Moving from Santander 123

[richatnort]

Hi all, I got a letter through this week telling me that the fee for the 123 account is definitely going up from £2 - £5. At the minute we only use the account for all joint activities e.g. rent, bills, groceries, fuel, etc.

At the minute we probably get back about £2.50 with cutback after the fee however with it going up to £5 we won't make money, we'll probably loose money.

So i guess i'm after some advice on the next best account i can switch to that gives you anything similar or anything good for switching over.

[PositronicRay]

If you keep a small balance in the account look @ TSB and a few others which do 5%, no fee up to £2k.

Santander only works if you keep a decent balance in it.

[ChrisNic]

Natwest/RBS have a new reward account offering 3% back on household bills (council tax, utilities, mobile, Sky/virgin) for a monthly fee of £3.

[33q]

Depends how much yiou want to mess around. Halifax is worth a look

Bank of Scotland and Tesco pay up yo 3%. No DDs needed and you can circulate the minimum pays in with standing orders. Once set up I have found it maintenance free

TSB is worth 5%.

Natwest pay good cash backs. Use Natwest for DDs and standing order circulate to and from TSB

Try to pay everything by DD. That gets you qualified to earn on many accounts. Use Natwest for you biggest DDSs. Use other DDS to qualify on other accounts

[Sir Bagalot]

Surely between Council Tax\Energy\Comms you can make £5 cashback? I'm with Santander but only, and I really do mean only, because of 3% interest. I may have mentioned before that as a bank they are a piss poor excuse for a bank and they really are a bunch of fking useless s

If you want great customer service then there really is only one choice.

First Direct

[richatnort]

Sir Bagalot said:

Surely between Council Tax\Energy\Comms you can make £5 cashback? I'm with Santander but only, and I really do mean only, because of 3% interest. I may have mentioned before that as a bank they are a piss poor excuse for a bank and they really are a bunch of fking useless s

If you want great customer service then there really is only one choice.

First Direct

our out goings i.e. DD are pretty low as council tax is low, gas and elec low, don't pay for Sky or Broadband as i work for sky and get it free so we really won't cover the £5.

I'll check out first direct, I just liked that santander did give you money back for the DD, etc. What ever we have left in the account at the end of the month goes into out santander savings account.

I'll have a look at first direct.

[33q]

I suspect the savings account interest is less than current.

[megaphone]

Yes, why do you have a Santander savings account when the 123 pays up to 3%? That's the main reason for having one, 3% on up to £20K.

[megaphone]

Sir Bagalot said:

Surely between Council Tax\Energy\Comms you can make £5 cashback? I'm with Santander but only, and I really do mean only, because of 3% interest. I may have mentioned before that as a bank they are a piss poor excuse for a bank and they really are a bunch of fking useless s

If you want great customer service then there really is only one choice.

First Direct

As a bank they are poor, especially in branch, they still have a building society mentality, everything is "no". Too many old grannies in there paying their bills from the pass books!

[Nick78]

I would recommend first direct too been with them for years, great customer service but not much in rewards other than the initial bonus for joining which is £125 at the moment i think.
I also have a 123 account but only for the 3% interest for our savings, just kept the first direct account because its been a good easy account to live with !

[Simpo Two]

Nick78 said:

I would recommend first direct too been with them for years, great customer service but not much in rewards other than the initial bonus for joining which is £125 at the moment i think.
I also have a 123 account but only for the 3% interest for our savings, just kept the first direct account because its been a good easy account to live with !

The only irksome thing with FD is that if you're already a customer you can't get any of the £125, and they have nothing that pays any interest worth having. But then, perhaps they don't need gimmicks to attract customers... FD just works.

[GT2CS]

richatnort said:

our out goings i.e. DD are pretty low as council tax is low, gas and elec low, don't pay for Sky or Broadband as i work for sky and get it free so we really won't cover the £5.

I'll check out first direct, I just liked that santander did give you money back for the DD, etc. What ever we have left in the account at the end of the month goes into out santander savings account.

I'll have a look at first direct.

You need to close your Santander savings account as all their savings accounts pay less than 3% - a lot less like only 0.6-0.7%
Move all your savings up to £20k over to the 123 account and youll get the best return for the least hassle at current interest rates.
You will lose out slightly on the £5 monthly 123 fee but if you have some decent savings then this will more than compensate - even if your savings are just £1000 you'll be better off: £1000 @ 3% in 123 = £30 per year, less fee £5 monthly plus gain on bills £4.50 monthly = £24 benefit per year
£1000 in Santander e-saver @0.7% = £7 per year interest
The benefit will be higher the more savings you have.

[Sir Bagalot]

Simpo Two said:

Nick78 said:

I would recommend first direct too been with them for years, great customer service but not much in rewards other than the initial bonus for joining which is £125 at the moment i think.
I also have a 123 account but only for the 3% interest for our savings, just kept the first direct account because its been a good easy account to live with !

The only irksome thing with FD is that if you're already a customer you can't get any of the £125, and they have nothing that pays any interest worth having. But then, perhaps they don't need gimmicks to attract customers... FD just works.

So the 6% paying regular savings account isn't worth having?

[madbadger]

GT2CS said:

richatnort said:

our out goings i.e. DD are pretty low as council tax is low, gas and elec low, don't pay for Sky or Broadband as i work for sky and get it free so we really won't cover the £5.

I'll check out first direct, I just liked that santander did give you money back for the DD, etc. What ever we have left in the account at the end of the month goes into out santander savings account.

I'll have a look at first direct.

You need to close your Santander savings account as all their savings accounts pay less than 3% - a lot less like only 0.6-0.7%
Move all your savings up to £20k over to the 123 account and youll get the best return for the least hassle at current interest rates.
You will lose out slightly on the £5 monthly 123 fee but if you have some decent savings then this will more than compensate - even if your savings are just £1000 you'll be better off: £1000 @ 3% in 123 = £30 per year, less fee £5 monthly plus gain on bills £4.50 monthly = £24 benefit per year
£1000 in Santander e-saver @0.7% = £7 per year interest
The benefit will be higher the more savings you have.

It is only 1% between £1000 and £2000. 2% 2k to 3k then 3% above £3k savings.

[GT2CS]

ok 123 better for you on savings of £1990 and over.

[Jockman]

megaphone said:

Sir Bagalot said:

Surely between Council Tax\Energy\Comms you can make £5 cashback? I'm with Santander but only, and I really do mean only, because of 3% interest. I may have mentioned before that as a bank they are a piss poor excuse for a bank and they really are a bunch of fking useless s

If you want great customer service then there really is only one choice.

First Direct

As a bank they are poor, especially in branch, they still have a building society mentality, everything is "no". Too many old grannies in there paying their bills from the pass books!

I've never had as issue with Santander. Customer Service - for what I require - has been fine. Perhaps I'm really low maintenance?

First Direct gets rave reviews but has nothing to offer me that HSBC does not already do.

[richatnort]

To answer most of your questions about savings we don't currently have any as i'm paying off a car and my partner doesn't earn enough to put towards savings. So whatever money we have left over at the end of the month we put into the savings account for a rainy day or towards a holiday so interest rates at this rate aren't a big thing but i just liked we got money back from Santander for paying our bills, etc.

[Nick78]

Sir Bagalot said:

Simpo Two said:

Nick78 said:

I would recommend first direct too been with them for years, great customer service but not much in rewards other than the initial bonus for joining which is £125 at the moment i think.
I also have a 123 account but only for the 3% interest for our savings, just kept the first direct account because its been a good easy account to live with !

The only irksome thing with FD is that if you're already a customer you can't get any of the £125, and they have nothing that pays any interest worth having. But then, perhaps they don't need gimmicks to attract customers... FD just works.

So the 6% paying regular savings account isn't worth having?

Yes the 6% is worth having, i fed this with the maximum monthly amount (£300) last year from my santander savings, think it earned £92 net interest for the twelve months then put the total back into santander.

[Claude455]

richatnort said:

Hi all, I got a letter through this week telling me that the fee for the 123 account is definitely going up from £2 - £5. At the minute we only use the account for all joint activities e.g. rent, bills, groceries, fuel, etc.

At the minute we probably get back about £2.50 with cutback after the fee however with it going up to £5 we won't make money, we'll probably loose money.

So i guess i'm after some advice on the next best account i can switch to that gives you anything similar or anything good for switching over.

I'm not sure if Halifax offer a one-off switching incentive, but they pay you £5 per month for a Reward account, so long as you meet certain criteria - 2 Direct Debits and your main salary or at least £1,000p/m credited to your account. No monthly fee. As someone already mentioned, definitely worth a look if you have no savings and your utility bills are minimal.

[chrisr111r]

ChrisNic said:

Natwest/RBS have a new reward account offering 3% back on household bills (council tax, utilities, mobile, Sky/virgin) for a monthly fee of £3.

This is what I'll be switching to, as i don't currrently have enough savings to make full use of the 3% from the 123 accounts. Already got TSB and Halifax, and just remember you have to stay in credit to get the £5pm