Santander 123 Lite - conversion to Everyday Account from 21 August 2025?

GeoffTF

EssexHebridean said:

1% in a current account is better than probably 95% of the population are getting! 

In my case, it would not be worth the trouble of keeping track of it and reporting it on my tax return. A current account that does not pay interest is an advantage to me (unless it pays lots and lots).

WillPS

GeoffTF said:

EssexHebridean said:

1% in a current account is better than probably 95% of the population are getting! 

In my case, it would not be worth the trouble of keeping track of it and reporting it on my tax return. A current account that does not pay interest is an advantage to me (unless it pays lots and lots).

You do you again, paying tax on savings at all is pretty far from being of concern to the average person earning a few pence on a current account.

I'm pretty sure you don't need to 'keep track of it' tho - it's just a number which will appear on an annual statement (and need feeding in to a tax return). Is there more to it than that? (Have never had to fill in a return with savings interest myself)

GeoffTF

WillPS said:

I'm pretty sure you don't need to 'keep track of it' tho - it's just a number which will appear on an annual statement (and need feeding in to a tax return). Is there more to it than that?

If you have lots of sources of income you need a system to record them all, keep the statements and work out the total. You likely also want to know what the total is going to be well in advance. It is easy to forget a £2 payment if you are not very thorough. The pay per hour for the administration of £2 is not much, but I have a friend who has just paid his tax account £960 to file his UK tax return.

friolento

GeoffTF said:

WillPS said:

I'm pretty sure you don't need to 'keep track of it' tho - it's just a number which will appear on an annual statement (and need feeding in to a tax return). Is there more to it than that?

If you have lots of sources of income you need a system to record them all, keep the statements and work out the total. You likely also want to know what the total is going to be well in advance. It is easy to forget a £2 payment if you are not very thorough. The pay per hour for the administration of £2 is not much, but I have a friend who has just paid his tax account £960 to file his UK tax return.

I agree, keeping records is important, if for nothing else than income tax purposes. It can all be done digitally on a transaction basis. Paper records, statements or tax certificates do not need to be kept. It’s easily done with a personal finance  manager or a relatively simple free spreadsheet. I have been doing it for years. If your only income is salary/pension and taxable savings interest, you may not even have to do an annual tax return but if you have to make one, it’s a very simple and quick task that everyone can do themselves.

If your friend who paid £960 tax is an HR tax payer, he made an extra £2,400, or £4,800 if he pays BR tax. He would be badly advised if he kept the money that generated this much interest in accounts that pay 1% or no interest at all.

The ideal setup of course is to get top interest tax free, and we do have plenty of options for this….. though I’ll not stray any further off topic now 😌

GeoffTF

friolento said:

GeoffTF said:

WillPS said:

I'm pretty sure you don't need to 'keep track of it' tho - it's just a number which will appear on an annual statement (and need feeding in to a tax return). Is there more to it than that?

If you have lots of sources of income you need a system to record them all, keep the statements and work out the total. You likely also want to know what the total is going to be well in advance. It is easy to forget a £2 payment if you are not very thorough. The pay per hour for the administration of £2 is not much, but I have a friend who has just paid his tax account £960 to file his UK tax return.

I agree, keeping records is important, if for nothing else than income tax purposes. It can all be done digitally on a transaction basis. Paper records, statements or tax certificates do not need to be kept. It’s easily done with a personal finance  manager or a relatively simple free spreadsheet. I have been doing it for years. If your only income is salary/pension and taxable savings interest, you may not even have to do an annual tax return but if you have to make one, it’s a very simple and quick task that everyone can do themselves.

If your friend who paid £960 tax is an HR tax payer, he made an extra £2,400, or £4,800 if he pays BR tax. He would be badly advised if he kept the money that generated this much interest in accounts that pay 1% or no interest at all.

The ideal setup of course is to get top interest tax free, and we do have plenty of options for this….. though I’ll not stray any further off topic now 😌

My friend did not pay £960 tax. He was charged a £960 fee by his tax accountant. I do not know how much UK tax he paid.

It is not easy if you have complicated investments, particularity if they are in several tax jurisdictions like my friend. It is easy to make a mistake if you are not a tax professional, and expensive to hire one. You do not want a small mistake that triggers an investigation going back many years. It is about to get harder if you have lots of dosh:

https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/collecting-the-right-tax-from-wealthy-individuals/

Nonetheless, of course, the problems of being poor are far worse.

sale_of_the_century

Santander 123lite was good while it lasted
managed to get in on time for a Co-operative bank switch incentive £100 initially up front then the 3x £25 for using the debit x number of times among month 

goatfaced

I've done all the switches I've seen over about 2 years, so I'm not expecting any new ones to appear. This month my 12% interest virgin ends, I'd been enjoying a tenner on that each month, along with Halifax fivers (ending) and I'll be £3 down on Santander. Feeling poor after losing all this free money 😂

gt94sss2

I've now received a physical letter from Santander about the end of the 123 Lite account - in addition to the previous secure message online.

goatfaced

Me too, I got a letter yesterday. Not sure if I'm misunderstanding but if they start converting on the 21st August when we get the next statement, does that mean everyone whose statement date is before the 21st of the month gets another month's cashback?

GeoffTF

goatfaced said:

Me too, I got a letter yesterday. Not sure if I'm misunderstanding but if they start converting on the 21st August when we get the next statement, does that mean everyone whose statement date is before the 21st of the month gets another month's cashback?

Probably. I looked back at my old records. The monthly fee was £1 in those days, and was taken in arrears when the cashback was paid. I expect that the best strategy is to switch immediately after the cashback is received.