NatWest's switching service

GustyGardenGalaxy

My mother is currently thinking of switching from Santander to NatWest - I see that NatWest offer a 'switching' service, whereby they do most of the hard work involved managing direct debits, etc.

Has anyone any experience of this switching service? Any problems?

My iniitial concern is with Santander - apparently they are extremely slow at giving out the requested details to other banks when someone is obviously switching FROM them.

My gut instinct is to NOT use NatWest's switching service, but instead to do a slow, drawn out switch from Satander to NatWest, perhaps as follows:

- Open up a NatWest current account for my mother and deposit some money into it

- over a period of a few months, perhaps switch one or two direct debits (and pension deposits, etc) per month - so I'd get my mother to write to the relevant company telling them to take the direct debits (or deposit pension payments, etc) to her new NatWest account and, once this has been confirmed, write to Satander notifying them of the cancellation of the direct debit.

Any thoughts?

jen245

I switched to Natwest from Santander, and I did it myself. I opened my account, and transferrred my salary and other payments over, then as each DD came out of the old account (I only had 3) i just changed the details to the natwest account, sorted. It was very easy, account was fully up and running with everything switched over within about 3 weeks. I did it myself for the exact reasons you outlined above. Havent looked back :T

GustyGardenGalaxy

Many thanks.

Did you also notify Satander as you went along?

jen245

Nope, as I changed each DD, I cancelled it on online banking. The only time I actually spoke to Santander was to close my accounts, which was surpisingly easy compared to the hassle some people have had. I still have a credit card with them though, and I am having a few issues with that at the moment, mainly due to my online access having been blocked for almost a year now, but thats another story!

GustyGardenGalaxy

I didn't realise that you could cancel direct debits via Santander's online banking - must tell my mother about that so she can do it that way if necessary (she mostly only checks her balance online and doesn't like to delve too far in case she does anything wrong!).

jen245

You can cancel dd's and a whole lot more on online banking. I wouldnt be without it! And Natwests online banking is very good

GustyGardenGalaxy

Thanks, I'll pass that onto my mother.

I'm also tempted to recommend First Direct to her, as apparently they have excellent customer service.

jen245

I have heard so, although I dont have any experience of them. They are thought of very highly on the forum, so I guess it boils down to whichever bank suits her needs