Want to be a tart, am I doing this right?

Sunshine_and_Roses

At the moment, myself and OH have a Santander 123 account each and a joint 123 account. We have our wages paid into our separate accounts and have phone bills etc coming out of these, then a standing order each to the joint account where all our bills and spending come out of. We each have the 5% linked savings, mine due to end in March but OH only just taken out. If possible I would like to leave these accounts as they are due to interest rates and cashback.

I have a couple of Barclays accounts which I used for mystery shopping, Quidco etc. I am planning on using the more dormant one as my account to switch. I have set up one charity donation from this account, and will set up another one shortly.

I am looking to do the M&S current account first. So do I set up a standing order from my Santander 123 account in my name to my Barclays account for £1000 a month, and then apply for the M&S account? By then the two charity accounts will be up and running and the £1000 will be going in for the £5 a month bonus. M&S will switch the three payments and ask Barclays to close the account.

Have I got the basics right for the first switch?

I will then look at an account for my OH and also a joint one, but one step at a time!!

YorkshireBoy

I am looking to do the M&S current account first. So do I set up a standing order from my Santander 123 account in my name to my Barclays account for £1000 a month, and then apply for the M&S account?

SOs are not necessary.

I will then look at an account for my OH and also a joint one, but one step at a time!!

Switching a joint account is like throwing £100+ away! That's because you'd both then be ineligible for sole account switching incentives with that provider. Stick to sole accounts for switching incentives. By all means make them joint afterwards, but not before you've both had the sole incentives.

Sunshine_and_Roses

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

SOs are not necessary.Switching a joint account is like throwing £100+ away! That's because you'd both then be ineligible for sole account switching incentives with that provider. Stick to sole accounts for switching incentives. By all means make them joint afterwards, but not before you've both had the sole incentives.

Thanks, did not realise that. So I can apply for the M&S under sole name, but not do a joint account as well?

YorkshireBoy

clareski wrote: »

Thanks, did not realise that. So I can apply for the M&S under sole name, but not do a joint account as well?

That's my understanding from reading the T&Cs. You don't seem to agree, as you were planning a joint switch later in the hope of another incentive payment?

ValiantSon

If I've understood correctly, you no longer want to use Santander 123 accounts, but you are going to initiate a switch of one of your Barclays accounts. If that is the case then there is no issue, but I just wanted to suggest that if you feel you aren't getting the benefit from the 123 account it might be worth downgrading to 123 Lite where you will still get the cashback on direct debits, but no interest, for the smaller fee of £1 p/m.

ValiantSon

When you asked about the SO, where you thinking of the requirement for minimum funding of the M&S account? If so then you can set up the SO once the M&S account is open.

(Edit post function still not working properly).

YorkshireBoy

ValiantSon wrote: »

If I've understood correctly, you no longer want to use Santander 123 accounts

Exactly the opposite in fact. See the last sentence in para 1.


Santander Lite would be good, assuming they haven't already filled all the 5%/3%/2% current accounts. I'm guessing they have though, otherwise why be content with 1.5% (or less depending on DD cashback)?

Katiehound

clareski wrote: »

I am looking to do the M&S current account first. So do I set up a standing order from my Santander 123 account in my name to my Barclays account for £1000 a month, and then apply for the M&S account? By then the two charity accounts will be up and running and the £1000 will be going in for the £5 a month bonus. M&S will switch the three payments and ask Barclays to close the account.

Have I got the basics right for the first switch?
!

When I switched an account to M&S yes, it needed £1k per month funding- which I did by SO.
The DDs do not need to be monthly as long as they are active ie they could be an annual subscription. (You might want to save monthly DDs for another account switch!)
That is, of course ... unless t&cs have changed!

Sunshine_and_Roses

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Exactly the opposite in fact. See the last sentence in para 1.


Santander Lite would be good, assuming they haven't already filled all the 5%/3%/2% current accounts. I'm guessing they have though, otherwise why be content with 1.5% (or less depending on DD cashback)?

Yes we stil have the three 123 accounts, have the max amount in these so earning 1.5% interest on £20k. I managed to get the Tesco account at 3% for £3k before you needed to set up DD for it as well. I need to have a look at the other accounts at some point, paying better interest rates but for a smaller balance.

Sunshine_and_Roses

Katiehound wrote: »

When I switched an account to M&S yes, it needed £1k per month funding- which I did by SO.
The DDs do not need to be monthly as long as they are active ie they could be an annual subscription. (You might want to save monthly DDs for another account switch!)
That is, of course ... unless t&cs have changed!

I did not think about annual DDs! I have one magazine subs which is just for three months, will be looking to cancel at the end of the trial term though.

Sunshine_and_Roses

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

That's my understanding from reading the T&Cs. You don't seem to agree, as you were planning a joint switch later in the hope of another incentive payment?

No, I was being greedy, thinking we could do a switch each and also a joint one . I am looking at setting up a basic current account with Santander for OH, two small charity DDs, £1000 SO then switching to M&S as well. I am thinking that if I put an initial £25 into the account which will cover 12 monthly charity payments of £1 a month each, set up the SO from 123 to M&S and back again, I can forget about it and enjoy £185 on a gift voucher in 12 months time?