Is Santander 123 still a good current account?

YorkshireBoy

djpailo wrote: »

the problem is, opening three accounts at once probably doesn't look good on a credit check.

So swap Tesco for one of them, and enjoy 3% AER on an extra £2K.

ManAtHome

Presumably you can 'downgrade' your account to a basic/everyday one if you don't want to pay the £5 a month.

Still well worth it for me so I'll keep it as my main current account.

djpailo

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

So swap Tesco for one of them, and enjoy 3% AER on an extra £2K.

Yeah but Tesco would still do a credit check too

I always thought opening one account/ month was ok, not like 3-4 in one week? I'm not entirely sure though. The guide on MSE just says to not open too many in a short space of time. I think it said one or two a month was ok so I was cautious and went with 1/ month.

enthusiasticsaver

We have £20k in one of our Santander 123 accounts and about £18k-£20k in the other one so it is still worth hanging on to it for the interest and cashback on direct debits. On lower balances it would not be worth it.

YorkshireBoy

djpailo wrote: »

Yeah but Tesco would still do a credit check too

There's 4 credit searches either way. It's just that going the 3x BoS route rather than 2x BoS and 1 x Tesco gets you additional 3% AER capacity.

I always thought opening one account/ month was ok, not like 3-4 in one week? I'm not entirely sure though. The guide on MSE just says to not open too many in a short space of time. I think it said one or two a month was ok so I was cautious and went with 1/ month.

My 3 x BoS were opened in the space of 3-4 working days a couple of years ago.

Earlier this year I opened approaching 20 current accounts over a 2-3 month period. During this activity, and very shortly afterwards, I secured 3-4 credit cards with decent limits. Granted 2-3 of these were guaranteed offers (another benefit of multi-accounting!), but they'd have taken CRA monthly feeds into consideration before offering them.

(My) Conclusion: Current account searches aren't viewed as negatively as credit card/loan searches, if they're viewed negatively at all. Obviously you'll do what you feel is best for you.

djpailo

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

There's 4 credit searches either way. It's just that going the 3x BoS route rather than 2x BoS and 1 x Tesco gets you additional 3% AER capacity.My 3 x BoS were opened in the space of 3-4 working days a couple of years ago.

Earlier this year I opened approaching 20 current accounts over a 2-3 month period. During this activity, and very shortly afterwards, I secured 3-4 credit cards with decent limits. Granted 2-3 of these were guaranteed offers (another benefit of multi-accounting!), but they'd have taken CRA monthly feeds into consideration before offering them.

(My) Conclusion: Current account searches aren't viewed as negatively as credit card/loan searches, if they're viewed negatively at all. Obviously you'll do what you feel is best for you.

Interesting. The TSB is definitely something I will do. I don't follow what you mean by the extra 3% though. BoS x3 will be 3% on all three accounts and BoS x 2 and Tesco x 1 will still be 3% on those three accounts too (haven't read T&C's yet).

YorkshireBoy

djpailo wrote: »

I don't follow what you mean by the extra 3% though. BoS x3 will be 3% on all three accounts and BoS x 2 and Tesco x 1 will still be 3% on those three accounts too

I didn't say "extra 3%". I said "3% AER on an extra £2K" and "additional 3% AER capacity".

(haven't read T&C's yet).

When you get round to doing so you'll see that BoS pays 3% AER on up to £5K and Tesco only pays it on up to £3K.

camperdown9

I think it depends on your circumstances. I am in the process of leaving Santander.

We have (or had) a Santander 123 account with the bills for two houses being paid from it. So two sets of council tax, water, electric, gas, broadband etc. Last month in cash back and minimal (low balance) interest we got £7.89. The month before £12.95, the month before that £8.95.

We also have the 123 credit card. For the first year or so we got cash back, however for the past few months nothing. That might be because I tend to pay of the balance way before the bill is sent. In other words its clear at the start of the month, then once we have put £500 onto it I just pay that off in full.

So going by last month the £7.89 would be less than the £8 fees we will pay from January (£5 current account and £3 credit card). Ok some months we would be in profit, but not by much. So for me its just not worth having.

msallen

camperdown9 wrote: »

I think it depends on your circumstances. I am in the process of leaving Santander.

We have (or had) a Santander 123 account with the bills for two houses being paid from it. So two sets of council tax, water, electric, gas, broadband etc. Last month in cash back and minimal (low balance) interest we got £7.89. The month before £12.95, the month before that £8.95.

We also have the 123 credit card. For the first year or so we got cash back, however for the past few months nothing. That might be because I tend to pay of the balance way before the bill is sent. In other words its clear at the start of the month, then once we have put £500 onto it I just pay that off in full.

So going by last month the £7.89 would be less than the £8 fees we will pay from January (£5 current account and £3 credit card). Ok some months we would be in profit, but not by much. So for me its just not worth having.

So why not cancel the CC but keep the account?
Thats what I'm doing.

mspritch

I'm keeping my 1-2-3 account as even with the increased fee it's still worthwhile for me.

If you've not got enough in there for your interest to cover the fee then there are other options.

For reference a maxed-out 1-2-3 account will pay £40.23 per month after tax, that's 0.20115% per month.

By my calculations that means the first £2485.71 in the account (assuming it's there for the whole month and that there's at least £3K in there altogether) will earn the £5 interest needed to cancel out the fee. If you've got less than that in the account then unless your cashback rewards are topping it up you're paying for the account.

I said about other options, I've just opened a Tesco Bank account to cream some of the top off the 1-2-3 account. 3% AER on balances of up to £3000, no fee, no minimum payments in. Load it with £3K and if my calculations (based on the Santander interest) are correct it'll earn £6.03 per month or £72.41 per year. Every little helps™

If you're now in the interest-not-paying-the-fee bracket then it may be worth looking at.