Do I ditch Santander and go #fullmonzo?

Depends on your definition of control. Having Monzo do it all for you isn’t control, its a lack of control.

I still use a legacy account to control my bills/salary. I know my 7 direct debits, how much they will be (or the max they have ever been) and I accommodate funds from my salary to cover the highest the bill could be. Therefore I don’t look at this account (but do have text warnings set up incase it runs out of money, which it never has). Savings are siphoned off by standing order automatically as well and anything left in the account is swept into my savings before payday. All the money sent to Monzo (a fixed amount by standing order weekly) for me is free spending money - well to buy food too. There is nothing really Monzo can do to save me money.

On topic, I would keep a legacy account, even if I did a full monzo, because cash deposits are free with legacy banks and it is rumoured that Monzo will charge for cash deposits.

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By control I meant having an up-to-date view on your money at all times. Maybe I should’ve said visibility instead.

However I disagree about letting Monzo do everything is a lack of control. Direct Debits and card charges can be disputed, so I don’t really mind the theoretic risk of a transaction wiping my entire balance. If anything, an erroneous transaction is easier to dispute on Monzo than with legacy rust.

There is nothing really Monzo can do to save me money.

Good on your for managing your finances well, however a lot of people are not as good and may not have as much time to dedicate to building such a convoluted system. They are looking for a simple solution and in my opinion Monzo (or any other non-rust bank really) is that solution. :wink:

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It isn’t a hassle to meet the requirements. I just like idea of simplicity. I have a transfer from Santander where my salary is paid that is sent to Monzo and I do indeed use the summary feature. Basically I want to know I’m not mad forgoing £100 a year for an easy life.

I will admit I did do the rounds switching between banks to get their switching offers but then again I consider myself to be rather bank savvy so haven’t been a victim of what you describe. However, now I’m just after simplicity and an easy life.

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I do EXACTLY THIS! However I disagree with you saying that having one bank account do it all for you is a lack of control. Currently, as this is what I do, I believe it shows a very good level of control of my finances, far beyond what other people do and is the exact opposite of a lack of control. It’s shows a conscience effort to control money. As I say, I’m just after an easier life than all that faf. I will take on board your idea of text alerts though! Thanks :slight_smile:

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I used to have a Santander account until very recently, they automatically switched my 1/2/3 international student account to a regular one and that meant I no longer gained interest. I didn’t see the point of paying the monthly fee when I didn’t use it for much other than paying huge amounts/ some interest/ the occasional cashback.

I don’t think there’s any problem with keeping it open if you can keep on top of all the payments back and forth, and like the others have recommended using the Emma app is a handy way of checking all your transactions with different bank accounts in one place. There’s more than one way to go # fullmonzo! You can pay your salary in here, use it as your spending card for budget tracking and keep Santander for banking services eg cash deposits you anticipate needing.

Personally, I didn’t find it a chore to login and use the Santander app, the other legacy banks are much more app/ site unfriendly imo. I can login immediately with Touch ID.

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And although it sounds like a chore, it’s not and by and large, is a one-time task - then forget it.

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Standing orders would definitely help a lot. I do it manually on an app on my phone so it’s easier for me to use one main spending card.

Also when I had Santander one of the requirements was needing to pay in £500 every month to get interest. It was my only bank account then given my struggle to get another with the other legacy banks and I lived pretty far from a branch. It was such a chore and I forgot/ gave up many months :weary: I realise this is a specific situation since I’m sure most people have more than one account.

It was annoying when they switched it to a regular account so I didn’t get interest, but also a relief. I just moved everything over to Monzo and left some money for the monthly fees so it was easier to budget.

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I have a basic Santander account because of the cash pay in atm which makes it easy to deposit cash, IBAN for the odd international transfer, visa debit card in case MasterCard has an issue plus it’s a 2 Minute walk from my house.

It’s also free so I’ll keep it until something changes :grin:

Edit: also I can get into the app and transfer money to my Monzo with my fingerprint in under 2 minutes so no hassle for me

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@Jevs We are in the same predicament and I spoke to Tom at monzo about this at the last Q&A. Me and OH are both full monzo apart from our santander 123 account and our santander mortgage, but we are going to keep the 123 account for the same reason, that we get about £15 cash back each month and it allows us to pay cash in.

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At the moment Monzo doesn’t offer a full banking service. No cash in, international transfers are difficult and cheque paying in or out is by post or not possible. These services are not required much but a traditional bank account offers this.

I use First Direct to receive my salary and pay my obligatory regular bills ( rent, council tax , Sky etc). I transfer a fixed amount manually to Starling (Monzo doesn’t have joint accounts ). This I use for my discretionary spending. This way I guarantee my bills get paid. I can pay in cash, accept Euro transfers and have an amount left over sight unseen in my traditional account. Starling/Monzo gives me foreign spending without outrageous fees. I don’t have an overdraft. I don’t need an app to tell me that brown bagging is cheaper than Pret a Manger. I look forward to the day when the app based banks can offer DDs out of pots and accept cheques by scanning and have a workable arrangement to pay in cash because then I will close my First Direct account.
To answer your question keep Santander for your salary, pay your DDs from Santander and use Monzo for your daily spending. When Monzo offers full banking then make the switch.

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Enable labs and you can have a joint account

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This is hopefully coming soon

This is also coming

I love the idea of having DDs out of pots too! However, I am not a traditional banker: I have NEVER used cheques, I don’t do international transfers but I do sometimes pay cash into my local bank. I feel they offer a ‘full’ enough product to warrant time thinking about switching, hence why I created the thread. Thanks :slight_smile:

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Thanks Dominic. I’m glad someone is in the same boat as I am! I feel some people aren’t reading my original post carefully enough and are missing my point but you hit the nail on the head (that’s not to say I don’t appreciate their time to respond). Thanks :slight_smile:

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My answer was for you to keep the Santander account until Monzo offers cash in (full banking).

Glad to see you got the answer you’re looking for @Jevs! Hope you plan to stick around on the forums! :smiley:

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I will be! Thanks for everyone’s help!

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I’m assuming you’re receiving cashback on direct debits so there isn’t any effort involved on your part. Given this, I don’t see any downside to keeping the account open.

Regarding pitifully low savings rates (opening post). Santander offer a 5% regular saver which is only available to their 123 Current account holders. 5% isn’t pitiful in my opinion.

Yes. I am getting the cashback on my 123 lite current account. I already have the 5% regular saver with them. It finishes in September though. 5% isn’t pitiful but ISA rates, where you can deposit more than £200 appox a month, are pitifully low.

You’ll likely be able to open a new 5% regular saver in September if you keep your 123 current account (the bonus rate has been running for years). But not if you close the current account.

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