Santander ‘Edge Up’ launching today

km1500

I think the bonus refers to the Edge savings product, not the current account

To earn interest with Santander Edge, you can apply for the Santander Edge saver account which pays 4.00% AER*/ 3.93% gross** (variable) interest on balances up to £4,000 (includes 0.50% AER (variable) bonus rate for the first 12 months from opening)​.

WillPS

jim1999 said:

The Select Account seems to have disappeared as well.  Not that it offered anything particularly exciting over and above the 123, but surprised they'd just ditch the entire concept.

Yes, surprising as they now lack a product aimed at higher earners.

I'm very happy with my 123 Lite but like others I suspect its useful days are numbered.

themanfromportobello

I ran the calc to get a comparison v my current Select Account. It appears I am better off switching to Edge Up from my Select Account (although I still remain a Select Customer) to the tune of around £3 per month. I earn less on DD with Edge but more with debit card cashback and interest.

Hattie627

I moved from 123 Lite to Santander Edge when Edge launched last autumn. Although the monthly fee went up from £2 to £3, Edge worked out better for me based on my own figures. I have consistently been making about £2 a month (after the fee) on cashback (direct debit and debit card). Also, the 4% on £4000 in the Edge Saver has been good. Although the cashback monthly ceiling on each category (direct debit/debit card) goes up from £10 to £15 with Edge Up, this is no advantage to me as I don't hit anywhere near the £10 ceiling. The interest of 3.50% on £25K with Edge Up can be bettered elsewhere. Also, it seems that the Edge Saver is not available with Edge Up. Plus the monthly fee rises from £3 to £5 with Edge Up.

TheBanker

Hattie627 said:

I moved from 123 Lite to Santander Edge when Edge launched last autumn. Although the monthly fee went up from £2 to £3, Edge worked out better for me based on my own figures. I have consistently been making about £2 a month (after the fee) on cashback (direct debit and debit card). Also, the 4% on £4000 in the Edge Saver has been good. Although the cashback monthly ceiling on each category (direct debit/debit card) goes up from £10 to £15 with Edge Up, this is no advantage to me as I don't hit anywhere near the £10 ceiling. The interest of 3.50% on £25K with Edge Up can be bettered elsewhere. Also, it seems that the Edge Saver is not available with Edge Up. Plus the monthly fee rises from £3 to £5 with Edge Up.

The interesting thing is that the Edge Saver pays 4%, but 0.5% of that is a one year bonus rate. So the standard rare is actually the same as on the Edge Up account. I wonder if at some point they will abolish the Edge Saver, and just apply the 3.5% rate to the Edge current account with a lower cap than the Edge Up account. 

I also wonder what happens if you already have Edge and Edge Saver, but upgrade to Edge Up. Would you lose the Edge Saver as a result?

Although 3.5% can be beaten, I think it will be attractive to people who keep a high balance in their current account as they don't want the hassle of having multiple accounts and moving money around constantly. People on this site, who do generally seem happy to move money to benefit from an extra 0.1% interest over a weekend, are not reflective of bank customers as a whole! Also, unless I am mistaken, the 3.5% up to £25k can't be beaten if you want ATM and branch access?

Hattie627

It's funny how all the intricacies of fee-paying current accounts "with benefits" have become so complicated that it's difficult, if not impossible, to compare them. I'm surprised that this is not a matter for the financial services regulators to get involved with. I read recently that Tesco are in trouble for not always putting the price per gram price on shelf price markers when a price is marked down with Clubcard so that shoppers can compare properly without doing the maths themselves. Trivial complaint against the complications of today's current accounts.

TheBanker

Hattie627 said:

It's funny how all the intricacies of fee-paying current accounts "with benefits" have become so complicated that it's difficult, if not impossible, to compare them. I'm surprised that this is not a matter for the financial services regulators to get involved with. I read recently that Tesco are in trouble for not always putting the price per gram price on shelf price markers when a price is marked down with Clubcard so that shoppers can compare properly without doing the maths themselves. Trivial complaint against the complications of today's current accounts.

I don't think it's a matter for the regulators, provided the information provided is clear, fair and not misleading.

Santander have two similar accounts now. One costs more, and entitles you to more cashback. They have a calculator on their website to show how much cashback each account could generate. Not sure why it's complicated or how it's comparable to what Tesco have been up to?

Futuristic

The account isn't bad, people have also missed the fact it has 0 fx fees incl cash withdrawals and there are quite few countries with Santander branches. It's certainly not a bad offering, quite surprising how good it is actually for a big bank.

The savings rate isn't terrible but ofc no where close to the other random name competitors. If you want a bank - all in one without having to sign up to different providers its a good overall acc imo.

TheBanker

Futuristic said:

The account isn't bad, people have also missed the fact it has 0 fx fees incl cash withdrawals and there are quite few countries with Santander branches. It's certainly not a bad offering, quite surprising how good it is actually for a big bank.

I think it's a good offering for someone simply wants a current account to use as it's designed. The MSE approach seems to be to run multiple accounts in parallel, sweep funds through them to meet minimum deposit requirements, set up £1 direct debits to get switching incentives, make 1p card transactions to benefit from the account where these generate incentives, running multiple regular savings accounts etc. There is nothing wrong with doing this, but it's not how 'normal' people approach their banking and it's not really how banks design their accounts to be used. 

For someone who's not interested in doing all of that, the Edge and Edge Up accounts could be good. Their salary credit will probably meet the minimum pay-in requirement. Their household direct debits and regular card spend will generate cashback, which will likely exceed the account fee, and they can earn interest on surplus funds either in the Edge Saver, or the Edge Up account. 

RN61

Perhaps this will encourage Chase either to allow their 3.5% savings account to be set as funding source for their debit card, which only allows current account to be set at present. Or, pay 3.5% on current account balances!