Auto-transfer setup between multiple current accounts

intalex

Hi,

I've just recently 'transferred' one of my current accounts from Nationwide to Halifax, to take advantage of the £50 incentive plus £5 per month. I'm not getting rid of my Nationwide account as I still need the debit card for the cheap/free withdrawals abroad.

I've now discovered the Santander current account offering a £100 incentive plus 5% interest on up to £2,500, and am tempted to go for it too. The ideal plan is to set up a series of automated monthly transfers of £1000 each from my HSBC account (where my salary is paid in) to my Halifax account (keep it there for 24 hours) then to my Santander account (again, keep it there for 24 hours), and finally back into my HSBC account (where my large Direct Debits have been set up).

In doing this, I hope to manually monitor and keep sufficient amounts in my Halifax and Santander accounts to fund the small-value direct debits which I (will) have transferred as part of securing the transfer incentives.

Before I go into this, I just wanted to check if anyone does something similar, and whether there is something crucial that I may be missing in thinking I can actually make this work.

Thanks in advance!

Mikeyorks

intalex wrote: »

whether there is something crucial that I may be missing in thinking I can actually make this work.

Yes.

Standing Orders - even though they go via Faster Payment (for the most part) do not work on weekends / Bank Holidays. So - with a 24hr gap - you will likely finish sending money on to another account when it has not yet arrived.

Login and do it manually - much safer. And (Halifax at least) you just move it on as soon as it arrives - no need to leave it there.

If you want to automate it - you need to leave gaps of several days to cope with all eventualities.

intalex

Mikeyorks wrote: »

And (Halifax at least) you just move it on as soon as it arrives - no need to leave it there.

Will this work? I was told by a Halifax customer advisor that I should leave it in there for at least 24 hours.

Mikeyorks

Yes - it works. But you do need to leave the original £100 (required to activate the account) in there for 24 hours.

Thereafter you can move the monthly £1k on as soon as it touches the account

intalex

Mikeyorks wrote: »

Thereafter you can move the monthly £1k on as soon as it touches the account

I've just transferred £1,000 in this morning, and out this afternoon! It'll be great if I still get my £5 reward, as it means I can do all my transfers on the same day going forward.

scottishblondie

intalex wrote: »

I've now discovered the Santander current account offering a £100 incentive plus £5 per month, and am tempted to go for it too.

Isn't it 5% interest, not £5 a month?

intalex

scottishblondie wrote: »

Isn't it 5% interest, not £5 a month?

That's 100% correct! Will fix my original post!

scottishblondie

Thought so I have the Halifax Reward, the A&L account at 6% on £2500 (old one) and multiple Lloyds Vantage accounts, I use a similar system of transferring 1k about. Should be no problem to get the most out of the banks that you can!

Mikeyorks

intalex wrote: »

I've just transferred £1,000 in this morning, and out this afternoon! It'll be great if I still get my £5 reward, .

Provided you credit the account with at least £1k per calendar month ... you will get the £5. Lots of previous threads to confirm that.

And my own 2 x Reward accounts - albeit they are used as main current accounts. But I do pop £1k into the wife's housekeeping account - then immediately remove the excess, otherwise she works on the basis of 'finders = keepers'. That attracts £5

anna42hmr

intalex wrote: »

I've just transferred £1,000 in this morning, and out this afternoon! It'll be great if I still get my £5 reward, as it means I can do all my transfers on the same day going forward.

yeah it doesnt have to be in there for long at all, i have 3 reward accounts and £1000 goes:

£1000 from account 1 to account 2 and then to account 3 in minutes and out again, and have always had the £5's on all 3 accounts.

i have just opened 2 vantage accounts which will use the same £1000 to pay into that as well (so can leave the capital in there as will be using as a savings account as 4% interest on balences between 5K and 7K, and will rinse the same £1000 for all)

so will eventually be paying £1000 from halifax 1, to halfax 2, to halifax 3, to lloyds vantage 1 to lloyds vantage 2. all within the same morning,

heloid

Just be careful, neither HSBC or A&L support fasterpayments standing orders. Also, A&L have a max of £250, and that might go when they shift to Santander. You'll have to manage this manually.
Eg.
HSBC £1000 -> Halifax
Halifax £500 -> A&L
A&L £250 -> Halifax
A&L £250 -> HSBC
Halifax £750 -> HBSC