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

WillPS

Lumiona said:

35har1old said:

Birdman2015 said:

My best plan will be to pay my Council Tax and energy bills with the Edge credit card to max out the cashback on that now that my introductory period has ended.

Have you paid any of these before and received cash back?
Will you have to phone your council to pay the council tax?
Does your energy provider except credit card payments mine doesn't 

I can pay Octopus energy with CC

This is a good shout. Octopus are particularly generous, directly supporting Amex payments event, but with a little crafty creativity most bills can be settled by credit card (i.e. at a Co-op or Tesco Express).

averageguy11

Received the email as per others….why they aren’t moving me to the edge account instead of the everyday one is a bit naughty

WillPS

averageguy11 said:

Received the email as per others….why they aren’t moving me to the edge account instead of the everyday one is a bit naughty

Suspect it's just because it's simpler from a compliance perspective, the FCA would likely take a dim view of customers being moved en-masse to a product with a different fee/benefit structure to the one they currently have.

A similar situation occurred when the old (old) Halifax Reward account scheme (which involved paying £3 then getting £5 for jumping through hoops) ended in 2020, and was replaced by the current scheme. In that instance they advised all accounts were being changed to their free 'Current Account' (like Santander) but customers could indicate they'd prefer to stay on Reward and join the new scheme by ringing a phone number by a certain date.

averageguy11

WillPS said:

averageguy11 said:

Received the email as per others….why they aren’t moving me to the edge account instead of the everyday one is a bit naughty

Suspect it's just because it's simpler from a compliance perspective, the FCA would likely take a dim view of customers being moved en-masse to a product with a different fee/benefit structure to the one they currently have.

A similar situation occurred when the old (old) Halifax Reward account scheme (which involved paying £3 then getting £5 for jumping through hoops) ended in 2020, and was replaced by the current scheme. In that instance they advised all accounts were being changed to their free 'Current Account' (like Santander) but customers could indicate they'd prefer to stay on Reward and join the new scheme by ringing a phone number by a certain date.

Fair point……but then maybe the email they’ve sent could indicate both alternatives and request a choice be made after they’ve highlighted the benefits of both products?

Sea_Shell

35har1old said:

myth123 said:

Unfortunately a move to the Edge account would leave me slightly worse off after the fee. So I'll be leaving my current account as the free Everyday account when the transfer happens. Not many alternatives for direct debit cash back on bills

Stay where you are open a Edge account and don't setup any direct debits no fee payable.
Then take the benefit of the Edge Saver

Is this true?

If you open one but don't use it, they don't charge the fee?

friolento

averageguy11 said:

Received the email as per others….why they aren’t moving me to the edge account instead of the everyday one is a bit naughty

I would complain if they moved me to a chargeable account without my prior agreement. I do not want to be moved to Edge. Perfectly happy with being on an Everyday.

friolento

Sea_Shell said:

35har1old said:

myth123 said:

Unfortunately a move to the Edge account would leave me slightly worse off after the fee. So I'll be leaving my current account as the free Everyday account when the transfer happens. Not many alternatives for direct debit cash back on bills

Stay where you are open a Edge account and don't setup any direct debits no fee payable.
Then take the benefit of the Edge Saver

Is this true?

If you open one but don't use it, they don't charge the fee?

Yes it is true. It’s been discussed many times on this forum, and you can confirm it in the T&Cs. Although the words in the T&Cs say what you need to do to get charged, not what you need to do to not get charged (if you get my drift)

PloughmansLunch

If I understand correctly I can convert my joint 123 Lite into a joint Edge alongside my existing sole Edge, enabling the ability to hold 2 x Edge savers, is that right?

friolento

averageguy11 said:

WillPS said:

averageguy11 said:

Received the email as per others….why they aren’t moving me to the edge account instead of the everyday one is a bit naughty

Suspect it's just because it's simpler from a compliance perspective, the FCA would likely take a dim view of customers being moved en-masse to a product with a different fee/benefit structure to the one they currently have.

A similar situation occurred when the old (old) Halifax Reward account scheme (which involved paying £3 then getting £5 for jumping through hoops) ended in 2020, and was replaced by the current scheme. In that instance they advised all accounts were being changed to their free 'Current Account' (like Santander) but customers could indicate they'd prefer to stay on Reward and join the new scheme by ringing a phone number by a certain date.

Fair point……but then maybe the email they’ve sent could indicate both alternatives and request a choice be made after they’ve highlighted the benefits of both products?

The options are explained in the Notice of Variation (which the email alerts you to)

EssexHebridean

I've done the cashback calculator and as I suspected we will go from an approx £2 a month gain to a small loss, so it's definitely not for us. Ironically allowing that we originally went from Nationwide to Santander to open the 123 Lite I suspect we will now be transferring back the other way! That done, I'll also be closing all my other Santander accounts so it definitely won't have quite the effect they were hoping for in our case!