What are some good options for having 2 active direct debits for account opening requirements?

bluehydrangeas

I'm considering opening a Santander Edge current account primarily for the purpose of opening the linked Edge Saver savings account. The Edge Saver requires you to have the current account. The current account itself requires having 2 direct debits and paying in £500 a month. As far as I can tell from the T&Cs, the direct debits need to be active for as long as you have the account open.

Assuming that I don't want to use it as my main current account, are there any legitimate, cheap options for direct debits? A few years ago it was possible to set up direct debits to Post Office savings accounts (so you would in effect be using a DD to pay yourself), but this is no longer possible. Would something like a £1 DD to a charity be the best option? 

danny13579

The Edge Current Account and Saver can be opened without any direct debits or paying £500 into it per month, and avoiding the £3 monthly fee.

The direct debits, £500 payment and £3 monthly fee are only needed if you want to get cashback on certain direct debit payments.

Eco_Miser

There's a thread about direct debits for meeting bank conditions, but there's also one about how the Santander Edge current account doesn't need DDs if you don't want to pay the fees.

PRAISETHESUN

The monthly fee for the Santander Edge account will only start to be charged if you qualify for cashback. If you never qualify for cashback then the fee is never charged. Importantly this still lets you open an Edge saver account.

To avoid qualifying for cashback, you specifically need to make sure that you don't do both of the following in a single month: paying in £500 or more AND paying out 2x DDs. If you never set up any DDs then it's easy to make sure you never qualify for cashback.

Note that if you accidentally get charged the mothly fee even once then they will continue to take it each month, even if you don't qualify again in future.

SFCooper

https://www.30pence.co.uk/

Nasqueron

You can have 2x Edge current accounts and 2x Edge savers also

As above, no need to put DDs on, you get the account without the fee and can open the saver fine.

I paid in £4000 months ago to one and use the other one as backup, sometimes drawing down and topping up on payday, I don't pay in £500 a month either

danco

Depending on what direct debits you normally have, it may be worthwhile to pay the fee and get Santander's Cashback on direct debits.My electricity bill is low (because I am on a heat network for heating in my block of flats - but let's not get into discussing that). I pay in £500 a month to Santander, withdraw £100 back to my main current account, pay the £3 fee (Has that now increased for new customers?) and get back about £2.60 Cashback on Direct Debit for such things as electricity, council tax, and other permitted items.

Dds to charities are also a possibility, if there are any you like, but those don't get the Cashback.

bluehydrangeas

Hi all. I've successfully opened a Santander Edge and an Edge Saver. I saw in the T&Cs that you are allowed to have 2 Edge accounts, but it then only mentions a sole account and a joint account. Does this mean you can't simply have 2 sole Edge accounts?

danny13579

bluehydrangeas said:

Hi all. I've successfully opened a Santander Edge and an Edge Saver. I saw in the T&Cs that you are allowed to have 2 Edge accounts, but it then only mentions a sole account and a joint account. Does this mean you can't simply have 2 sole Edge accounts?

You can open 2 sole Edge Current Accounts (and 2 Edge Savers).

Edit: Santander have just updated this to 2 sole Edge Current Accounts and 1 sole Edge Explorer Account (so you can now have 3 sole Edge Savers).

clairec666

Topcashback is offering £20 for opening a Santander Edge current account. Doesn't say anything about setting up direct debits and paying in £500.... can anyone confirm that you still get the cashback without doing the DDs and £500? I'd like to get the Edge Saver without paying the monthly fee, and if I can get the topcashback bonus on top of that, even better.

Nasqueron

clairec666 said:

Topcashback is offering £20 for opening a Santander Edge current account. Doesn't say anything about setting up direct debits and paying in £500.... can anyone confirm that you still get the cashback without doing the DDs and £500? I'd like to get the Edge Saver without paying the monthly fee, and if I can get the topcashback bonus on top of that, even better.

I got the topcashback payment from them for doing this without activating the account cashback though that was September 2024 so can't say for certain you would now