Yes, you’re right there. Interesting though that Capital One weren’t always subprime in the UK. When I originally got mine a few decades back, it was a ‘normal’ card, but has since gone somewhat down-market.
4 Likes
Current set up
Revolut: Salary to personal, group bill for the houses card spend and joint account for regular bills. The latter are set in stone and won’t move. Enjoying having the salary in the same app for ease and interested to see the bank offering coming soon.
Santander: Back up current account for post office, branch services. Also set up to pay off credit card and investment accounts held with Santander. Edge CC for cashback. Investment Hub now cheaper than Vanguard for the same fund for me.
Monzo: For friends who split bills on there and throwaway payments. Also easier for scanning a cheque in than Santander.
Banks under consideration:
First Direct: Already have my mortgage here so could check out the current account.
NatWest: Previous longstanding RBS credit card customer. Prefer the NatWest brand and might want back in, in the future. Recently found out they are technically a different bank!
Cater Allen: Odd appeal in checking out 2003 style banking. Perhaps one day I will have the funds where I don’t need to have instant balances etc 
I have had current account with most other banks available in the past
Savings with Tandem, Triodos (mostly fixed term) and a Vault with Revolut.
1 Like
Be sure to check the newer rates if you’ve not already.
It’s surprising how more common revolut seems to be given I deal bank statements all day long at work.
1 Like
Yes I only actually reopened one to park the months funds while I spend on the CC once the ClearBank offer dropped.
1 Like
I think that they will be gone soon anyway
Perhaps give them a miss then?
I have also moved my daily spend over to NatWest at the moment with 5x round ups to try get that DRS filled a bit quicker.
Do you find this more lucrative/positive than cashback credit cards?
I really wish we could use round-ups on credit cards… All of our daily spend is on our Natwest credit card, which we pay off at the end of each month. Switching to the debit card would effectively “cost” us a whole month’s spend though, which would be unpleasant…
Wouldn’t that technically make it a cash advance?
It would even out after a month though right?
Hmmm I hadn’t thought of that. You’re right, and that makes sense.
Yes, but that month would suck!
There’s probably other reasons for credit cards not having roundups such as potentially being charged interest on a portion of a balance you haven’t borrowed. Plus you’d just be paying it back at the end of the month to settle the full statement balance anyway. It makes more sense for credit cards to just have cashback applied as a credit rather than increasing your borrowing artificially.
5 Likes
Cater Allen is part of Santander.
We don’t even know what is happening with Santander, if anything. The Santander group has been more publicly positive than they would need to be if they were thinking of getting rid of it.
I think it’s quite obvious at this stage that nothing is happening with Santander. The FT have a lot to answer for. They must have known that reviewing markets is a normal event within large firms and that it wasn’t a story worth reporting on.
I can imagine the level of damage inflicted on Santander, due to the press choosing to make something out of nothing, will be quite considerable.
The problem is, Santander will not shake the rumours now. I was speaking to someone just a few days ago and the moment Santander was mentioned, their response was “what’s the point, they are closing”. This misinformation will persist for years.
As for those who suspected Santander may have put the story out themselves. I honestly can’t see it. It would have been nothing less than an act of self-harm.
It really was a non-story in my opinion.
This post may not age well mind. If they announce they are leaving the market tomorrow, please feel free to quote this post and call me out as a naive fool. 
2 Likes
Not if it influences policy on the car loans. That caused a whopping dent in their results for the UK yesterday.
3 Likes
I still can’t see it. I suspect they will lose more from the damage caused by the media coverage. Most people are generally quite simple. Once they hear something, they won’t change their view, regardless of how many times you provide them with updated information.
If that was really their intent and they put the story out, I can see it backfiring on them.
The car compensation is a one-off cost, it isn’t going to impact their long-term viability. The press have created a narrative, they have seen there is a review taking place and have then pulled together every possible concern a bank may have about the UK market right now, and have developed a narrative that supports a conclusion that Santander are leaving.
Car loan comp, ring-fencing etc. They have started with a conclusion and have then built a case around it. Santander should take legal action, in my opinion.
As I said, I could be wrong. This is just how the situation comes across to me.
3 Likes
I was under the impression the commissions paid to dealers is a historical issue and that it’s no longer happening. This compensation is to atone for historical events only?
I don’t see how Santander’s car finance business would be altered going forward. They would have stopped benefiting from the dodgy commissions system years ago?
As you say, it may have been just a very silly PR exercise that wasn’t thought through.
I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on the FT being above getting it wrong though. All publications have an issue with journalistic integrity and inaccurate reporting, there are no exceptions to this.
It’s just a case of some publications having fewer problems than others.
I do feel the FT are one of the better ones though.
1 Like
Monzo Max - Salary, bills, dds. Mainly have max for the breakdown but use the rail card and virtual cards regularly from the lower plans. Bits and bobs savings pots.
Monzo Flex - Split up big purchases over 3 months, stuff like tyres for the wagon or when myprotein have a deal on lol.
Nationwide Flex Direct - Done a couple of CASSs for the bonuses and ended up here - I quite like it, and will be hanging around at least until my Flex Regular Saver matures. Hopefully get the fairer share payment too. Will be putting more through it to get the cashback once I’ve achieved my Amex bonus.
Natwest - Oldest account, only keeping open so my credit score doesn’t take a hammering.
Amex Gold - Most day to day spending, petrol and weekly shop etc. Had it about 5 years now and asked for a retention bonus recently which they gave me.
Barclaycard Platinum - Balance transferred to this recently, just paying off over the 32 month 0%. Biggest credit limit.
Virgin Money CC - Emergency card, use it about once a month so they don’t close it.
Capital One CC - Don’t use, they’ll probably close it but hey ho.
AJ Bell - SIPP, S&S ISA, S&S LISA, GIA. I really like AJ Bell - can’t see myself moving unless their fees go nuts.
Revolut - I use this when I occasionally do beer money stuff from Reddit.
6 Likes
So I’ve been simplifying my set-up and now have the following ;
Monzo Max - for breakdown, phone and travel insurance. Salary and all bills paid from here.
Zopa - 7.5% Regular Saver
Nationwide - always good to have a high street account for back up but unused.
Revolut - no longer using but don’t want to close as interested to see what changes with the banking licence.
3 Likes