Santander 123 account - Problems

martynevanslfc

Has anyone else found the Santander 123 account has gone rubbish? Since they changed the cashback rewards we are making about £1-£2 a month. I questioned them because we were not receiving the 2% cashback on Energy payments, they replied with as you are with SSE we class them as communications so you are getting the 1%. I said to them you can clearly see the direct debits are for Gas and Electricity and they just said tough they are a communication company. 

The child ISA rates have also gone to nothing

eskbanker

There are different sub-brands within SSE, so they do (primarily) provide energy services but do also brand comms under the same overall banner - you can see this by searching for 'sse' at https://www.santander.co.uk/landing/current-accounts/current-account-cashback-search

You could earn 1% cashback with SSE Talk

You could earn 1% cashback with Sse Energy - Phones

You could earn 2% cashback with SSE Energy

If they're wrongly categorising your spend and refuse to budge then log a formal complaint....

Alexland

martynevanslfc said:

Has anyone else found the Santander 123 account has gone rubbish?

The 123 Lite works well for us and they just gave us around £11 cashback so around £9 profit this month but that was in part due to the well known issues EON had with their direct debits over Christmas. They don't seem to reduce the 123 cashback for DD refunds. Normally it would be around £7 profit each month.

I just took up the £75 cashback on a new Santander Life Insurance policy at the minimum level of cover costing me £5 pm (or £4.90 pm after 123 Lite cashback) so when cancelling it after 6 months that should be another circa £45 profit. I have been doing these kind of life insurance offers once or twice a year despite not needing the product as our employer already provides plenty of cover.

martynevanslfc said:

The child ISA rates have also gone to nothing

Then transfer the account for example Coventry are still offering 2.95% on Cash JISAs and even if that drops they seem committed to keeping high JISA rates. Our little kids made an excellent return from investing their Cash JISAs into S&S at somewhere near the bottom of the stock market crash last year. I had only just moved them into cash a few months before so they hadn't missed the gains before that.

MACKEM99

How long does the cashback take to appear on the 123 or 123 lite account?

eskbanker

MACKEM99 said:

How long does the cashback take to appear on the 123 or 123 lite account?

It's paid monthly, based on statement months rather than calendar ones, so somewhere between a day and a month for each qualifying DD!

MACKEM99

Thanks eskbanker so it is feasible to be paid just a few days after DD and thereby each month CB can vary a lot?

colsten

MACKEM99 said:

Thanks eskbanker so it is feasible to be paid just a few days after DD and thereby each month CB can vary a lot?

As long as your DD amounts don't vary a lot from month to month, you will get much the same amount of cashback every month.

funkycredit

It's when you look at what you've earned over the years that you realise it's not too shabby really. I mean I know I've paid a fiver or whatever every month for years but I'm happy overall. I definitely make £10 clear profit every month. Seems capped now as rarely changes from month to month. 

But I'm just shy of a grand - I'll take that thanks! 

colsten

I record all my transactions in AceMoney, so I know exactly how much I paid, and how much I got in cashback and interest, by account. Since 2013, I have netted £9,828.60 from my 123 current accounts, boosted by the heydays of 3% interest on multiple accounts. Over the current tax year, I am still up by £74.74 so far. That's obviously a massive drop, and it's a right PITA to have to keep instant access money in non-Santander savings accounts but I will definitely keep my 123 Lite for as long as I make a profit from cashback. As and if this stops, I will downgrade further to an Everyday account, as I want to keep the account number for credit history purposes, and I also have it recorded as a nominated account with several savings providers.

What I don't care much about are the Santander Retailer Offers - I made £32.32 over the last umpteen years from these, and I can't remember when they last had an offer that I could make use of.

funkycredit

Wow that's pretty awesome. Ten grand in 7 odd years. Good on you. 👍

eskbanker

funkycredit said:

Seems capped now as rarely changes from month to month.

Yes, they introduced cashback capping to £5 per category per month last year....