Santander 123 account switch

Toonsy

I got an email today from Santander about the 123 account and after ten years of having an everyday current account with Santander I'm thinking I may aswell apply as I fulfil their criteria plus the cashback pays more than the fee and the interest on balances is higher.

Question is would I retain my current account number/arranged overdraft facility or would it be a complete new application with new bank details etc?

surreysaver

I would imagine you would retain your current account number. I certainly did when I changed my account to a 123 some years ago. Have you looked at the 123 Lite? I don't know how much money you've got, but unless you've got enough to claim the 1.5% interest on to cover the £5 account fee, you may be better off with the 123 Lite, as that only costs £1 a month, and you still get the cashback on direct debits, you just don't get the interest.

And of course, if you change it to a 123 Lite, you get 5% cashback on Apple / Android Pay until the end of next month.

Toonsy

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully it stays the same but now I've had a second opinion I'll go into branch to clarify and apply.

I've used the calculator and it suggests that I'm still earning cashback/interest over and being the £5 so it's still worth it I guess.

YorkshireBoy

The sort code and account number will stay the same, meaning no changes are required for DDs, in-bound payments, etc.


But, as above, why not switch to 'Lite' and put your savings to better use elsewhere?...£4 less per month going to Santander, and 2-5% elsewhere, should mean you near double your return from what it is now? Unless you've already filled all the 2-5% accounts?

Toonsy

Yeah I've got different pots in different places earning more but I like to keep a current account balance of a couple of grand 'just in case something crops up and at the moment its earning 0.1% so may aswell boost it a bit

YorkshireBoy

Toonsy wrote: »

Yeah I've got different pots in different places earning more but I like to keep a current account balance of a couple of grand 'just in case something crops up and at the moment its earning 0.1% so may aswell boost it a bit

That's what credit cards are for.

That "couple of grand" could make a clean 1.1 to 1.3% in an ordinary savings account such as Tesco et al...and you wouldn't have to pay them (a net) £4 a month to keep it there.

£2,000 x 1.5% / 12 = £2.50 per month at Santander

Less the net £4 fee = a loss of £1.50 per month!

The same cash in a 1% savings account returns £1.66 per month...plus the £4 per month saving by going to 'Lite' = £5.66

So you're taking a £1.50 loss in favour of a £5.66 gain?...that's a lot of money over a year!

And if you say you need immediate access (ie for a debit card purchase), then Tesco savings do FPs 7 days a week!

If I've taken the "couple of grand" figure too literally, what's the break even point between you losing money and making money?

Toonsy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

That's what credit cards are for.

That "couple of grand" could make a clean 1.1 to 1.3% in an ordinary savings account such as Tesco et al...and you wouldn't have to pay them (a net) £4 a month to keep it there.

£2,000 x 1.5% / 12 = £2.50 per month at Santander

Less the net £4 fee = a loss of £1.50 per month!

The same cash in a 1% savings account returns £1.66 per month...plus the £4 per month saving by going to 'Lite' = £5.66

So you're taking a £1.50 loss in favour of a £5.66 gain?...that's a lot of money over a year!

And if you say you need immediate access (ie for a debit card purchase), then Tesco savings do FPs 7 days a week!

If I've taken the "couple of grand" figure too literally, what's the break even point between you losing money and making money?

Hi thanks for the number crunching. Anything other than round numbers is beyond me :rotfl:

Just to say a couple of grand is just an ideal and it fluctuates but that's what I aim for so some months there's less in there (like now as I'm currently holidaying in Turkey and I'm withdrawing free sterling from cash points to exchange over here - fee free of course!)

Also I'm no fan of credit cards as I got myself into trouble with them (pre MSE era) so I've defaulted to a 'cash is king mechanism lol

Toonsy

Just to report back....

If you're changing current account product with Santander it's a transfer not a new application so you keep same bank cards/account numbers/current arranged overdraft limits etc unless you have only a basic current account where you gave to go through a full application.