£10k - but "free" Santander 123?

w00tmanUK

Happy New Year guys.

Long term reader, first time poster.

I have £10k between me and the goodwife. This is currently in a Santander 123 account which we don't have to pay the monthly subscription for (i.e. we get interest and the cash-back on bills without any deductions for the £5 a month or whatever it is usually charged at).

My income has reduced significantly (c.50% pay cut) and means I need to be making our money work as hard as it can for us.

On the basis, it would seem that the best, essentially risk-free (as this is our 6 month bills emergency fund) is 3 x Nationwide FlexDirect accounts, and then the balance to remain in the 123 account. I know I could eke out a small amount more interest by sub-diving the £2.5k left in the 123 but I like to keep a bit of a float in there for larger purchases etc.

My question however is around the £1k pay-in requirement for the FlexDirect. Can I set up a standing order from my 123 to pay £1k into the first FD account on day 1, to be sent back day 2, to then be sent to the second FD account on day 3 and so on?

Sorry for the potential for a stupid question, but I've never done anything like this and can't see any requirement for the £1k to "stay" in the account for a period of time.

Thanks and best wishes for 2017.

YorkshireBoy

You could do what you plan, but you'd lose a bit of money along the way.

A better approach would be to split your account funding activity up into 3 separate days and make each cross-firing transfer on the same day...assuming there will always be >£1K in Santander?

In other words, FD1-->123-->FD1 on the 5th of the month, and FD2-->123-->FD2 on the 9th, and the last one on the 13th.

But...there is a way to make 5% AER on all your cash (after 2-3 months) by also taking a pair of NW regular savers. Depends how much effort you're prepared to put in.

And don't forget a further £400 is available to you at NW with their RAF promotion. Again, a little work...but seems like the cash would be welcome.

w00tmanUK

Ok great, didn't realise I could "cross-fire" (that's a new term - fantastic!) on the same day - thanks!

Hadn't spotted the regular saver - this could be a nice brucey bonus going forward too.

With the FD do I need to account switch - I can't see any requirement to move DDs etc - this would be a killer for me as everything is set up perfectly with Santander at the moment.

Thanks again for your excellent advice - really appreciate it.

YorkshireBoy

You don't need to switch for the interest, only for the RAF incentive.

So you could open the accounts now, and then each of you could open a current account elsewhere, put 2 DDs on it, and switch those into your new sole FD accounts.

Like I said, a bit of work...but £400 is a lot of money!

w00tmanUK

You've made my day - genuinely. At a £25k drop in income, sadly, I have to be a little more astute in what I'm doing with money so effort is good - my time is a little less precious in a cost:effort ratio than before!

colsten

w00tmanUK wrote: »

This is currently in a Santander 123 account which we don't have to pay the monthly subscription for (i.e. we get interest and the cash-back on bills without any deductions for the £5 a month or whatever it is usually charged at).

How did you get a 123 account that pays interest and cashback but has no monthly fee?

want_to_save

colsten wrote: »

How did you get a 123 account that pays interest and cashback but has no monthly fee?

that was gonna be my question

[Deleted User]

colsten wrote: »

How did you get a 123 account that pays interest and cashback but has no monthly fee?

want_to_save wrote: »

that was gonna be my question

Ditto .

System

Sleazy wrote: »

Ditto .

Staff/pensioner of Santander ( former A&L, Abbey or B&B too) probably.

Cretaphile

"But...there is a way to make 5% AER on all your cash (after 2-3 months) by also taking a pair of NW regular savers. Depends how much effort you're prepared to put in."


You can only put £500 per month into the NW Regular Saver

colsten

Cretaphile wrote: »

"But...there is a way to make 5% AER on all your cash (after 2-3 months) by also taking a pair of NW regular savers. Depends how much effort you're prepared to put in."


You can only put £500 per month into the NW Regular Saver

3 x FlexDirect = £7,500
2 x NW RS = £1,000/mth

Easy to see that it would take no more than 3 months to get 5% on the entire £10K.