Changing Bank + Mortgage??

Amba_Gambla

Hi
I'm getting increasingly p*ssed off with my bank (HSBC) - their opening hours coincide exactly with my working hours and so I can rarely use any counter service when I need to.

I'm just wondering. I'm hoping to take out my first mortgage within the next 12 months. I have been with HSBC since the days of my school bank (20+ years). If I change my current account now, will it have any affect on my ability to take a mortgage (in the next 12-24 months?)

hcb42

no, I wouldn't have thought it would be a definite no, it is considered along with all other factors.

but can you not arrange a mortgage over the telephone? This is what we did.

The_Palmist

all high street banks have similar opening hours anyway, are you thinking of switching to a bank which opens on Saturdays ? Keep in mind that branches who do open longer or on weekends might only offer limited services over those periods.

Like previous poster said, you can do almost everything over phone. If you are thinking of switching for a better deal or a bonus then I would suggest you don't close the HSBC account. The reason is that HSBC has a scoring system and this might help you when you are looking for a mortgage with them.

Can't you take time off work as you would have done when you are seeing a doctor/dentist ?

I rarely need to go to a branch and when I do, I just take a longer lunch or half day off. I do work in city center so that helps. Did my mortgage on phone though.

The_Palmist

I have had my HSBC account since forever but its not my main account anymore. I have been switching every 6-12 months to make the most of all switching bonuses.

hillcats

I got the raving hump when "The Woolwich" was folded into Barclays and all of our current account / savings etc were moved over to Barclays and the mortgage pot / borrowing pots were all altered etc even though we still had an offset mortgage in those days (mid 2007) - Now, I personally would never choose to bank with Barclays if they were the last bank left on this earth, and I was certainly NOT GOING TO BE FORCED INTO IT.
As we were outside of our mortgage period, I looked around for another offset mortgage and found www.if.com who offered a much better initial AND PERMANENT FOLLOW-ON RATE, so we upped sticks and moved the whole lot Mortgage / Savings / Current Account over to IF in 2007 and have absolutely no regrets, but they don't do mortgages or current accounts for new customers now... sorry 'bout that or I would recommend them.

Amba_Gambla

My main problem is that HSBC is open 9-3:30 Monday to Friday. I work from 8-3:30 M-F, and you can't deposit cash over the phone.
I do nearly everything online anyway, but there is no way of moving money from my building society account (rainy day savings account) to my HSBC current account. Now they're bringing in these annoying pocket calculators I felt it was time to shift my business, but I don't want to stuff myself if I want a mortgage from them in the near future.
I think I'll keep the account open, but I'm definitely looking for a move.

The_Palmist

Agree about the annoying pockety things. Can you not go during lunch time or start work late or finish early one day.

InMyDreams

Amba_Gambla wrote: »

My main problem is that HSBC is open 9-3:30 Monday to Friday. I work from 8-3:30 M-F, and you can't deposit cash over the phone.

But you don't need the cashier service either. I can pay cash into my HSBC branch 24/7 and it isn't a big one in a city center. You can just bung it in the hole in the wall.