Barclays or Santander ( switch)?

LightKnow

Hi everyone, I need some help, I done what ever research I can and looked around but I hoping someone here might Abel give extra input

So am currently with Halifax but thinking of switching to either Santander or Barclays.

My reasons for switching are for cashback and bill cashback.

But am not sure I may qualify for the bill cashback. I have one direct debit going out but unsure if car insurance will count as 2nd

If I were to soley use store cashback, Which would be more ideal ?
I mainly shop at - Asda , WHSmith, Holland and Barrett , boots, pc world etc

Do one of them banks have good saving schemes or is using shares or bonds through them any good ?

Apologies for such long explanation, trying to find ways to save up or make most of a banks facility

Thank in advance

enthusiasticsaver

Santander only do cashback on bills paid by direct debit like Council tax, water rates, phone and media and gas and electric. Car insurance will not count so I would not swap to Santander if you just have one direct debit. Santander 123 credit card does cashback on supermarket shopping, department shopping and fuel. There is a list of which stores participate on the Santander website.

[Deleted User]

Some banks give "retailer rewards" where you can earn cashback.

For more on-going cashback get a credit card that pays it.

PRAISETHESUN

For Santander 123, if you pay your car insurance by DD then although you wont get any cashback, it will count for the DD requirement if it pays out monthly. Otherwise you won't receive ANY cashback unless you have at least 2 DDs pay out every month. For a list of what they will pay cashback on, check their website. As for store cashback, there are plenty of other places you can get this. Sites like TopCashBack or Quidco also tend to offer similar cashback deals so don't switch to a bank solely for these type of deals.

eskbanker

PRAISETHESUN wrote: »

For Santander 123, if you pay your car insurance by DD then although you wont get any cashback, it will count for the DD requirement if it pays out monthly. Otherwise you won't receive ANY cashback unless you have at least 2 DDs pay out every month.

Not true - Santander's DD criteria for interest (for the full 123) and cashback (for both the full and lite variants) are to have two active DDs, with no requirement for these to be paid monthly.

PRAISETHESUN

eskbanker wrote: »

Not true - Santander's DD criteria for interest (for the full 123) and cashback (for both the full and lite variants) are to have two active DDs, with no requirement for these to be paid monthly.

Fair point that actually - just double checked. In which case ignore my point above about not receiving ANY cashback. Still won't get cashback on the insurance DD itself though.

Katiehound

Barclays had a switch deal which has either just ended or is about to end. For that you needed 2 x monthly DDs to be paid out to earn £14 in Blue Rewards (doubled) less the monthly £4 fee so a profit of £10 per month for a year =£120.

If you don't have DDs then look for a cashback CC.
What is Asda's CC like?
Otherwise clock up on as many loyalty points as you can and use TCB too.
Every so often (this w/e is one) TCB send out a £2.50 voucher code set against a minimum spend. That's when I stock up on things from Boots or Superdrug but allow extra to account for VAT.

Katiehound

Just seen Barclays switch deadline is November 30th.
But as I said above- you nedd 2 x DDs to make any money

System

Katiehound wrote: »

Barclays had a switch deal which has either just ended or is about to end. For that you needed 2 x monthly DDs to be paid out to earn £14 in Blue Rewards (doubled) less the monthly £4 fee so a profit of £10 per month for a year =£120.

The Barclays switch is really on worth £84 (£7 per month) as £36 (£3 per month) is standard on the account anyway

LightKnow

I appreciate everyone's Reply and feedback, this has given me some further insight,

I like to enquire some further stuff, Is Barclays cashback maxed at 2% or can some offers be higher . E.g on Halifax just eat has 10% cash back and other like 3 % etc

2nd Is Barclays good for investment ? E.g like shares ? Or any other

Lastly am not good with understanding interest and 0% stuff on cards. It takes me awhile to grasp it, so my question is, if am earning between 700 to 900 pounds a month and if I did end up using Barclays. What stuff would be best options for me ?

Is there perks having more than one bank ?

Sadly banking terms and stuff goes over me.