I've a Santander 123 account, should I move to Edge?

Mr.Boy

I've had a regular 123 account for years, though I know it gradually became less attractive I just never got round to changing things. I've realised these days it's not even offered to new customers.

The 123 account was great since I have a Santander mortgage and all my bills, council tax though I am due to remortgage soon and my energy provider (Octopus) no longer gets a reward, I think.

I don't really want to move to a new bank right at the moment (mid divorce, enough going on!) - is it worth asking Santander to change my existing account to a different product?

david29dpo

I moved to the edge account. £3 a month but cashback on spending and DDs more than cover it  (a lot!!)

FrugaiMacDugal

I was going to suggest 123 Lite, but it doesn't seem to be available now either.

Log on and have a look, easy to switch online.

friolento

If they no longer pay cashback for Octopus on 123, they also won’t pay it on Edge.

The jury is out on that cashback issue - see dedicated thread on the Banking board

I am keeping my 123 Lite for now. If the cashback no longer covers the monthly fee, I’ll downgrade to an Everyday account.

I already have Edge accounts, for access to the Edge Savers, and expect to retain them for this purpose. There is a long discussion thread about the Edge Savers, too.

Sorry I cannot post links to those threads at the moment 

mebu60

I am still getting 2% cashback for Octopus Energy. 

Are you meeting the requirements for the account? Pay in at least £500 pcm, two active DDs, login online once a month or once every three months, can't remember as that last one not likely to be an issue. 

RedImp_2

mebu60 said:

I am still getting 2% cashback for Octopus Energy. 

Are you meeting the requirements for the account? Pay in at least £500 pcm, two active DDs, login online once a month or once every three months, can't remember as that last one not likely to be an issue. 

This comment was related to Octopus changing DD providers and Santander not classing them as Utilities 

phillw

The octopus issue is being fixed. I don't think edge is worth it personally. 123 lite is better, I think edge is lower cashback and higher monthly fee. If you downgrade it then you can never get it back.

You can get better than the debit card cashback as well.

You can open an edge account to get access to their exclusive savings accounts and as long as you don't setup any direct debits then they never charge the edge monthly fee.

Mr.Boy

phillw said:

The octopus issue is being fixed. I don't think edge is worth it personally. 123 lite is better

As another poster mentioned, 123 Lite isn't available now.

cwep2

I made the switch from 123 to Edge about 6 months ago.
I live in NI and we don't have separate water bills and Edge was better for me, I think with monthly water bills the 123 would be better than Edge.

Summary of differences:
123 paid 2% interest on balances (up to 20k), Edge pays no interest on current acct.
123 Fee is £4, Edge fee is £3.
123 Pays 1% / 2% / 3% on utility DDs with energy at 2% and water at 3% (each band capped at £5, max £15) and Edge pays 1% on all the above (max £10).
Edge has a 6% saver on £4k.

There wasn't much in it, my energy tended to hit the £5 cap, I didn't have any water DDs in the 3% band, but I was £1-2 better off in 123, but the £1 lower fee of Edge offset most of that - slight advantage 123. I tended to keep £500-£1000 in my current account so the interest was a bonus, advantage 123 again. But the Edge saver is about 1.5% above savings elsewhere and this "extra interest" more than offset the prior differences. But it was close and about 50p per month in it, even less after tax on interest, but still a slight advantage for Edge. But if I was paying £100 in water bills per month, then the extra 2% on that is £2 (and not taxed like interest) which would have swung it the other way.

Edge Up is also an option, but that doesn't offer the 6% saver and was worse then both others.

mon3ysav3r

When my Santander 123 "Monthly Saver" ends (5% fixed regular saver, only 200 a month) I may change the account to Edge, but once you do there is no going back to 123!

surreysaver

mon3ysav3r said:

When my Santander 123 "Monthly Saver" ends (5% fixed regular saver, only 200 a month) I may change the account to Edge, but once you do there is no going back to 123!

You can have both. Just open an Edge if you don't want to lose your 123.  Although that means a different account number if you're swapping direct debits around or whatever; if you change your 123 to Edge you keep the same account details.