Santander 123 - Back to Being Worth it?

B0bbyEwing

anotheruser said:

Plus, you didn't particularly answer the question.

You'll get used to it.

I've gone dizzy with all this going round in circles. Sun is shining outside. Time to enjoy.

Actually, in reality, that's time to make a brew & consolidate some accounts.

RG2015 said:

I admire your honesty.

Someone else, possibly worse off than you, is paying for you to get an excellent banking service free of charge.

And you appear to see no reason to acknowledge this fact.

Sorry, as I posted that to anotheruser, I've just seen about 5 posts that I never saw earlier.

As your question is a fair enough one to ask, I'll give it an answer. Well, it wasn't a question, but it comes across as you not understanding why I have that viewpoint. So I'll explain....

Your bit in bold there. No, I don't. Reason being, I don't care. I'm not sure how else to say it. It's really that simple.

If something is available for free or at profit to me then I'll have it. I don't need to ask why it's free, how it's free, I don't care. 

The flow chart is very basic. Up at the top "is it free". 

Under that yes - go get it then.
Or no - go find one that's free.

The end.

There is no branch for me to go start finding out the whys and hows. I don't need to know. I care about as much about that as I do over what the guy across the street is having for tea tonight.

Daliah

anotheruser said:

And getting back to the topic...

What makes the Santander 123 Lite better than the full fat 123 account?

If you have an average of £5000 in that account, surely the interest on that outweighs the fee?

The interest rate on the 123 Lite is 0%.

The 123 Lite is better than the full fat 123 because it lets you do everything you can do with the full fat but it costs less per month and many can make a profit from the DD cashback. How much that profit is depends on your individual situation, and for some people, it isn't possible to make a profit at all.

It is possible to make a small profit from a permanently fully loaded full fat 123 - but the maximum you can make would be the equivalent of 0.7% AER. This is clearly a rather uncompetitive rate as you can get 3 times as much elsewhere, so it would be a bit silly to keep the money in the full fat 123. 

phillw

anotheruser said:
20 years ago, nearly every bank account was free.

I find it facinating that people are very forgetful.

This new "we're gonna charge you" is still a relatively new thing (and hasn't really taken off in a big way). 

Only in the UK though. My friends in other countries are amazed by the concept of free banking.

natwest/rbs/santander charging you a monthly fee and then giving you more money back for using their services, is even stranger.

RG2015

B0bbyEwing said:

anotheruser said:

Plus, you didn't particularly answer the question.

anotheruser said:

Plus, you didn't particularly answer the question.

You'll get used to it.

Santander 123 or 123 lite, back to being worth it?

123, no, as savings accounts offer much better rates, and in my opinion it is uneconomic to hold more than minimal amounts in current accounts.

123 lite, has always been worth it, but is better now owing to the massive increases in energy costs.

anotheruser

For my own notes:
1% - £1.46 pm
2% - £3 pm
3% - (would be £6 twice a year, but change water bills to quarterly, which makes £12 pa as over the £5 limit for that tier)
TOTAL: £66
- £24 (fee) = £42

Same with the full fat 123 account but adding the 1% interest on balances for say £5000 would mean:
TOTAL: £66 (cashback) + £50 (interest) = £116
- £48 (fee) = £68

Club Lloyds (using the same £5000 reference) = £40pa
Halifax free £5 = £60

The difference of £20 a year (my current bank) isn't worth moving all the funds, new cards, changing payment methods on websites, Google Pay plus more.


As others may store more than £5000 in there, you can see why I question why people use the Lite account more than the normal version.  Perhaps there's a lot more people interested in messing about with savings accounts than what I thought.

B0bbyEwing

phillw said:

anotheruser said:
20 years ago, nearly every bank account was free.

I find it facinating that people are very forgetful.

This new "we're gonna charge you" is still a relatively new thing (and hasn't really taken off in a big way). 

Only in the UK though. My friends in other countries are amazed by the concept of free banking.

Think is, if we were all the same, which country would be the 1 country that every other country had to be like

Different countries are ... different, because they're ... different countries

Daliah

anotheruser said:

And if these easy access savings accounts are so great - why aren't they recommended on here?  I saw none from the rankings website quoted earlier advertised on this site as being "ground-breaking".  Why is that?

As an MSE user of 10 years, surely you have come across the Top Easy Access Savings Accounts thread with 1.5 million views and 3,706 pages?

Though you are right, just about no accounts - current or savings - are described as "ground-breaking", and I don't think anyone would every seriously call any of them that.

phillw

Deleted_User said:

Thanks to OP for starting this useful thread. Due to a change in my personal circumstances, I am now paying all household bills (plus mobile phone) by DD from my Santander Everyday current account, so I have just completed an online form to upgrade it to 123 Lite. After the fee I should make around £2 per month in cashback, or £24 per year. Took all of 2 minutes to complete the form. As a well-known supermarket says, every penny counts.

If every penny counts, then opening a natwest reward and rbs reward account and paying 2 direct debits out of each and logging in to the app once a month would net you £6 a month. There is a £2 fee, but you get £2 for each direct debit (up to 2) and £1 for logging in.

It's best done with DD that santander don't pay cash back on, but my mobile would give me 5p & so I haven't bothered with that yet.

Daliah

anotheruser said:

Many people in this thread note the 123 lite, which suggests they do not have a huge amount of money in their current accounts, otherwise, like I suggested, surely the FF 123 account would become worth it (so long as they aren't into transferring money here there and everywhere... IE, in these easy access savings accounts).

The 123 full fat used to be superb for keeping £20k in them at all times, especially when you could have any number of them. I used to have 4 (to keep under £85k) for a long time. But it's now been years since that account has just not been worth having any longer.

With Faster Payments, transferring money here there and everywhere is a doddle, and it's obviously not a task that's required daily. But as with everything - you are free to do what you like with your cash. If keeping it in a 123 full fat floats your boat, keep it there. If making 3 times the interest is more your thing, you wouldn't go near a 123 full fat these days.

RG2015

phillw said:

Deleted_User said:

Thanks to OP for starting this useful thread. Due to a change in my personal circumstances, I am now paying all household bills (plus mobile phone) by DD from my Santander Everyday current account, so I have just completed an online form to upgrade it to 123 Lite. After the fee I should make around £2 per month in cashback, or £24 per year. Took all of 2 minutes to complete the form. As a well-known supermarket says, every penny counts.

If every penny counts, then opening a natwest reward and rbs reward account and paying 2 direct debits out of each and logging in to the app once a month would net you £6 a month. There is a £2 fee, £2 for each direct debit (up to 2) and £1 for logging in.

Definitely. I have all three, NatWest and RBS Reward and Santander 123 lite. Four if you include my NatWest joint reward account.

Could actually do an RBS joint reward as well plus sole accounts for Mrs RG2015, but she thinks I am insane as it is.