Santander 123 warning

[Deleted User]

I'm about to close my Santander 123 account so waited until the £5 fee was paid and received interest for that month. 2 direct debits went out and £500 paid in but they have refused to pay the interest on the accounts as after the direct debits were paid I switched them to one of my other Santander accounts. It doesn't matter that they both paid out in that current month, because I switched them before the end of the month I no longer have two "Active" Direct debits so no interest. I've lost £25 so I thought I'd warn others.

Kernel_Sanders

Deleted_User wrote: »

I'm about to close my Santander 123 account so waited until the £5 fee was paid and received interest for that month..... I've lost £25

I'm surprised this has gone unchallenged. £25 is a full month's interest, so we aren't talking about a part-month after you told them you would close it yet you've stated you received interest!

[Deleted User]

Sorry, I've reread it and realised it's confusing. I WAS waiting to receive the interest BEFORE closing the account but didn't receive any. Hope that clears it up.

The situation is you can have two direct debits that come out yearly on the account and you'll get the interest but having two direct debits coming out in one month and then moving one means you lose the interest. They are not interested in whether the DD's are paying out or not, just as long as they are registered on the account.

I had three accounts with £60,000 in (total). I'm closing two of them and turning the other one into Santander 123 lite meaning I just pay a £1 a month but still receive the cashback. I'll obviously only be keeping enough money in the account to pay the direct debits.

[Deleted User]

I've just thought, you could have two direct debits set up to pay two Credit cards, never spend any money on those cards but as far as Santander are concerned that's good enough. Wish I'd thought of it before.

badger09

Deleted_User wrote: »

I've just thought, you could have two direct debits set up to pay two Credit cards, never spend any money on those cards but as far as Santander are concerned that's good enough. Wish I'd thought of it before.

You would have to spend money on both cards, at least once a year, otherwise the DDs would become dormant, i.e. not active:cool: