Santander fee increase

Newly_retired

FYI  I have just had notification that my Santander 123 Account ( often known on here as "full fat" ) will increase on 1 May to £5.

CliveOfIndia

They are allowed to increase the fee, subject to them giving you the required notice as stipulated in their T&Cs.

I guess the key question is - do the rewards you receive still make the increased fee financially sensible?  If not, it's easy enough to switch to a different provider.

Middle_of_the_Road

Newly_retired said:

FYI  I have just had notification that my Santander 123 Account ( often known on here as "full fat" ) will increase on 1 May to £5.

I'm sure they will say they need to increase the fee due to increased costs..... but I suspect they're just skimming off the top🙂

TheBanker

Middle_of_the_Road said:

Newly_retired said:

FYI  I have just had notification that my Santander 123 Account ( often known on here as "full fat" ) will increase on 1 May to £5.

I'm sure they will say they need to increase the fee due to increased costs..... but I suspect they're just skimming off the top🙂

More likely they are trying to push customers towards the Edge Up account, which is already £5 per month, with a slightly better interest rate, but lower direct debit cashback. 

QrizB

Middle_of_the_Road said:

Newly_retired said:

FYI  I have just had notification that my Santander 123 Account ( often known on here as "full fat" ) will increase on 1 May to £5.

I'm sure they will say they need to increase the fee due to increased costs.....

Have you been reading their email?

Yes, that's exactly what they've claimed 🤣

I'm getting £5 a month from my energy account payments, plus the other DDs, so it's probably still worth it for me.

Richchad

Yes had the same email, I have a 123 account and thought of switching to Edge Up as same £5 fee but notice the direct debit cashback is only 1% for all types unlike 123 which has 3% Water, 2% Gas & Electric and 1% for council Tax & Broadband.

The slightly higher interest rate doesn't make a lot of difference to me as I save elsewhere at much better rates.

So to me it doesn't seem worth switching to Edge or Edge Up.

dr_adidas01

Same increase for my select account. 

blue.peter

I haven't yet received any notification of the increase to the charge for my 123 account, but the Santander website is clear that it'll be happening on 11 May. This presents me with a bit of a conundrum.

I've been checking the cashback calculator on Santander's website. It tells me that I'd be noticeably worse off with either the Edge Up or Edge Explorer account. Clearly, I'm not going to switch to either of those.

But the "ordinary" Edge account is a more difficult question. If I take this and the Edge saver, I'll be a lot better off. Without the saver, and its quite decent interest rate, I'll be worse off. The question, then, is whether Santander can be relied on to keep the Edge saver's interest rate as competiitive as it is. You might recall that when the 123 first came out, it offered an attractive interest rate on £20,000... but that fell, and is now (I think) 2.00%. This is unattractive when I can get about 4% on an easy access saver elsewhere. So will Santander cut the Edge saver interest rate in the same way after I've switched to it?

My inclination is to avoid the risk and stick with the 123. Even with the increased charge, I'll still be profiting by over £4 a month.

GeoffTF

blue.peter said:

My inclination is to avoid the risk and stick with the 123. Even with the increased charge, I'll still be profiting by over £4 a month.

I would be inclined to stick. The Edge Saver interest rate will inevitably be cut at some point. The 123 will inevitably be watered down or closed too, but there is no point in jumping until you are pushed.

Newly_retired

I have decided to stick. My cashback covers the fee. However, I have received an email about my Edge current account. They say I have not used it so it will be closed. This would mean losing the Edge saver. But I have used it, by putting £1 in. So what constitues "use" of an account? I have no Direct Debits and do not pay in £500pm to avoid it becoming a fee paying account, but maybe £1 is not enough?

Middle_of_the_Road

Newly_retired said:

I have decided to stick. My cashback covers the fee. However, I have received an email about my Edge current account. They say I have not used it so it will be closed. This would mean losing the Edge saver. But I have used it, by putting £1 in. So what constitues "use" of an account? I have no Direct Debits and do not pay in £500pm to avoid it becoming a fee paying account, but maybe £1 is not enough?

Why not put a tenner in every now and then and make a few small purchases? 
It's always good to keep more than one current account operational.