Santander 123 "Active Direct Debits"

OldBeanz

I have just helped a friend do this.
Companies obviously differ on how they issue Direct Debits. Many allow you to change them online. So BT allows you to do this and Standard Life will do it with a phone call as examples.
To optimise 3 Santander accounts I would be doing the following:
1. See if you qualify for Santander Select. You get straight through to a Brit and they understand what you are trying to achieve. They are very helpful.
2. If you are moving DD's then you should be paying all your utility and cash back bills from your joint account. The bills to pay from your single accounts should be either those you control i.e. you can increase the amount paid and the company cannot, like savings or those paid annually or infrequently. If they are under your control then pay £500 plus that amount into the account each month then you only have to cream off the interest once a month. If infrequently paid then again a Standing Order to reflect the amount can be set up or it is not too difficult to remember once a year.
3. You can pay each other £500 from your individual accounts.
4. Interest paid is relevant to the day the account was open so best to open the individual accounts on the same day or if not the same day of the month.
So that gives you all pay etc going into the joint account. All main DD's coming out of joint account. Standing Orders from joint account feeding static or annual DD's into personal accounts. £500 going from wife's personal to husband's personal on first day of month and vice versa. Move interest from the individual accounts and manage joint account.

uk1

Thanks to all. Very much apprciated.

OldBeanz wrote: »

I have just helped a friend do this.

3. You can pay each other £500 from your individual accounts.

£500 going from wife's personal to husband's personal on first day of month and vice versa. Move interest from the individual accounts and manage joint account.

I was planning to fund the £500 monthly to each account from a current account with Halifax because as I understand it your approach of cross funding shouldn't work because of this rule:

Fund the account with at least £500 a month (excludes internal transfers). A minimum balance of £1,000 is needed to receive interest.

I also hope you noticed the need to keep a minimum of £1000 (not £500) to earn any interest.

Thanks.

Jeff

YorkshireBoy

uk1 wrote: »

...I understand it your approach of cross funding shouldn't work because of this rule:

That's not a "rule"...it's part of the 'At a glance' product particulars. The "rules" will be found in the official T&Cs...

123_Account_T&Cs wrote:

4. Monthly Funding requirements

You must pay at least £500 into your account every month. This is not a calendar month, it is the monthly anniversary from the date you opened/transferred your account. The £500 minimum monthly payment does not include refunded amounts from your Visa Debit card or amounts transferred into the account from another Santander account in your name (including any joint accounts). Transfers in from a Santander Business Account do count towards the minimum £500 payment.

uk1

Thanks,

So to double check, it is perfectly permissible to simply send each other £500 monthly?

Jeff

YorkshireBoy

uk1 wrote: »

So to double check, it is perfectly permissible to simply send each other £500 monthly?

Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: See below...

Snipped_T&Cs wrote:

The £500 minimum monthly payment does not include refunded amounts from your Visa Debit card or amounts transferred into the account from another Santander account in your name (including any joint accounts).

They're not going to say "its OK for a married couple to just open the accounts, dump £20K each in, set up a couple of DDs, and then bounce £500 between the two accounts, thereby taking the mickey out of us"!

Because they tell you what is NOT allowed, everything else IS allowed...isn't it?

uk1

Thanks, that is exactly what we plan to do ....

Jeff

banksofthe_mersey

yorkshireboy? do you think its ok to include payments from bookmakers ie betfair for the 500 monthly? because according to above maybe not?

Eco_Miser

banksofthe_mersey wrote: »

do you think its ok to include payments from bookmakers ie betfair for the 500 monthly? because according to above maybe not?

Do the bookies pay you as a refund on your Santander debit card? If so, then it doesn't count. If they pay into your Santander account any other way, then you can count it (unless there's another rule about gambling not counting).

banksofthe_mersey

god knows lol, i acumalate money in betfair and put it back into my bank account, someone said on here the other day it would count..oh well.

colsten

Eco_Miser wrote: »

Do the bookies pay you as a refund on your Santander debit card? If so, then it doesn't count. If they pay into your Santander account any other way, then you can count it (unless there's another rule about gambling not counting).

A payment by Betfair, or any other bookie, is not normally a refund.

You can also ask Betfair for payment by bank transfer, which I believe they process as a BACS payment.