Santander 123 direct debits

shazkhan111

I am looking to open a Santander 123 account.

To avoid hassle i am trying to setup the two required direct debits between my accounts with another savings provider. Are there any providers that allow direct debits to be setup - read about Tesco somewhere?

And will this qualify for the 3% interest?

Apologies if this has been discussed before but could not find it.

Many thanks

rianna8

I doubt that...

ceredigion

rianna8 wrote: »

I doubt that...

You doubt what ?

bigadaj

ceredigion wrote: »

You doubt what ?

I guess that the OP has looked because it's on dozens of threads.

AnotherJoe

You could always contribute to a couple of charities? Doesn't need to be a lot.

Razoo

shazkhan111 wrote: »

I am looking to open a Santander 123 account.

To avoid hassle i am trying to setup the two required direct debits between my accounts with another savings provider. Are there any providers that allow direct debits to be setup - read about Tesco somewhere?

I don't think you can normally set up DDs (Direct Debits) between your own accounts; usually it's only SOs (Standing Orders) that are permitted.

However, I do have a Tesco Internet Saver account, and it does say that Tesco will set up a DD to receive money regularly from a nominated account. Therefore it does appear that you could arrange for Tesco to set up a 'money in' DD with your Santander 123 account as your nominated source account, which would satisfy one of the two DD requirements.

If you do open a Santander 123 current account, then consider setting up (or transferring) your Direct Debits for Council Tax; Water Charges; Gas; Electricity; Mobile Phone; Home Telephone; TV Packages & Broadband, as all of these payments are eligible for between 1% & 3% cashback. The cashback will offset the £5/month account fee.

And will this qualify for the 3% interest?

To benefit from the Santander 123 account's 3% interest rate, you will need to keep a substantial balance in the account. The interest rate is tiered and only pays the 3% on balances of £3,000+ (up to £20,000).

You'll also need to pay in a minimum of £500/month (and have the two active DDs discussed above).

If you cannot maintain a balance of around £9,000 in your Santander123 current account, then you might do better to open a current account with one of the other banks that offers a good interest rate on lower balances. For example, the TSB Classic Plus pays 5% interest on balances up to £2,000, whilst the TESCO Current Account pays 3% interest on balances up to £3,000. You can compare the best current accounts on the MSE website:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts

Watch out for all the hoops you have to jump through to qualify for the various account benefits.
_____
Razoo

Krash420

As mentioned by Razoo, between accounts you can only set up "Standing Orders", which do not meet the criteria for the account. The only exception to this is Tesco Saving account which allows you to set up a Direct Debit to pull money in from other banks and accounts.

Remember that for Santander you only need an active direct debit, i.e. a direct debit set up which takes payments from your accounts once every 12 months as a minimum. Therefore you don't need a regular direct debit.

If you don't really have any other direct debits, a good one is PayPal. Link it to your Santander account and get it approved for Direct Debits, then once a year transfer say £1 to a friend or family member, and select to pay it from Santander. That will then be 1 of the direct debits that are required.

That said, if you have phone bills or anything else that was mentioned in the post above, I'd suggest transferring them over to get the cashback.

I shan't go into the savings part of your question as Razoo has done a good job answering it in his reply above.

Eco_Miser

Krash420 wrote: »

The only exception to this is Tesco Saving account which allows you to set up a Direct Debit to pull money in from other banks and accounts.

It's not the only exception (see here for others, but has the convenient property of working for more than one current account.

shazkhan111

very useful indeed!

ceredigion

Krash420 wrote: »

As mentioned by Razoo, between accounts you can only set up "Standing Orders", which do not meet the criteria for the account. The only exception to this is Tesco Saving account which allows you to set up a Direct Debit to pull money in from other banks and accounts.



If you don't really have any other direct debits, a good one is PayPal. Link it to your Santander account and get it approved for Direct Debits, then once a year transfer say £1 to a friend or family member, and select to pay it from Santander. That will then be 1 of the direct debits that are required.

Tesco's isn't the only provider to offer the facility by a long shot. In fact you could completely keep it in house within Santander.
Re, paypal, you don't need to pay friend or family , you can send money to yourself.

brenda10

ceredigion wrote: »

Tesco's isn't the only provider to offer the facility by a long shot. In fact you could completely keep it in house within Santander.
Re, paypal, you don't need to pay friend or family , you can send money to yourself.

I thought Santander would have wanted 2 DD's taken from the current account each month, that is brilliant if they only need to be taken out once a year, I understand now that as long as they are active I will meet the criteria on the DD's....... Great.
Brenda10