 million?

As another poster says it's each month.

But also consider how much they have lost each month as well with a lot of people getting £5 plus a month dd cashback. All this is doing is trying to balance the books more. Banks will only offer loss making accounts to attract new customers for so long before they address it. I'm amazed it's been going for this long without reducing the interest or putting the fees up.

TonyMMM

I have two 123 accounts and keep the balance at the £20k level in each, and am considering a third, so the (always inevitable) increase in the fee won't be too much of an impact, especially with the tax changes coming - if they were to reduce the interest rate I may re-think though.

Archi_Bald

TonyMMM wrote: »

if they were to reduce the interest rate I may re-think though.

That's essentially just what the increase in monthly charge is - a reduction in interest rate.

Currently, you get £592 - £24 = £568 = 2.84% before tax.
With the increase, it is £592 - £60 = £532 = 2.66% before tax.

The taxation change from April might help a little to soften the blow. And as has been pointed out, whilst interest rates remain in the doldrums, for some people the 123 will still be worthwhile.