MSE News: Santander 123 rate to be slashed to 1.5%

badger09

ic451uk wrote: »

If keeping £20,000 in the account as a savings account, all other things being equal the November situation (ignoring tax and cashback) will be:
Interest on £20,000 at 1.5% = £300, less £60 account fee = £240
Interest on £20,000 in the top rate RCI account (1.2%) = £240
Therefore, unless RCI drops its rate, the only difference between RCI and Santander is the cashback. However, if this is less than £5 per month, it may be better to go for the Halifax Reward current account (£5 per month reward subject to criteria).
Therefore, I would suggest the following actions come November:
Average more than £5 cashback per month? Stick with Santander.
Are other high interest current accounts worth it (e.g. Club Lloyds) given they may well follow Santander's lead? Switch to the best one available at the time.
Otherwise, put savings in RCI and open a Halifax Reward Account.

IC

However, RCI accounts are not covered by FSCS, but by the French equivalent. That would be an issue for many of us who were affected by the Icelandic crisis:cool:

Nationwide8 wrote: »

If you've exhausted all other higher interest current accounts and RSs I wonder at what point you start to consider Premium Bonds ?
Of course PB are not a guaranteed win but the prize fund is supposed to be 1.25 % so on £20,000 = £250 with the chance you could win higher....and lower of course.
If the £5 fee for Santander isn' t covered by cash back you will get £238...
If fee covered you will get £298..

Hmmm.....

That's assuming the PB annual fund prize rate doesn't also drop;)

Snowbelle

Dont forget anyone who also has a regular savings account with them this needs to be funded from a Sandanter Current account so this may delay any decisions on closing the 123.

YorkshireBoy

Snowbelle wrote: »

Dont forget anyone who also has a regular savings account with them this needs to be funded from a Sandanter Current account so this may delay any decisions on closing the 123.

Downgrading takes less than 10 minutes. No need to "close".

sharpharp

Pat yourselves on the back Brexit voters, you kicked this off....


Deffo ditching and going back to stocks and shares/Peer lending.
It was bad enough Santander having the cheek to up the fee to £5 a short while ago, and now this..... Santander can go do one, i'm Brexitting Santander in November

gadgetmind

We can effectively earn 2% in our mortgage offset account (mortgage is to fund house loan to daughter and she pays us interest) so we'll find a decent home for a few £k to cover bills etc. and slam the rest into the offset account.

But not until November.

karlie88

sharpharp wrote: »

Santander can go do one, i'm Brexitting Santander in November

Don't you mean Santexit?

Or if you're feeling fruity, Sexit. :eek:

harz99

Snowbelle wrote: »

Dont forget anyone who also has a regular savings account with them this needs to be funded from a Sandanter Current account so this may delay any decisions on closing the 123.

Agreed, for people with three 123 ACs you can pay both RS accounts from the joint 123 if needed.

Pincher

I did a three year fixed at 1.5%, and a five year fixed at 1.75% in April 2016, and braced for impact.

Do people really want to wait till BOE hits 0.1%?

ISA allowance is going up to £20k, for 2017/18, I think.
Are we being herded into S&S ISAs?

badger09

gadgetmind wrote: »

We can effectively earn 2% in our mortgage offset account (mortgage is to fund house loan to daughter and she pays us interest) so we'll find a decent home for a few £k to cover bills etc. and slam the rest into the offset account.

But not until November.

Hope that doesn't take you over your PSA gadgetmind:cool:

skybluesaver

Is it possible to switch the 123 current account to the lite account without losing the benefit of paying into the monthly saver?