Santander 123

YoungPensioner_2

Just wondered how many of you out there are playing Santader at their own game with the 3% on 20K (60k in total) in 3 accounts (one in each of a couples name and the third a joint name)...

Been using it to provide additional income and cannot complain so far, the cashback on DD’s etc covers the £15 a month i pay in fees with a huge 6p left over leaving me with a soon to be (after the personal allowance kicks in) as near as makes no difference £150 a month better off while my money stays fully protected and accessible...

colsten

I wouldn't use a 123 for the purposes of savings until I had exhausted all the better accounts. Getting 3, 4, 5 and 6% on £60K between 2 people is easy enough to do in accounts that don't have a mandatory monthly charge. You could keep a 123 for the cashback - an extra £120 a year in your pocket, not Santander's. (£15 * 12, minus £60 charges). Or you could consider moving your cashback-earning DDs to Natwest as they are paying better cashback than Santander.

Using other accounts would yield at least £260 more in interest than you get from the 123s. Assuming you are BR tax payers with a total income per person of more than £17K a year, you would have to pay around £8 tax on the interest as you would go over £1,000 per person.

Plus the £120 from the cashback makes £372 extra a year. That's before using any of the 6% and 5% Regular Savers, which can further boost the return you can make from £60K. Not to mention the free cinema tickets or magazines, or the cashback on contactless payments.

Best accounts listed in: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5374614

YoungPensioner_2

Thank you for the reply, i am aware there are better deals to be had, and that i could make 300 or so a year more but as the link you supplied me with suggests, i would have to have my money spread over a 6 or so different banks and would also have to have more than one account in each one, if i did that with my partner we'd have up to 12 accounts to keep track of at different banks, more online log in details to remember than i could shake a stick at, not wanting to sound offensive and to be honest i find that dull.

I log in to one place, can see all my funds and am making a return i am happy with, happy to forego the additional £30 a month for less fuss... Although i am aware that once it was al set up the standing orders and money jumps would manage themselves until a bank changed the account rules and stopped giving good returns that is..

colsten

Many MSE forum members have been enjoying the advantages of multiple accounts for several years - better returns, more security, less exposure to technical and other issues at banks being amongst them.

Multiple logins can easily be managed with a password manager and an account aggregator, applying for the accounts are one-offs, and everything else can be automated.

It's not a question of beating the banks at their own game but of getting what you consider the best out of your money. It's also personal choice, so nobody should feel that their approach is better or worse than someone else's approach.