Santander 123 rate to be cut to 1.5%

xylophone

Transferred all the money to 3 x Nationwide FlexDirect a/cs which I am hoping will pay 5%.

Provided that you comply with the T&Cs and only on a total of £7,500, alas.

Better than a punch in the nose however!

And it gives you and your joint account holder the option of opening the Flex monthly saver - up to £500 a month each at 5%.

dreaming

Nationwide8 wrote: »

The "merry" go down of interest rates will probably kick off more in a couple of weeks when all back from holidays,everything seems on hold at the moment ..
Haven't heard anything about the Premium Bond supposed 1.25% prize fund going down ? That was one the options I was looking at if any account starts earning less than 1.25,although of course PB wins not guaranteed there is always the chance of a bigger win.

I received an e-mail from TSB asking if I would complete a survey on customer satisfaction. Not having anything better to do I did so and some of the questions were about whether I would prefer the rates to be - 4% on £2k limit; 1.5% on £3k limit; 1.75% on £2.5k limit. There were other questions too about if I would switch accounts if the rates/limits changed etc. so I guess they are trying to gauge reaction to possible changes.


My view is that it is all relative. I would obviously rather keep the Santander rate at 3%, and if they were the only ones to lower their rate would be looking elsewhere for my money, but when the others declare their changes (and they will have to fairly soon I would think) then 1.5% on 20k might still be one of the best.

Speculator

xylophone wrote: »

Provided that you comply with the T&Cs and only on a total of £7,500, alas.

Better than a punch in the nose however!

And it gives you and your joint account holder the option of opening the Flex monthly saver - up to £500 a month each at 5%.

Already have the Flexclusive regs which will mature 30/11. I doubt it will be 5% by then. In total, I have about £8.5k going out to various regular savings a/cs pm. The lowest regular rate is the Penrith 300 paying 2.5% from next month.

Not sure what to do with my remaining 123 a/c. May downgrade to lite. All depends what rates are available when the ratre is reduced to 1.5%.

adindas

Speculator wrote: »

Closed one of my 123 a/cs yesterday before the next interest payment on the 3/9 to avoid the £5 fee.

Transferred all the money to 3 x Nationwide FlexDirect a/cs which I am hoping will pay 5%.

It is already reported a few times. The system could detect whether you have more than one FlexDirect paying 5%. But few people have reported they benefited it for at least one month before getting caught.

But please keep the forum informed or pm if you do not want staff from NW in here to notice it ...

Speculator

adindas wrote: »

It is already reported a few times. The system could detect whether you have more than one FlexDirect paying 5%. But few people have reported they benefited it for at least one month before getting caught.

But please keep the forum informed or pm if you do not want staff from NW in here to notice it ...

1 x joint, and 2 x sole for me and wife.

Dave1979

Think I will close the 123 and open 6 Bank of Scotland Classic Vantages (3 in each of our names) paying 3% on £5k in each so £30k. Combined with 3 Classic Plus paying 5% on £6k. Unless TSB and BOS reduce the rates as soon as I have opened them!!!!

youngretired

TSB are reviewing their rates already as surveys are being done now, so looks like they will be reducing soon and from the forum it doesn't look good.

Lloyds group are reviewing their accounts, so possible changes to BOS, Lloyds Club and Halifax reward.

You do know that BOS require 2 monthly direct debits now.

Jackthedog

I will probably get rid of a few accounts including the Santander one in by the end of September.

Apart from a couple to collect switching bonuses I will be looking for the best one that gives bang for your buck for my main current account.

Looks like the s/s isa and some p2p platforms will get topped up this year... this means moving up the risk profile but I can't stomach tiny interest rates on savings and current accounts that will be unlikely to match inflation rates....

Snakey

Assuming you're getting most or all of it tax-free, you're coming out above inflation on most of these interest-paying current accounts. CPI is 0.6% and even RPI is below 2%.

Sure, keep an eye on things in case the position changes significantly, but the market could be volatile over the next couple of years and I wouldn't go chasing higher returns if it doesn't suit your investment timescale or risk profile. If that risk doesn't pay off and you lose capital you'll be crying into your beer wishing you'd stuck with even Santander's proposed 1.5%.

(Not aimed at you but I'm quite surprised, actually, by the number of apparently sensible people who are proposing to do things like this for no other reason than to teach the banks a lesson. Excuse me while I wipe away the tears of mirth. Yes they'll surely be kicking themselves for having lost the opportunity to pay you 5% interest while watching you cycle the minimum payment in and out on the same day once a month and never use the account or the bank for anything that might actually make them some money.)

schiff

For myself I'm going to defer everything till the middle of October, including the usual reminders that someone has posted something on this thread. There is nothing meaningful that I can do before then, as little that applies now is sure to apply then.