Santander 123 - Which cheap direct debit to use?

ahfh1

Hi I have a Santander 123 joint account that I share with my partner. All the house bills come out of this account via direct debit (council tax, electricity, gas, water, mortgage and broadband) so we can take advantage of the cash back.

I have just opened another Santander 123 account, with just myself as the sole account holder, with £20k savings in it. To get the maximum 3% interest, I need to have 2 direct debits set up. I am going to use my 02 mobile contract as one of the direct debits. Is there another 'cheap' direct debit anyone can think of that I can use?

I don't want to use any of the direct debits already set up for the joint Santander account as these are utilities that are shared and paid for between my partner and I. So I would like a 'cheap' direct debit that only I would be responsible for paying on my sole Santander account.

Thanks

colsten

Paypal? Charity? Tesco savings?

YorkshireBoy

If you have a credit card use that.

Alternatively, make a charitable donation (but don't scrimp!).

Then again, why not use a savings account like thousands of others do?

Remember though, the DDs don't have to be paid out each month...merely be set up (but ensure they're paid at least once a year or so to avoid them lapsing under the dormancy rules).

ahfh1

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

If you have a credit card use that.

Alternatively, make a charitable donation (but don't scrimp!).

Then again, why not use a savings account like thousands of others do?

Remember though, the DDs don't have to be paid out each month...merely be set up (but ensure they're paid at least once a year or so to avoid them lapsing under the dormancy rules).

Thanks for the reply.

I was thinking use the £20k max for the 3%, which beats most savings accounts. Then any excess over £20k move to a (lower than 3%) savings account.

YorkshireBoy

ahfh1 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

I was thinking use the £20k max for the 3%, which beats most savings accounts. Then any excess over £20k move to a (lower than 3%) savings account.

You misunderstand! The savings account would allow you to pull off some or all of the £40 a month interest the account will deliver.


But if you want to spend money, ie on a charity donation or magazine subscription that's fine. Me?...I'll continue to keep my money my own.


Managed the right way, you'd pull off some or all of the interest/surplus over £20K from Santander into a Tesco savings account and immediately move it to a Tesco current account to make the same 3% AER on it.

DREKLY

QUOTE --"Remember though, the DDs don't have to be paid out each month...merely be set up (but ensure they're paid at least once a year or so to avoid them lapsing under the dormancy rules)."

Hiya Yorkshire Boy - I was under the impression that as of January 2016, both direct debits have to be active MONTHLY to qualify, whereas up till then, just being set up was sufficient... is that correct ?

YorkshireBoy

DREKLY wrote: »

I was under the impression that as of January 2016, both direct debits have to be active MONTHLY to qualify, whereas up till then, just being set up was sufficient... is that correct ?

I don't believe that's the case. If it is I missed it in the notification, on their website, and on here.

jimjames

Can't you just move a DD that was on the other account?

Krash420

PayPal is the easiest to set up and cheapest non-savings one as you can just transfer £1 to your friend and have it take a direct debit from your Santander account (and then have that friend promptly return it after the direct debit is taken).

Otherwise Tesco bank do allow DD's to be set up to fund the account, thats probably the best way of maximising your savings.

Eco_Miser

ahfh1 wrote: »

I was thinking use the £20k max for the 3%, which beats most savings accounts. Then any excess over £20k move to a (lower than 3%) savings account.

I take it you're already using all the higher than 3% current accounts?

xylophone

The OP can open a Tesco Internet saver (interest for one year at 1.5%) and set up a DD on that to "pull" the interest earned (less the monthly fee) into the Internet Account.

http://www.tescobank.com/savings/flexible/internet-saver/index.html

If he sets up a Tesco current account as well, he can move the money from the internet saver into the current account and earn better interest up to £3000.

http://www.tescobank.com/current-accounts/