How quick and easy to switch current a/c to Santander 123?

Archi_Bald

Have you raised any formal complaints yet with both, your new and your old bank?

As an aside, if you started your switch before the 7-day service started (16th October? or thereabouts), you are still under the old rules. No 7-day guarantee. So you need to make your own provisions for having money in your old and new account.

virtuallyfree

innovate wrote: »

Now isn't that funny.

What does that mean?

virtuallyfree

kuepper wrote: »

Nightmare continues. Still no direct debits set up and have had the first of what I predict will be many emails texts and letters from poll saying they haven't been paid I thought switches could be sorted in 7 days now? No reply from Santander secure messaging as to what's going on

I did say avoid Santander.

dreaming

I have to say that after reading this (and other threads) I am glad I went down the route of managing this myself. I have always had a Nationwide Flex but now I am retired I am chasing better rates so opened the Santander 123 account on 4th October 2013. I cancelled 4 direct debits from Nationwide and sent new instructions to the 4 selected companies (chosen for cashback to cover the monthly fee). Have logged into the 123 account and 3 DDs are already showing (the other one is my council tax and that required me to send a manually filled in form so I expect that to take a bit longer). Have transferred £20k into the account and have organised the £500 transfer (which will also cover DDs) from Nationwide which I have also upgraded to a FlexDirect to get 5% on £2500.
I love this site as there are so many knowledgeable people willing to share their experiences. Thanks.

ColdIron

dreaming wrote: »

I have to say that after reading this (and other threads) I am glad I went down the route of managing this myself

I agree, I found it a doddle myself
Opened the account by phone, 20 minutes
Switched my DDs, 4 phone calls, maybe 40 minutes
Setup Standing Orders, 10 minutes

I suppose if I was going to genuinely switch and close one of my accounts the switching service might take a little of the burden away but in this day and age I can't really see the point of only having one bank account

Frozen_up_north

I am now in my second week since switching from Smile to Santander's 123 account. I had a couple of letters from direct debit people confirming the change of account, but nothing from my pension and share dividend payers.

I phoned one company and found they haven't been notified of the new bank details and checked one of my pension providers on-line only to find the old bank details and not the new ones.

Under the terms of the 7 day switch, both direct debit and payees to the old account should be notified by the new bank. In a few minutes I am calling the Santander switching team to ask what is going on. :mad:

Archi_Bald

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Under the terms of the 7 day switch, both direct debit and payees to the old account should be notified by the new bank.

They have nigh on 13 months to actually switch everything - - just after 7 days, everything needs to happen from/on your new account as far as you are seeing things, even if behind the scenes they will redirect payments for you.

Frozen_up_north

Archi_Bald wrote: »

They have nigh on 13 months to actually switch everything - - just after 7 days, everything needs to happen from/on your new account as far as you are seeing things, even if behind the scenes they will redirect payments for you.

Funny how they manage to contact direct debit companies, but fail to contact companies and organisations that pay me. Nor did they keep me informed of the progress of the switch. Their introductory package which details how the switching process works arrived 3 days after the switch was completed.

They do not have 13 months, that is a "safety net" in case of missed payers. If they can notify DDs in the 7 day change over period, they can also contact pension and other companies in the same timescale.

Archi_Bald

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Their introductory package which details how the switching process works arrived 3 days after the switch was completed.

Hang on, I am confused. You posted earlier today to say the incoming payments had not been switched, and now you are saying the switch was completed at least 3 days ago. Is your switch complete or is it still ongoing?

Frozen_up_north

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Hang on, I am confused. You posted earlier today to say the incoming payments had not been switched, and now you are saying the switch was completed at least 3 days ago. Is your switch complete or is it still ongoing?

The 7 days have been completed, the issue is the switching arrangement is supposed to include contacting the companies and organisations that make payments to myself, so they start to make payments to the new account rather than continuing to pay to the old account (for up to 13 months). While I appreciate the previous comment that they have up to 13 months to notify the payers, or more accurately, that the old bank has to forward payments for 13 months. The issue is one of not knowing if Santander are doing anything, or just ignoring it.