Switching Bank Accounts with an Overdraft

clairecymru

My husband and I currently have a joint bank account with Santander. We have been with them for 15 years. We are not happy with them and have had loads of problems with their customer service. We do however, have an overdraft facility with them of £2,000 which we are up to the limit (but never over) every month.

We saw our mortgage advisor yesterday with Nationwide as we are currently in the process of moving house. They suggested a mortgage deal to us whereby we open a FlexAccount with themselves which would give us a free valuation and no fee to arrange the mortgage. We liked the thought of the free valuation and no fee so agreed to this.

On looking through the paperwork when I got home, one of the terms with the FlexAccount was that we either had to transfer all our direct debits from our existing bank account or have at least £750 a month deposited into this account.

As I am unhappy with Santander anyway, I though that I would just switch my account to Nationwide but my question is, can I do this when I am up to the limit of my overdraft. Would Nationwide give me the same overdraft facility or would I need to just keep the two accounts, transfering the £750 into the Nationwide account to meet their terms and conditions but having to send it back to Santander a few days later so that my bills and direct debits can be met through my Santander account.

This all sounds very messy and I dont know what to do for the best.

BreamoreBoy

Can you get the overdraft put on the mortgage? That strikes me as the smart option as the overdraft can be withdrawn at any time, and I'm assuming that you couldn't find two grand at the drop of a hat.