I'm not in the habit of using my blog to push a bank account but the Santander 1-2-3 account seems too good to be true. And despite the old adage that if something looks too good to be true it probably is, I've been through all the fine print and it still looks a pretty amazing deal to me compared to what I've had with my Barclays account for the last forty years. You would have to have been a castaway on a desert island for six months to be unaware of the account as the advertising using that young Irish golfer Rory, the racing driver who isn't Hamilton and a woman I assume to be an athlete has been everywhere.
During 2012 we had quite large sums in our Barclays savings account for much of the year due to selling our house and holding funds for the renovation of the new house. We earned almost nothing on it due to an interest rate well below 1%. Yet the Santander account will pay us no less than 3% on sums between £3,000 and £20,000 and between 1% and 2% on lower balances. In addition they will pay us cashback of between 1% and 3% on a wide variety of expenses including payments to rates and water rates, gas and electric and phones and TV. Against these positives there is the negative of a small monthly fee.
So, after forty years with Barclays we're off. We're not closing the Barclays account in case there's something we've missed but for the time being I reckon we'll be the best part of £20 A WEEK better off with this account. And that's certainly incentive enough to get me to switch.
Meanwhile, in other news, we went to The Riverside in Woodbridge yesterday to see Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. Cate Blanchett is outstanding in her portrayal of a woman whose life goes downhill when her and her husband's millionaire lifestyle proves to have been built on deception. She is left with just her working class sister to fall back on. Blanchett is totally convincing in the role as she spirals downward from shopping in Park Avenue to talking to herself on a park bench. Although it is at times funny it is a serious study of a breakdown within a disfunctional marriage and is much darker than Allen's 2011 offering Midnight In Paris.
If we go to the cinema next week we'll aim for something a bit lighter. We're gearing up for the visit of our Ormskirk friends Dave and Jane Haworth who are coming to stay for three nights. I spent today cooking so that we've got a freezer full when they arrive and we can entertain them without too much fuss (don't worry Jane there's no rabbit). We've also been planning days and evenings out. I suggested Scaresville Haunted Village but Marion felt that our guests wouldn't be too keen on being scared out of their skin - they'll have enough of that when they meet the locals - (just kidding Framlingham). We've plenty of ideas so it promises to be a great week.
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