Santander 123 current account fees rising to £5 in January

peter_percent

150% rise !!, If only they would increase the deposit limit by the same, this would save me the crazy situation of 32 current accounts operating a money merry-go-round to harvest the interest every month as they all pay each other the required sum to comply with the conditions

bowlhead99

peter_percent wrote: »

150% rise !!, If only they would increase the deposit limit by the same, this would save me the crazy situation of 32 current accounts operating a money merry-go-round to harvest the interest every month as they all pay each other the required sum to comply with the conditions

Yes, if only my bank would pay me interest at 6x base rate or more on as much money as I could possibly want to give them, without compromising service levels or the cost of the account or the cost of other products, it would save me going to other banks. It's unlikely though, isn't it.

eskbanker

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.

If only there was a website forum where people could ask questions about such products and get impartial views about how to get the best out of them....

bigfreddiel

So it's a rise of £3/month, I guess I will just have to cut down on ONE coffee and scone each month!

How am I going to cope!

Cheers fj

2010

With the max of £20k, after tax, the int. for the year is £480, minus the new £5 a month charge = £420.
Also there is the cashback for certain DD.
Where else can you get that on a £20k sum.

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and i don`t want to hear, split it between yet another dozen current accounts or 1 year fixes.

TonyMMM

Archi_Bald wrote: »

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.

I understand that - but the whole package , with the cashback, is still attractive (for the moment).

colsten

2010 wrote: »

With the max of £20k, after tax, the int. for the year is £480, minus the new £5 a month charge = £420.
Also there is the cashback for certain DD.
Where else can you get that on a £20k sum.

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and i don`t want to hear, split it between yet another dozen current accounts or 1 year fixes.

Whether you want to hear it or not - fact remains that it's easy enough to get more interest on £20K than from a 123. Always has been.

NB. I have had several 123s myself from day 1, but only because I have maxed the better options.

alexmi

TonyMMM wrote: »

I understand that - but the whole package , with the cashback, is still attractive (for the moment).

Especially if, like us, you have your mortgage with Santander, as that brings in a pretty decent amount of cashback each month. I think without the cashback I would be thinking twice but the cashback does make it very worthwhile.

Eco_Miser

2010 wrote: »

With the max of £20k, after tax, the int. for the year is £480, minus the new £5 a month charge = £420.
Also there is the cashback for certain DD.
Where else can you get that on a £20k sum.

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and i don`t want to hear, split it between yet another dozen current accounts or 1 year fixes.

Split between just four accounts, three with the same bank - BoS (£15k @ 3% but no fees), and one with Lloyds (£5k @4% AER)

bigfreddiel

Tesco's £3k at 3% gets you £90/yr which would cover the increased fees for your 123 account

Cheers fj