Multiple Current Accounts

gents

I see Santander, Halifix and First Direct all have offers for switching current accounts. Most of these need a minimum of £1k to £1.5 to go into the account every month? What is stopping me from opening a current account with each one of them, then taking 1.5k and transferring it around via direct debit every month to take advantage of the £100 from each bank? I'm thinking that in theory I can score £200 to £250 pounds by doing that? It's better than any interest rate I can get on just putting £1500 into savings?

Lokolo

Other than the fact you won't be setting up a Direct Debit, you'd be setting up a Standing Order, nothing.

But you'd only be able to do it once.

gents

I phoned Santander and Halifax today. It's not quite so possible, but still a little bit possible. Santander and First Direct require you to change all your standing orders from your present current account to them using their special "Easyswitch" facility which they use to contact your present bank and get all the info for the standing orders and direct debits that need transferring. Halifax give you £5 each month as long as at least £1k goes into the account and you don't need any direct debits / standing orders coming off there. In short, I think I'm going to open the Halifax account anyway and set a standing order to go into and then out from it again each month. Then transfer my current account to Santander and then transfer again to First Direct later on.

property.advert

Some only require you to change a couple of direct debits.

If you try to open too many too soon it will crap all over your credit rating.

steve1980

gents wrote: »

I phoned Santander and Halifax today. It's not quite so possible, but still a little bit possible. Santander and First Direct require you to change all your standing orders from your present current account to them using their special "Easyswitch" facility which they use to contact your present bank and get all the info for the standing orders and direct debits that need transferring. Halifax give you £5 each month as long as at least £1k goes into the account and you don't need any direct debits / standing orders coming off there. In short, I think I'm going to open the Halifax account anyway and set a standing order to go into and then out from it again each month. Then transfer my current account to Santander and then transfer again to First Direct later on.

Santander are very picky over their faster payments (limit of £300!) so if you do transfer £1k+ it will be 3 working days from Santander to your next bank account.

Gromitt

Santanders FPS limit is 1K.

The question is, do you trust Santander not to FUBAR your bank account before you transfer out?

R34GTT

It's something to do over the period of a year or two so you don't have too many searches on your credit file and risk a declined application.

It's also useful to have a donor bank account on which you set up the minimum 2 DDs as many offers require switching of at least 2 DDs. This saves switching your main bank account (unless you hate it and want to switch anyway - I now use FD as my main account as they're so good).

In the past two years I have 'switched' to Halifax £100, FD £100 and now Co-Op (£200 when they pay).

It started with my original HSBC account which is now used a donor account for any new switching offers that appear.

Halifax is worth keeping active as their reward account gives you £5 a month as long as you cycle £1000 through the account each month.

King_Weasel

I believe you can get the 5% from Santander just by paying in £1000/month. To get the cashback you also need to switch at least 2 DDs or SOs. But I believe you also need to use their switching service. I presume therefore that you cannot SELECTIVELY transfer DD/SOs from another account.

If I've got any of this wrong can someone please tell me. Thanks.

hermante

R34GTT wrote: »

It's something to do over the period of a year or two so you don't have too many searches on your credit file and risk a declined application.

Or do it all at once and avoid applying for credit cards or loans in the year before and after.

R34GTT

hermante wrote: »

Or do it all at once and avoid applying for credit cards or loans in the year before and after.

That's possible but I think managing that process is also easier when done one bank at a time. Normally it's a requirement to switch DDs too so it's easier to set up a couple of non-critical DDs on a donor account first. Then initiate the account switching service, once their incentive criteria has been met which usually involves cycling £800+ a month through the new account for 3 months then move on to the next bank offer.

On credit searches, I actually doubt that current account credit searches affect the credit scoring for other credit products such as credit cards or loans that significantly. In any case waiting 3 months after the last application is good practice to avoid any uncessary declines to due to possible appearances of being desperate for credit (though if you're not applying for accounts with overdrafts I doubt lenders would see bank account applications as being desperate for credit).

gents

Thanks for all the advice. I've already applied for the Halifax current account. I was completely open and honest with the guy on the phone. I told him I'm only interested in moving £1k through the account every month to get the £5. He said it was fine and understood. I didn't have to transfer any direct debits and I also didn't ask for an overdraft facility.

I phoned Santander and to get the £100 from them, I need to switch all direct debits, but I can still keep my current Barclays account. I just need to transfer my salary; which is paid into Barclays; into the Santander account each month and all should be fine? I have a bit of savings I can use as a buffer just in case there are timing issues with standing orders, so that should work out ok.