MSE News: Switching bank accounts to be made easier 6 July 2011 at 5:50PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 19 replies 2.4K views

Former_MSE_Helen

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"The Payments Council has this week announced plans to make it easier for consumers to switch bank accounts"

Read the full story:
Switching bank accounts to be made easier

chambta

Nice idea. Not sure how easy it will be implement though.

Consumerist

Making account switching trouble-free for customers by ensuring any incoming payments are automatically switched to a customer's new account, without the customer having to notify anyone paying in money, for example an employer, themselves

No, no, no, No, NO, NOOOOOOOOOO.

We have now totally lost the final control over where our salaries are paid if we switch banks.

How many twits does it take to be hoodwinked by the banks to pull this one off.

JuicyJesus

I'd be intrigued to know how banks would find the contact details of BACS/FPS payers from other banks.

Consumerist

JuicyJesus wrote: »

I'd be intrigued to know how banks would find the contact details of BACS/FPS payers from other banks.

When you apply for a current account, you already give permission for your current bank to release those details to the new bank if you use the new bank's switching service.

chambta

Consumerist wrote: »

When you apply for a current account, you already give permission for your current bank to release those details to the new bank if you use the new bank's switching service.

What, currently? Not with RBS/Natwest you don't.

masonic

I think I'll still be doing it the old-fashioned way. Consumers need more control over the process, not less.

masonic

chambta wrote: »

What, currently? Not with RBS/Natwest you don't.

Most other banks obtain details of standing orders and direct debits from your old bank, and then arrange for them to be transferred to the new account as part of the switching service. I'm surprised RBS/Natwest can't do this.

Consumerist

chambta wrote: »

What, currently? Not with RBS/Natwest you don't.

When I transferred my current account from NatWest, the new bank got all my payments details from NatWest and then sent me a copy of the list to prove it.

Edit
This only happens currently when you use the new bank's switching service. At the moment you don't have to use the service but you can bet the banks will angling for a change to that.

chambta

masonic wrote: »

Most other banks obtain details of standing orders and direct debits from your old bank, and then arrange for them to be transferred to the new account as part of the switching service. I'm surprised RBS/Natwest can't do this.

The comment was related to credits coming into accounts.

Consumerist

chambta wrote: »

The comment was related to credits coming into accounts.

I had a savings account for which NatWest was a "linked account" (normally a linked account is the only account to which payments can be made from an account) - that incoming payment to NatWest was also diverted to the new bank. That one took me by surprise when I though the payment had gone missing in transit; it turned up in the new current account.

So payments into a switched account also seem to be switched along with the outgoing payments.