Marcus is live!

takesyourchances

As a test I done a small withdrawal yesterday and it's still not appeared to test the withdrawal time, everything else seems good just the withdrawal seems slow..I'll check tomorrow if it cleared

Zanderman

NoviceAngel wrote: »

.....I wouldn’t normally bother all the admin for a saving of £4 a month, but the fact Marcus can do 1.5% without a fee, tells me Santander are not exactly playing fare anymore, shame because I’d had that account since Abbey days albeit with a different name and it’s always been my main current account.....

To be fair to Santander you can't compare like that.

Santander's 123 account is a current account, which costs them money to run, especially if, as you say you do, it is your primary current account with presumably lots of use. They administer all your transactions - of all types. They pay interest and they pay cashback. And, yes, they get some money back via the fee.

Marcus is just a savings account. Running costs, for Marcus, will be very low compared to Santander's current account. Transactions will be just a few bank transfers now and then - and only to one linked account. No DDs, no SO's ,no debit card transactions, no cheques (!). Also no cashback to pay.

So yes, Marcus is a good bet for us customers. But you can't say Santander aren't playing fair because Marcus offer 1.5% without a fee. The situations aren't comparable.

(Edited to add: Now if you wanted to compare 123 to 123 Lite, that would be a different matter, and a more relevant comparison.)

takesyourchances

takesyourchances wrote: »

As a test I done a small withdrawal yesterday and it's still not appeared to test the withdrawal time, everything else seems good just the withdrawal seems slow..I'll check tomorrow if it cleared

Update it's cleared ok

NoviceAngel

Zanderman wrote: »

To be fair to Santander you can't compare like that.

Santander's 123 account is a current account, which costs them money to run, especially if, as you say you do, it is your primary current account with presumably lots of use. They administer all your transactions - of all types. They pay interest and they pay cashback. And, yes, they get some money back via the fee.

Marcus is just a savings account. Running costs, for Marcus, will be very low compared to Santander's current account. Transactions will be just a few bank transfers now and then - and only to one linked account. No DDs, no SO's ,no debit card transactions, no cheques (!). Also no cashback to pay.

So yes, Marcus is a good bet for us customers. But you can't say Santander aren't playing fair because Marcus offer 1.5% without a fee. The situations aren't comparable.

(Edited to add: Now if you wanted to compare 123 to 123 Lite, that would be a different matter, and a more relevant comparison.)

That’s a fair point, I’m not convinced about the costs of running DDs or SO’s would actually be a significant cost as I would imagine it’s all done automatically and needs very little human input, but I do acknowledge there would be infrastructure and on going costs associated.

The point I was making is that when the 123 actually paid 3% it was a really good account, and was seen as a game changer and recommend by Martin many times. At the time the 3% was substantially higher than most Instant Access accounts, now at 1.5% that’s no longer the case and as you point out the lite seems a better option.

Now with Marcus also paying 1.5% I think Santander need to raise their offering to get customers back, I do say they need to be fair or risk losing yet more customers as they realise there are better deals out there, and for some better than the 123 lite which won’t be a best fit for everyone.

Cheers

NoviceAngel

MK62

One of the other attractions of a 123 account was access to a 5% regular saver account (even though it's limited to £200pm)......unfortunately that's also gone now (down to 3%), so the reasons for keeping a 123 account have reduced considerably over the years......to the point where now, there's really little reason to have the main 123 account any more, most would be better with just the Lite version (or a switch away to another bank).

Steve_xx

MK62 wrote: »

One of the other attractions of a 123 account was access to a 5% regular saver account (even though it's limited to £200pm)......unfortunately that's also gone now (down to 3%), so the reasons for keeping a 123 account have reduced considerably over the years......to the point where now, there's really little reason to have the main 123 account any more, most would be better with just the Lite version (or a switch away to another bank).

In the main I would concur with your comments. However, for the moment I like the idea of retaining the 123 account as it allows one to keep 20k in there, whilst at least bearing some interest. I have a lot of regular saver accounts and I tend to feed them all from the 123 account, and on the same day. So, the regular saver feeder monies waiting in the 123 account are earning some interest!

NoviceAngel

Steve_xx wrote: »

In the main I would concur with your comments. However, for the moment I like the idea of retaining the 123 account as it allows one to keep 20k in there, whilst at least bearing some interest. I have a lot of regular saver accounts and I tend to feed them all from the 123 account, and on the same day. So, the regular saver feeder monies waiting in the 123 account are earning some interest!

I’ve spent the last few days, disassembling my 123 account.
I’m moving to Club Lloyd’s so I can get 1.5% on 5k and I’ve set up a weekly SO from that to drip feed the 123 lite for DD’s that attract cashback anything over 5k in Lloyd’s goes to Marcus. I also have many regular saver accounts and I’ve now set them all up to go from Lloyd’s 6 in total but didn’t take long to set the new SO’s up.

I’ve had to change all the large credit card DD’s from Santander to Lloyds - that’s been a slight pain but worth it so I don’t have to keep hundreds in 123 lite. I’ve also set up an overdraft in 123 lite of £1k should I mess up.

The only issue is that 123 is my linked account for my ISA, Chip and Marcus so every time I want to top up Lloyd’s from Marcus it has to go via 123 which is a pain.

Incidentally I asked Marcus to change my linked account and apparently you have to download a form and send off a bank account statement from your new account and it’s done that way - barmy can’t be bothered doing all that.

The trick is to keep as little as possible in 123 lite but enough to cover the cashback DD’s and in my case the amounts are not consistent every month. It’s a real shame about the full 123 with a ceiling of 20k it needed very little day to day management.

Good luck to others that do similar to the above.

Steve_xx

NoviceAngel wrote: »

The only issue is that 123 is my linked account for my ISA, Chip and Marcus so every time I want to top up Lloyd’s from Marcus it has to go via 123 which is a pain.

Incidentally I asked Marcus to change my linked account and apparently you have to download a form and send off a bank account statement from your new account and it’s done that way - barmy can’t be bothered doing all that.

You might have been better to retain the 123 account/s? But not in their 123 form. For your liked account problem you could have downgraded the 123 account to Santander's Everyday Current Account, which does not levy a monthly fee. In doing so you will retain the sort code and account number.

MK62

Steve_xx wrote: »

In the main I would concur with your comments. However, for the moment I like the idea of retaining the 123 account as it allows one to keep 20k in there, whilst at least bearing some interest. I have a lot of regular saver accounts and I tend to feed them all from the 123 account, and on the same day. So, the regular saver feeder monies waiting in the 123 account are earning some interest!

I hear you......even though you may be better off with a 123 Lite account, and say a Marcus savings account......the fact is that you won't be swanning off into the sunset with the c£20pa you'll save......still, £20 is £20....

NoviceAngel

Steve_xx wrote: »

You might have been better to retain the 123 account/s? But not in their 123 form. For your liked account problem you could have downgraded the 123 account to Santander's Everyday Current Account, which does not levy a monthly fee. In doing so you will retain the sort code and account number.

Apologies I didn’t make it clear - I changed my full 123 to 123 lite and retain all the cashback DD’s that more than pays the £1 monthly fee and I retain the same sort code and account number.