Santander 1 2 3 - without Direct Debits

tatianko

I am interested in interest only and not in cashback.
So if I do not have DD am I eligible?

chris_m

I think they'll let you open it, but without any DDs they won't pay any interest.

Archi_Bald

Are you aware that the monthly charge will be £5 from January, and that there are other accounts that pay better interest? How much are you planning to keep in a 123?

tatianko

Archi, but other accounts have low balance limit (4-5k).
I need account with bigger balance for few months only.
So I will set up two DD for charity for 1 pound

djpailo

We won’t pay you any interest for any month where you don’t meet the eligibility requirements. Take a look at Section 5 for more details about what the eligibility requirements are.

Then the eligibility requirements...

Pay in at least £500 a month
(see Condition 4)
Have at least two active Direct Debits
Pay the £2 monthly current account fee**
For earning credit interest only,
have a minimum current account
balance of at least £1,000

So no, you cannot earn any interest without the direct debits.

There is really no clear reason for not setting up the direct debits with say, two Tesco accounts. Its easy and they don't appear on a credit score.

Krash420

Also please note that you only need "Active" direct debits, meaning paid out once a year. A good way around that if you don't want to open the two Tesco Accounts is to open one Tesco, and one Paypal, and send £1 to a friend via your Santander account. It'll go from your account as a direct debit, and if you really want, you can get your friend to give you that £1 back.

Only need to do that once a year, and as long as you use PayPal, you most likely won't even need to bother with sending money to a friend...