Switch to FD / A&L Closure.

Haze

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice, I have banked with A&L for the last ten years and frankly since the switch to Santander the whole infrastructure of the bank and facilities have become unbearable. I am currently in the process of switching to First Direct and everything seems to be going okay on that side of things.

The only reservation I have is how do I close my current A&L account properly? I have read so many horror stories on the forums lately is there a right and wrong way to do it?

I must admit I have in the past requested for two sole accounts to be closed and I am not convinced they have been, but I have since deleted them from my internet banking summary so I cannot check. Is there anyway of double checking once everything is all said and done that they are in fact closed for good?

Many thanks in advance

jen245

I closed mine over the phone, and about 9 days after I called them, I got a closing balance cheque and letter confirming my accounts were closed. The accounts were showing as unavailable on my internet banking 24 hours after I called them.

tgon

I've just completed the process of A&L to FD. It took a while because Santander took absolutely ages responding to the FD DD transfer people. Eventually they did but it was messy balancing money on two places for longer than I could handle without the stress and lots of phone calls. There's been some hiccups, mainly from some places screwing up the DD instructions and whist not a direct fault of FD, the process still seems as painful as I remember it being the last time I changed bank! I closed A&L by letter (accounts and data) which seems to happen quite quickly. I can still log in (for the moment, I guess) but the accounts are now defunct. FD have been good all the way and I'm glad I made the move.

jen245

tgon wrote: »

I've just completed the process of A&L to FD. It took a while because Santander took absolutely ages responding to the FD DD transfer people. Eventually they did but it was messy balancing money on two places for longer than I could handle without the stress and lots of phone calls. There's been some hiccups, mainly from some places screwing up the DD instructions and whist not a direct fault of FD, the process still seems as painful as I remember it being the last time I changed bank! I closed A&L by letter (accounts and data) which seems to happen quite quickly. I can still log in (for the moment, I guess) but the accounts are now defunct. FD have been good all the way and I'm glad I made the move.

Thats why I switched my account myself. No c*ck ups, changed all dd's myself online, switched my salary in person, and did my other payments into the new account over the phone. I had everything up and running within a month. I know a lot of people use switching services for incentives, but IMO its not worth the hassle, especially when Santander is involved. But in their defence, they did close my accounts quickly!! :T