Answering "how long have you had your account?" question

silvercar

I currently bank with RBS and the account will be transferred to Santander later this year.

When asked the question, "how long have you had your account?" does the clock reset to zero on transfer?

My plan is to open a NatWest account and transfer all my dealing to it before RBS dump me. If I do this can I then claim to have had my account with the same bank for yonks on the grounds that RBS owns NatWest?

MeeNorr

I've been in a similar situation, I used to have a Woolwich current account and Woolwich were bought by Barclays and eventually they changed it to a Barclays current account. I've always answered the question as from when I opened the Woolwich account (and it's only an approximate number of years and lets face it I doubt most people remember the exact date they opened their account) as the account was just migrated from one to another. It's never caused me any problems when applying for stuff.

scott_lithgows

This is the very reason its worth having a relationship with 2 banks in case santandire buy over your main one.I had spare YBS cashcard which I can say I have had for 5+ years,its now my main account after the B+B was bought by abbey.I now have a spare cashcard with the co-op.

masonic

Why will RBS dump you? Can you not just keep the account open if it is important to you to be able to say you've held your account for x years?
If a current account is reported in your credit files, then somebody doing a credit search will be able to see how long it has been open, so it may not be a good idea to give them an answer that disagrees with that.

carrieh

If you are concerned about losing all your bank history because you feel compelled to move to Nat West when Satander take over your RBS English account later this year, why not just move your RBS account(s) to a Scottish branch of RBS, rather than go to Nat West? If you use online banking it's very simple to open a new RBS account at any Scottish branch of your choice, and then close your English one. That's what I've done. I've been with RBS for 27 years and wish to stay with them because of my good account history with them.

Alternatively you can let RBS handle the move for you by ringing a special telephone number. 0800 121129 I think. However they won't move your account to Scotland until later this year when Satander take over the English branches. I preferred to do the change to a Scottish branch myself.

silvercar

Why will RBS dump you? Can you not just keep the account open if it is important to you to be able to say you've held your account for x years?

All RBS branches in England and Wales are going to be sold to Santander sometime later this year. Its a done deal.

If a current account is reported in your credit files, then somebody doing a credit search will be able to see how long it has been open, so it may not be a good idea to give them an answer that disagrees with that.

Does that apply if my account has been sold to another bank?

silvercar

carrieh wrote: »

If you are concerned about losing all your bank history because you feel compelled to move to Nat West when Satander take over your RBS English account later this year, why not just move your RBS account(s) to a Scottish branch of RBS, rather than go to Nat West? If you use online banking it's very simple to open a new RBS account at any Scottish branch of your choice, and then close your English one. That's what I've done. I've been with RBS for 27 years and wish to stay with them because of my good account history with them.

Will that make a difference? Won't the clock start again when I move to the Scottish branch? In which case I may as well move to a local NatWest which be easier for paying in cheques.

I'm not worried about my history with the bank, I'm more concerned for applying for credit elsewhere and they ask how long you've had your account.

carrieh

As I understand it, you have a customer number with RBS which remains the same whichever branch your account is held at. So you can still say you've been with RBS xx years. You can post cheques to your new Scottish branch. I've been doing that for years anyway even with an English branch!

I think moving to Nat West would count as a change of bank.

This buy-out of RBS English branches by Santander is a real pain and completely unwanted by the majority of RBS customers.

masonic

silvercar wrote: »

All RBS branches in England and Wales are going to be sold to Santander sometime later this year. Its a done deal.

Does that apply if my account has been sold to another bank?

A transfer to Santander will probably be reported as a new account in your credit files. However, if you just changed to a Scottish branch of RBS (assuming you can do that), you'd preserve the history reported to the Credit Reference Agencies.

masonic

silvercar wrote: »

I'm more concerned for applying for credit elsewhere and they ask how long you've had your account.

I've never had problems when I've said I had my account for less than a year (I frequently change mine and can no longer be bothered to keep an old one open). I've applied for current accounts and credit cards. I don't what the effect on, say, a mortgage application would be though.

rb10

masonic wrote: »

A transfer to Santander will probably be reported as a new account in your credit files. However, if you just changed to a Scottish branch of RBS (assuming you can do that), you'd preserve the history reported to the Credit Reference Agencies.

Really? Although they refer to it as a 'transfer', it appears to be brand new account that is opened up, with a new sort code and account number.

So I would expect the old account to show up as closed on the credit report, and the new account shown separately.