RBS £100 Current Account Bonus – Ends 9th July

MSE_Martin

£100 bonus available for switching to RBS current account – but watch out, It’s tricky!

Banks love current accounts. Love’em, love ‘em, love ‘em. That’s because they know that most (non-MoneySaver) customers will head straight to their current account provider when they want an assortment of other financial products. Because of this, loads of banks are offering bonuses as bribes to consumers for switching their current account. Most of these have been around £25-50, and some – the ones we like – have been easy to exploit by funding the account with a small amount of cash, grabbing the bonus, then scarpering!

Now, the Royal Bank of Scotland is parading a whopping £100 bonus offer for switching, available until 9th July; however the terms and conditions, although still possible to exploit, are a lot trickier to get around than your average Moneysaving loophole (hence why this tip is just appearing in the chat forum, for dedicated MoneySavers to have a go if they want – if I put it out en masse in the tip, costly mistakes could be made).

To qualify for the £100, you must follow these steps:


1) Go to RBS and apply for the RBS Interest Paying Current Account (the only one there without a fee for using it). Remember, the idea here isn’t to switch to RBS permanently, so the poor conditions – 0.1% in-credit interest - compared to the best accounts available aren’t important (For the top accounts to switch to, see Best Current Accounts)

2)When applying, you must select a Scottish branch of RBS for the account to be assigned to. It really doesn’t matter which one you go for – it is only a nominal selection. You don’t have to visit the branch as part of the switching process, so don’t worry about booking train tickets to Inverness!

3) This is the most important part. For you to get the £100, you must use RBS’s Account Switching Service to do one of the following

• Get your salary (or pension) paid into RBS, switched from your present main account. Or
  
  
• Switch some existing Direct Debits or Standing Orders from an account you already have.
  
  

Once RBS are satisfied, then the £100 should be paid within 28 days, at which point you can dump the account altogether. However, there are problems with both of the above ways of qualifying.

If you decide to switch your salary, make sure your present current account doesn’t require your salary to be paid in. If it does, then you could lose some of the benefits it gives you. It is possible though that all your account needs is to receive a certain amount of deposits per month (such as the two best buys, Lloyds and A&L). In this case, mandate your salary to RBS, then just move the required amount back to your main account.

If you go down the Direct Debit route, then tread carefully as RBS have said that they are after genuine switchers, and will be monitoring this closely. It is almost certain that a couple of payments out per month, for a few quid each, won’t qualify you as a genuine switcher. However, above that level there are’ significant shades of grey. For a better chance of getting the bonus, use a bills account (if you have one set up) and switch all these across for a month or so. Although, make sure you remember to put enough cash in RBS to cover your bills!

So, as I said above, it’s not a simple one. But if you are willing to give it a go and play about a bit with the system, it could be a nice £100 per person start to the summer!

michaels

Hmm - I have requested that they switch and close my 100 quid barclays account, no celary in and no dd/so out - looks like I may need to set some up quick :-)

RosWright

Can you switch from a natwest - still leaving the salary part open - but moving the direct debits? - Or is the definition of a switch to close the in-use account

adm_4

RosWright wrote:

Can you switch from a natwest - still leaving the salary part open - but moving the direct debits? - Or is the definition of a switch to close the in-use account

no need to close old account.

mr1974

I have instructed them to close my Halifax account and move across all the direct debits (it's just one DD with paypal), by specifying so in the Account Switching Service Form, when returning my signed credit agreemtn. It looks like this may not be enough, according to Martin's explanation.

Can I instruct them to move additional (serious!) direct debits from my A&L account (or any other) after they have opened the account, and would that be enough to qualify for the £100??

Thanks
mr1974

eagleeye

I got my application pack with in 2 days of applying over the internet but unfortunately this pack also contains the confirmation letter for another customer with her full name, address & reference number. I informed the RBS via online contact option and highlighted their mistake but the reply they sent me was not positive. On the contrary they want me to ring them on 0845 number. The CS seems not to be interested at all in this matter.
copy of the message sent to RBS
My Enquiry is:
> Hello
> I have applied for the current account( ref 2006xxxxxxxx) but i can't see
> the identity information leaflet in pack. Moreover you have sent the papers
> for another customer name xxx xxxx application refer number
> 2006060xxxxx in this pack to my address .could you please look into this matter.

RBS reply

Thank you for your enquiry

For information on an application made online, please call the Sales Online
Helpdesk on 0845 303 0344.

Thank you for contacting The Royal Bank of Scotland plc

> XX XXXX
> Customer Respose Team Adviser
> Customer Response Team
> Telephony Operations
> Ext 227813

Counter55

eagleeye wrote:

I got my application pack with in 2 days of applying over the internet but unfortunately this pack also contains the confirmation letter for another customer with her full name, address & reference number. I informed the RBS via online contact option and highlighted their mistake but the reply they sent me was not positive. On the contrary they want me to ring them on 0845 number. The CS seems not to be interested at all in this matter.

When I applied for this account, to prove my salary and to show overdraft facility I wanted switching, I was asked to send in a bank statement. I got a letter back saying thank you, and please find enclosed your documents. What was enclosed was someone elses bank statements and payslips.

I did get a seemingly better response off customer service, but ended with my bank statement which had my name, address, net pay and overdraft limit on it, still lost, presumably posted out to someone else who hasn't returned it to the bank yet.

michaels

Doesn't all this contravene the data protection act - isn't there a commissioner to report to?

babe_ruth_3

don't know if iv'e been looking in wrong place but I can't find anything on their web site regarding £100 for opening an account. Can anyone point me in the right direction be the 25th!! Ta

PBA

Well if you click on Martin's link right now it comes up with "Unbeatable offer...switch...before 9 July 2006 we'll selcome you with £100.

Edit: Just tried to apply though the link and it's only available between 6.30am and 9.45pm. Gonna have to save it for the morning!

babe_ruth_3

so has the date changed then, from 25th June to 9th July?

And at what point do you get to choose the scottish branch?