Better to increase the DD or make occasional one off payments?

Section62

Ultrasonic said:

fly-catchers said:

Ultrasonic said:

Section62 said:

If you don't have one already then consider opening a Santander 123Lite current account and get 2% cashback on your energy bills (much better than the credit card's 0.5%).

Note that there is a £2 monthly fee for the account and a maximum of £5 cashback per month on energy bills (so no cashback on any part of the monthly payment above £250). I have a 123 Lite account myself but just pointing out the limitations.

Edit: full details under Cashback dropdown on this page: 1|2|3 Lite Current Account | Santander UK

If I have read it correctly the £5 cap is separate for each type of Bill you have a DD with them?

Correct. How much interest will you get from your regular saver? My bet is it's considerably less than £175...

I would open a new current account with Nationwide and switch that one to Santander, thus keeping the long-held current account with Nationwide intact, and remaining eligible for the Nationwide RS account.

OP, you may be better off researching/asking about switching on the Budgeting and bank accounts board, most of your questions have been answered there previously.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/budgeting-bank-accounts

Based on what you say I'm fairly sure you will be eligible for the Santander switching bonus. (M&S is linked to HSBC rather than Santander)

fly-catchers

I have got a TSB account which have no DD but it sounds as if you can set them up after the transfer. However while M&S is HSBC, the account I transferred to it was Cahoot which was part of Santander. But I may as well try- nothing to lose as I intend to open an account anyway. Thanks for your help.

arjar

First of all, you might consider consolidating your most vulnerable and valuable plants into one frost protected greenhouse.  You might also consider adding 'thermal mass' to the Greenhouses (stored water works well) to carry forward daytime solar heating into the night.  I hope they're all nicely bubble wrap lined inside!  As far as your payments are concerned, my advice would be to accept and stay with apparently low estimates from your supplier, then pay off the debt as late as possible.  It's effectively a free loan.

Chrysalis

The way I tamed Octopus, was quite simple.

They have my actual smart meter readings now for several months, strong data record of my expected costs.
I have no obligation to let them take more than my current costs as long as my account is not in debit.
If they do the stunt again I will switch to variable DD which I know is their worst nightmare as I stop providing them cashflow, this is the real kicker that brings suppliers into line.

They agreed to fix the DD and I agreed to make manual top up's (within 30 days) if the bill isnt covered.