Downgrading Santander 123 to 123 Lite not straightforward

greyteam1959

roddydogs said:

Just  noticed that on the 3rd August it goes from 1% to 0.60%, yes I realise you already know.

What does ???

20SmthngSver

The CEO of Santander saying that customers can still earn £300 a year. Yeah, if you have at least £20k at all times, and paying out £500 a month on each of the 1 2 3 categories. Hardly anyone. 

My Dad is finally considering downgrading. He upgraded from Everyday to 123 four years ago, was getting about £50 a month interest as it never went below £20k by pay day. Council tax at £2 and Comms at £4.50, meaning as much as £60 a month then. That's now gone down to £30 since 1.5% (£25 after fee). Now from August, after deducting the £5 fee, he'll be down to £10 a month. I think he can see that holding that money there is certainly now a dead duck, is thinking of downgrading to 123 Lite to get £5 a month on cashback from Council Tax and Comms, and opening a Top Easy Access account just to keep the same afloat.

brewerdave

Downgraded both of our remaining 123 Accounts on Sunday. Must admit to missing the insecure element of the changeover!!
Yesterday shifted all of the excess cash elsewhere. By my estimation ,we will "earn"  ~ £80 pa in cashback, ie £56 over charges. As long as I can keep the average balances below £600 in total ,its worth keeping both accounts, with one as a potential donor account. 
However, for simplicity, I'm thinking of transferring all DDs to one account and closing the other as there doesn't seem to be any other current account offerings worth moving to at the moment?

schiff

Trying to transfer a lump to Lloyds I can't get a OTP. Tried twice, logged out, tried again. It's hanging on to my money! Will try later, probably inundated.

roddydogs

greyteam1959 said:

roddydogs said:

Just  noticed that on the 3rd August it goes from 1% to 0.60%, yes I realise you already know.

What does ???

123 full fat a/c last straw for me.

schiff

schiff said:

Trying to transfer a lump to Lloyds I can't get a OTP. Tried twice, logged out, tried again. It's hanging on to my money! Will try later, probably inundated.

Tried again and it worked OK.

20SmthngSver

If you have £20k and get about £5 or more back in cashback each month, the 123 still beats the 123 Lite. My Dad has £20k and gets about £6.50 a month in cashback. At 0.6%, after the £5 fee, he'll still be getting about £10 a month. On 123 Lite, that would be about £5 a month. 

Of course, the more they've cut the rate, the more you've had to keep in the account to get more than the fee back. 

digalumps

yes but if he took that 20k and put it into a 1.2% savings account he would get £240 a year compared with 20k x 0.6 less £60 ie £60 so 4x more interest

ratechaser

20SmthngSver said:

If you have £20k and get about £5 or more back in cashback each month, the 123 still beats the 123 Lite. My Dad has £20k and gets about £6.50 a month in cashback. At 0.6%, after the £5 fee, he'll still be getting about £10 a month. On 123 Lite, that would be about £5 a month. 

Of course, the more they've cut the rate, the more you've had to keep in the account to get more than the fee back. 

Beats it in what way? Yes in absolute £ terms the return is better. But if that 20k is sitting there, it could be sitting in a Marcus/Saga account earning an awful lot more.

Happy to continue to milk the cashback from 123 Lite, but there's simply no good argument for keeping the full fat 123 any more. 

born_again

What happens if you have the regular saver? Does it also cover the 123 lite?