Santander 7% linked account

MQA

I had opened my Edge current account purely for the Santander edge saver  7% interest . I was told in order to get the 7% interest, I need to pay the £3 monthly fee, even though I do not need the cash back rewards.  On 31/05/24. Santander had told me again, that the £3 fee is not just for cash back but for other products eg the 7% interest rate.   I wanted to check how I can stop the £3 monthly fee but still get the 7% interest?

danny13579

MQA said:

I had opened my Edge current account purely for the Santander edge saver  7% interest . I was told in order to get the 7% interest, I need to pay the £3 monthly fee, even though I do not need the cash back rewards.  On 31/05/24. Santander had told me again, that the £3 fee is not just for cash back but for other products eg the 7% interest rate.   I wanted to check how I can stop the £3 monthly fee but still get the 7% interest?

According to the terms, the £3 fee is to maintain the account. 



What we have shown on here is how to get around paying the £3 fee by not satisfying the conditions for cashback. 

I don't think it's really Santander's intention for people to be able to use the Edge account without paying the fee and any agent you chat to will just read off their script that the £3 has to be paid if you have the account.

overspender22

So what happens if you don’t trigger the £3 fee ? Will interest not be paid?

danny13579

overspender22 said:

So what happens if you don’t trigger the £3 fee ? Will interest not be paid?

The £3 fee is for maintaining the Edge Current account. There is no interest paid on that.

If you mean the 7% AER (6.78% gross) rate on the Edge Saver for the first 12 months, you get that once you keep the Edge Current account open.

overspender22

Yes so do I need to pay the fee to get the interest in the edge saver?

WillPS

overspender22 said:

Yes so do I need to pay the fee to get the interest in the edge saver?

No. An open account kept sufficiently inactive so as not to pay a fee is fine.

adindas

I just switched my account to Santander Everyday account about a month ago, so it no longer visible to switch it to Santander edge account. After getting switching reward, is it possible to upgrade it to Santander Edge to benefit 7% interest up to £4k?? Is it possible to maintain Edge account without paying the monthly fee and if yes how ? thx

surreysaver

MQA said:

I had opened my Edge current account purely for the Santander edge saver  7% interest . I was told in order to get the 7% interest, I need to pay the £3 monthly fee, even though I do not need the cash back rewards.  On 31/05/24. Santander had told me again, that the £3 fee is not just for cash back but for other products eg the 7% interest rate.   I wanted to check how I can stop the £3 monthly fee but still get the 7% interest?

Who told you?  You're better off reading the T&Cs yourself, or asking on here, as most of the time staff at the banks are not trained properly, and don't know what they're talking about.

danny13579

adindas said:

I just switched my account to Santander Everyday account about a month ago, so it no longer visible to switch it to Santander edge account. After getting switching reward, is it possible to upgrade it to Santander Edge to benefit 7% interest up to £4k?? Is it possible to maintain Edge account without paying the monthly fee and if yes how ? thx

Did you do the current switching offer (began 14th May) or previous switching offer (18th March to 4th April)?

I ask because the current switching offer doesn't include the Everyday account, but the previous one did.

You can change the Everyday account to an Edge current account through online banking, not through the (old) app.

One way to maintain the Edge current account without paying the £3 fee is to ensure that less than £500 is deposited into the account every month (a month starts on the month-iversary of you opening the Edge current account), thereby never satisfying the the conditions for receiving cashback.

adindas

danny13579 said:

Giraffe76 said:

If i tried doing what you suggest would this avoid the monthly fee for the lifetime of me having the account?

Yes. Once you ensure that less than £500 is deposited into the Edge Current Account every month (each month starts on the anniversary of you opening the edge account and resets on this date). 

To trigger the £3 fee you need to fulfil the conditions for cashback. In any month deposit £500 into the Edge Current Account and have 2 active direct debits.

I understand that to avoid the £3 monthly fee in the Edge account and still benefit from the 7% saving interest on up to £4,000 you need to bypass the cashback condition. So, if you neither set up direct debits nor deposit £500 monthly, you could maintain the Edge current account indefinitely as a condition to get 7% saving variable interest. My questions are

1. Is my understanding correct ? 

Sometimes what is stated in the TCs is not what is really implemented in the execution of the program. 

2. About the way around to avoid triggering this £3 fee is this based on real experience or a hypothetical scenario based on TCs interpretation? TIA?