Topcashback £25 bonus for opening a Santander Edge Current Account

WillPS

TheBanker said:

Although there is good advice about how to avoid the £3 fee, it's also worth looking at whether your qualifying Direct Debits would generate more than £3 cashback per month (1% cashback is paid on council tax, gas/electricity and mobile phone/internet bills each month). You also get 1% cashback on debit card spend at supermarkets, petrol stations and on public transport). There are seperate £10 caps for direct debit and debit card cashback.

I've moved all my qualifying Direct Debits to this account, so I generate more than £3 cashback. I move the £500 in each month when I get paid, then move the surplus back out again. I don't really use the debit card cashback as my Chase account gives the same benefit (although I note that Santander have launched an Edge Credit Card which pays 2% cashback with a £3 monthly fee, so that might work out better in some circumstances). 

Won't work for everyone, but for households with high bills or who don't have other cashback qualifying cards (or who have Chase but spend more than the monthly cashback cap) it can be beneficial to use the Santander Edge account even though that involves a £3 fee. If you're able to max out the cashback you would make £17 profit each month. 

The only part worth paying the fee for is the DD cashback, IMHO. The 1% limited debit card cashback isn't really worth having:

• Chase cashback cap is rising to £25/month, which would cover this off for most.
  
• If spending more than £2500/month then a rewards credit card of some sort would likely be a better addition - you mention the Santander Edge Credit Card, which is one great example (doesn't need you to pay the Edge fee or even hold an Edge account though, any Santander account would do)
  
• In the case of supermarkets, with the exception of Lidl, you're better off buying an evoucher and paying that way (i.e. Asda 4% via Airtime Rewards, Sainsburys 5% via Perks at Work etc)

On the DD side, if you pay more than £300/month then you might see it as worth it yes. One interesting opportunity is that you can overpay energy, get the cashback then periodically draw your account back down. Deposits have been protected every time a supplier has gone bust previously, not that any seem to be on the brink any more.

Santander Select/123/Lite remains a better deal for those who have it tho.

Slinky

where_are_we said:

£25 Cashback was paid after about 6 weeks and will be spent at Tesco (actually £26.25 with 5% extra via reward wallet) tommorow. I already had a Santander Edge Current Account, so that didn`t stop me from qualifying for the £25 cashback.

I've just opened a new Edge account for my OH and it's tracked perfectly, thanks for this. Look forward to receiving the cashback.  We are now up to the maximum of 2 solo and 1 joint Edge accounts, and I've just opened another Edge Savings account so we have 4 of them now.

To confirm the answer to a question someone else asked about the Saver account, yes the interest rate drops back after a year, but you can close the old account and open a new one to get 7% again. I've done this.

flaneurs_lobster

WillPS said:

On the DD side, if you pay more than £300/month then you might see it as worth it yes.

Did my sums and worked out I would generate ~£5 in DD cashback so moved my monthly payments to Santander.

Completely forgot that Council Tax is only billed for 10 months/yr, account has cost me 50p this/last month.

where_are_we

I forgot to mention I also have a 123 lite (NLA) using up the DD cashback on bills generating about £7 each month with a £3 monthly fee means I am still about £4 a month better off.

Obviously if you are new to Santander, then paying the £3 fee on your Santander Edge Current account by utilising the DD cashback on bills may mean you are better off monthly. Do your own calculations.

The not paying DD`s is for those who are using the Edge Current account as a semi-dormant account just to get the Edge Saver @ 7%

 

TheBanker

WillPS said:

TheBanker said:

Although there is good advice about how to avoid the £3 fee, it's also worth looking at whether your qualifying Direct Debits would generate more than £3 cashback per month (1% cashback is paid on council tax, gas/electricity and mobile phone/internet bills each month). You also get 1% cashback on debit card spend at supermarkets, petrol stations and on public transport). There are seperate £10 caps for direct debit and debit card cashback.

I've moved all my qualifying Direct Debits to this account, so I generate more than £3 cashback. I move the £500 in each month when I get paid, then move the surplus back out again. I don't really use the debit card cashback as my Chase account gives the same benefit (although I note that Santander have launched an Edge Credit Card which pays 2% cashback with a £3 monthly fee, so that might work out better in some circumstances). 

Won't work for everyone, but for households with high bills or who don't have other cashback qualifying cards (or who have Chase but spend more than the monthly cashback cap) it can be beneficial to use the Santander Edge account even though that involves a £3 fee. If you're able to max out the cashback you would make £17 profit each month. 

The only part worth paying the fee for is the DD cashback, IMHO. The 1% limited debit card cashback isn't really worth having:

• Chase cashback cap is rising to £25/month, which would cover this off for most.
  
• If spending more than £2500/month then a rewards credit card of some sort would likely be a better addition - you mention the Santander Edge Credit Card, which is one great example (doesn't need you to pay the Edge fee or even hold an Edge account though, any Santander account would do)
  
• In the case of supermarkets, with the exception of Lidl, you're better off buying an evoucher and paying that way (i.e. Asda 4% via Airtime Rewards, Sainsburys 5% via Perks at Work etc)

On the DD side, if you pay more than £300/month then you might see it as worth it yes. One interesting opportunity is that you can overpay energy, get the cashback then periodically draw your account back down. Deposits have been protected every time a supplier has gone bust previously, not that any seem to be on the brink any more.

Santander Select/123/Lite remains a better deal for those who have it tho.

I agree about the debit card cashback. It's not going to justify the £3 monthly fee and as you point out there are better options for many people. But if you have the account anyway, it might be worth using for some people - e.g. someone who doesn't have a Chase account for some reason, or has already maxed out their Chase cashback (I haven't seen the announcement about it changing to £25), and can't get a rewards credit card.

On the point you make about energy, I have accidentally done this. I bought an electric car last summer so expected my bills to rise, so I increased my Direct Debit. In fact, use of Octopus' smart tariffs and the quite warm winter mean my bills have been lower this year than last, and I've come out of the winter with quite a healthy credit balance, which I've just asked to be refunded. I am going to reduce my Octopus DD so I don't have cash tied up with them. By doing so I am missing out on a bit of Santander cashback, but also avoiding the need to keep requesting credit refunds from Octopus. On the other hand, my council tax is going up, my water bill is going up, and my mobile/internet bills will likely go up in April so they will partially cover my 'loss'. 

sazandy25

Currently have a joint santander 123 which ALL cashback paying direct debits come out of.
Can I open a sole Edge account, avoid the £3 fee as above and just use the saver?

macy08

sazandy25 said:

Currently have a joint santander 123 which ALL cashback paying direct debits come out of.
Can I open a sole Edge account, avoid the £3 fee as above and just use the saver?

Yes, that's what I've done. My Edge account has only had £3 paid into it and no other activity. 

vernall

Just checking that adding the £4000 to your Edge current account to fund the Edge saver, even for the time it takes to transfer it, won’t trigger the monthly payment? Else how do you get it into the saver account? 

flaneurs_lobster

vernall said:

Just checking that adding the £4000 to your Edge current account to fund the Edge saver, even for the time it takes to transfer it, won’t trigger the monthly payment? Else how do you get it into the saver account? 

You can send cash to the Edge Saver by Faster Payment direct from an external account (in my case from Barclays).

Don't think crediting the Edge Current Account would trigger a fee in any case since no Direct Debits have been set up.

BeachNut

flaneurs_lobster said:

vernall said:

Just checking that adding the £4000 to your Edge current account to fund the Edge saver, even for the time it takes to transfer it, won’t trigger the monthly payment? Else how do you get it into the saver account? 

You can send cash to the Edge Saver by Faster Payment direct from an external account (in my case from Barclays).

How about the other way - have you been able to transfer out of the saver direct to an external account?