Santander 123 current account fees rising to £5 in January

roy62

Wow another 69p a week terrible.

bigfreddiel

Steve_xx wrote: »

Existing customers aren't benefitting due to the fact that they will get nowt more than they currently do. And, the nowt more will cost them £1 a month more. Doesn't look like a "benefit" to me!

That's precisely what I said! For once existing customers win out over new customers

Cheers fj

Steve_xx

bigfreddiel wrote: »

That's precisely what I said! For once existing customers win out over new customers

Cheers fj

Yes, I know what you said, but I disagree.

To reiterate my point. Existing customers will have to pay £1 a month more than they do now. That's a hike of 50%. Existing customers will get no more than they do today, but they will have to pay £1/ (50%) a month more. Therefore, sound reasoning tells you that existing customers are not benefitting from anything in this instance.

Oasis1

First I've heard about this too - wonder if my letter got lost in the post... :eek:

Can anyone help me get a handle on whether there's a better option for me after the price hike... it's giving me a slight headache.

I usually have £7500-£8500 in my account. However, I only get £0.45 cashback per month because all my utility bills are included in the rent and I have a cheap £15pm phone contract. What then is the interest rate I'm getting if I only earn £5.40 cashback a year, effectively meaning I pay £55 a year to have the account.

If I do it for £8000 as the average... my calculations is it's 2.3% pre-tax. Is that correct?

badger09

Oasis1 wrote: »

First I've heard about this too - wonder if my letter got lost in the post... :eek:

Can anyone help me get a handle on whether there's a better option for me after the price hike... it's giving me a slight headache.

I usually have £7500-£8500 in my account. However, I only get £0.45 cashback per month because all my utility bills are included in the rent and I have a cheap £15pm phone contract. What then is the interest rate I'm getting if I only earn £5.40 cashback a year, effectively meaning I pay £55 a year to have the account.

If you usually have between £7.5 and £8k in your account, you could do much better elsewhere

TSB Classic Plus 5% on £2k (and 5% reg saver)
Nationwide 5% on £2.5k but only for 12 months
Club Lloyds 4% on £5k (and 4% reg saver)
Tesco x 2 3% on £3k each
etc etc

Obviously they all come with T&C;)

Oasis1

badger09 wrote: »

If you usually have between £7.5 and £8k in your account, you could do much better elsewhere

TSB Classic Plus 5% on £2k (and 5% reg saver)
Nationwide 5% on £2.5k but only for 12 months
Club Lloyds 4% on £5k (and 4% reg saver)
Tesco x 2 3% on £3k each
etc etc

Obviously they all come with T&C;)

Thanks for the summary but surely it's hard to navigate if you have multiple accounts - don't they all require you to have your income paid into them?

So let's say I put 5K in Club Lloyds and 2K in TSB Classic Plus - which would I use to pay my salary into?

badger09

Oasis1 wrote: »

Thanks for the summary but surely it's hard to navigate if you have multiple accounts - don't they all require you to have your income paid into them?

So let's say I put 5K in Club Lloyds and 2K in TSB Classic Plus - which would I use to pay my salary into?

I'm operating many more current accounts than I've suggested above - as are many of us on here;)

If you read the T&Cs of each account you're interested in, you will see that none of them requires you to pay your salary in, though they probably require a minimum monthly deposit, and some require Direct Debits etc.

If you have 2 or more current accounts, you can simply pay the required minimum amounts between them either by manual Faster Payment or by Standing Order. Have a read around the forum, there is lots of information:)

LXdaddy

Oasis1 wrote: »

First I've heard about this too - wonder if my letter got lost in the post... :eek:

Can anyone help me get a handle on whether there's a better option for me after the price hike... it's giving me a slight headache.

I usually have £7500-£8500 in my account. However, I only get £0.45 cashback per month because all my utility bills are included in the rent and I have a cheap £15pm phone contract. What then is the interest rate I'm getting if I only earn £5.40 cashback a year, effectively meaning I pay £55 a year to have the account.

If I do it for £8000 as the average... my calculations is it's 2.3% pre-tax. Is that correct?

Yes. If you have a balance of £8,000 on average...
3% interest = £240 gross
12*£0.45 cashback = £5.40
12*£5 fee = £60 paid

£240 + £5.40 - £60 = £185.40 which is about 2.3% of £8,000

If you want to do the after tax position then deduct tax from the £240 interest but remember that in next year most people can earn £1,000 of interest without deduction of tax.

With "just" £8,000 you can certainly get more interest using some of the other accounts so you should certainly be considering them.

We'll be keeping our three 123 accounts as our balances are somewhat higher and we already have TSB and Lloyds accounts.

Steve_xx

LXdaddy wrote: »

If you want to do the after tax position then deduct tax from the £240 interest but remember that in next year most people can earn £1,000 of interest without deduction of tax.

It sort of sounds like a lot, but in actual fact it's only a £200 gain in reality for a basic rate taxpayer!

Oasis1

badger09 wrote: »

I'm operating many more current accounts than I've suggested above - as are many of us on here;)

If you read the T&Cs of each account you're interested in, you will see that none of them requires you to pay your salary in, though they probably require a minimum monthly deposit, and some require Direct Debits etc.

If you have 2 or more current accounts, you can simply pay the required minimum amounts between them either by manual Faster Payment or by Standing Order. Have a read around the forum, there is lots of information:)

Thanks for the tip. I think I've worked out if I stick with Santander 123 current account, I will get £179.40 in interest over the next 12 months, taking into account the increase in monthly charge in January.

However, if I put £2500 in the Nationwide FlexDirect Current account (includes £100 switch bonus), and £5000 in the Club Lloyds Current account, I will get £425 in interest over the next 12 months. I'll have to set up some interesting direct debits to keep all of the accounts active, but yes, well over double the interest!

Thanks :j