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

brewerdave

I've bitten the bullet after the July cashback has been paid and have applied to switch to First Direct whilst there is still a £!75 plus Amazon voucher offer going. Calculated that moving to Edge from 123 Lite was going to result in only ~ £30 per year cashback net of fee vs ~ £90 now

crumpet_man

brewerdave said:

I've bitten the bullet after the July cashback has been paid and have applied to switch to First Direct whilst there is still a £!75 plus Amazon voucher offer going. Calculated that moving to Edge from 123 Lite was going to result in only ~ £30 per year cashback net of fee vs ~ £90 now

Could you not have used a dummy/spare account for the First Direct switch bonus and stayed with Santander?  You would be £30 per year better off by your own calculations.

Snowman2

I sent an email to the Santander CEO stating that I was unhappy with the decicion to close 123 Lite accounts and received a letter from the Senior Complaints Manager in Executive Communications.

The following paragraph is a quote from that letter

"I can confirm that we do not make any changes to current accounts without a customer's explicit consent or direct request, and your Santander 123 Lite Account will not be changed to an Everyday Account."

"I hope this provides you with the reassurance that your current account will not be changed."

This sounds like a reprieve if you ask the CEO for it. His email address is ceo@santander.co.uk and his name is Mr Mike Regnier

Perhaps everyone who is unhappy should sent an email to him.

robatwork

Snowman2 said:

I sent an email to the Santander CEO stating that I was unhappy with the decicion to close 123 Lite accounts and received a letter from the Senior Complaints Manager in Executive Communications.

The following paragraph is a quote from that letter

"I can confirm that we do not make any changes to current accounts without a customer's explicit consent or direct request, and your Santander 123 Lite Account will not be changed to an Everyday Account."

"I hope this provides you with the reassurance that your current account will not be changed."

This sounds like a reprieve if you ask the CEO for it. His email address is ceo@santander.co.uk and his name is Mr Mike Regnier

Perhaps everyone who is unhappy should sent an email to him.

Interesting, and apparently in direct contradiction of


which implies implicit consent (ie. if you don't complain it will happen) rather than as your email states explicit (ie. you ticked a box somewhere to say OK). I hope Santander aren't confusing the two. 

phillw

robatwork said:

Snowman2 said:

I sent an email to the Santander CEO stating that I was unhappy with the decicion to close 123 Lite accounts and received a letter from the Senior Complaints Manager in Executive Communications.

The following paragraph is a quote from that letter

"I can confirm that we do not make any changes to current accounts without a customer's explicit consent or direct request, and your Santander 123 Lite Account will not be changed to an Everyday Account."

"I hope this provides you with the reassurance that your current account will not be changed."

This sounds like a reprieve if you ask the CEO for it. His email address is ceo@santander.co.uk and his name is Mr Mike Regnier

Perhaps everyone who is unhappy should sent an email to him.

Interesting, and apparently in direct contradiction of


which implies implicit consent (ie. if you don't complain it will happen) rather than as your email states explicit (ie. you ticked a box somewhere to say OK). I hope Santander aren't confusing the two. 

This can't be real, it would be a logistical nightmare for emails to the CEO to affect the process

But they also don't want to offer this account anymore. So even if they honoured it, they could set the monthly fee at £20.

Snowman2

It is certainly a real letter from Santander but I don't know whether the person that wrote it was having a bad day when she wrote it.

[Deleted User]

Snowman2 said:

I sent an email to the Santander CEO stating that I was unhappy with the decicion to close 123 Lite accounts and received a letter from the Senior Complaints Manager in Executive Communications.

The following paragraph is a quote from that letter

"I can confirm that we do not make any changes to current accounts without a customer's explicit consent or direct request, and your Santander 123 Lite Account will not be changed to an Everyday Account."

"I hope this provides you with the reassurance that your current account will not be changed."

This sounds like a reprieve if you ask the CEO for it. His email address is ceo@santander.co.uk and his name is Mr Mike Regnier

Perhaps everyone who is unhappy should sent an email to him.

Should be good for some compensation if nothing else.
I'm not looking forward to TSB getting moved this organisation; the account is coming up for renewal anyway. 

MACKEM99

[Deleted User] said:

Snowman2 said:

I sent an email to the Santander CEO stating that I was unhappy with the decicion to close 123 Lite accounts and received a letter from the Senior Complaints Manager in Executive Communications.

The following paragraph is a quote from that letter

"I can confirm that we do not make any changes to current accounts without a customer's explicit consent or direct request, and your Santander 123 Lite Account will not be changed to an Everyday Account."

"I hope this provides you with the reassurance that your current account will not be changed."

This sounds like a reprieve if you ask the CEO for it. His email address is ceo@santander.co.uk and his name is Mr Mike Regnier

Perhaps everyone who is unhappy should sent an email to him.

Should be good for some compensation if nothing else.
I'm not looking forward to TSB getting moved this organisation; the account is coming up for renewal anyway. 

So yours is not changing?

Woggle

I'm in a similar boat to others - being transferred across I'm told. 

It's a shame they aren't doing the switching deal to go to Edge if you're a current Santander customer.

I've already got a second TSB current account (just switched). 
I can't get the bonuses for - First Direct (as I've had a HSBC account since 2018), can't get Club Lloyds (as I've had a Halifax account), can't get Chase (as I've had that) and I'm not a Nationwide customer. 

Natwest account may be a possibility to switch to or Zopa Biscuit (but looks like they aren't doing switches in).

Any recommendations?

harz99

Woggle said:

I'm in a similar boat to others - being transferred across I'm told. 

It's a shame they aren't doing the switching deal to go to Edge if you're a current Santander customer.

I've already got a second TSB current account (just switched). 
I can't get the bonuses for - First Direct (as I've had a HSBC account since 2018), can't get Club Lloyds (as I've had a Halifax account), can't get Chase (as I've had that) and I'm not a Nationwide customer. 

Natwest account may be a possibility to switch to or Zopa Biscuit (but looks like they aren't doing switches in).

Any recommendations?

Santander have IMHO, caused themselves a lot of unnecessary work by not offering 123 lite customers a small incentive to move to the Edge account, especially at a time when so many other banks have switch offers to choose from...something along the lines of double cashback for the first twelve months and £50 up front, or £50 upfront and another £50 on first anniversary if the Edge account is still open would have kept customers on side.