MSE News: Current account switching: Lloyds biggest winner and biggest loser 1 August 2014 at 5:44PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 10 replies 2.2K views

Former_MSE_Helen

"Lloyds Bank was both the biggest winner and biggest loser from the seven-day current account switching guarantee "...

Read the full story:

Current account switching: Lloyds biggest winner and biggest loser'



Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

colin79666

Surprised to see HSBC/FD losing so many. I'm of of those who moved from RBS to FD after having enough with the RBS IT issues.

Interesting that BOS has an overall loss yet Halifax which is much the same had such a big gain.

YorkshireBoy

colin79666 wrote: »

Interesting that BOS has an overall loss yet Halifax which is much the same had such a big gain.

BoS didn't have a £100 switching incentive (and £5 per month ongoing).

dr_adidas01

colin79666 wrote: »

Surprised to see HSBC/FD losing so many. I'm of of those who moved from RBS to FD after having enough with the RBS IT issues.

Interesting that BOS has an overall loss yet Halifax which is much the same had such a big gain.

I'm not surprised by HSBC and FD loosing out, people want to earn extra from their money and HSBC and FD don't give a lot in interest or do a great deal for their customers.

PeacefulWaters

colin79666 wrote: »

Surprised to see HSBC/FD losing so many.

Stale offerings to existing customers.

Interesting that BOS has an overall loss yet Halifax which is much the same had such a big gain.

BoS has no advertising focus or presence south of the border. I don't think they promote Vantage well.

grumbler

colin79666 wrote: »

Surprised to see HSBC/FD losing so many.

Hardly a surprise for HSBC. Nothing good (except the regular saver) and ongoing AML paranoia.

It would be interesting to see separate figures.

Pincher

A customer who turns up for £100 this year, will breeze off for £50 next year.


I suspect some people closed their First Direct account just so that they can qualify for the bonus by switching back later.
You don't get it if you stay put.


I don't see switching to get better service.
It's just a load of hassle for all concerned, just so the switcher can get a little perk. Your gas, electric and telephone company etc. have to update the DD, and possibly other indirect activities. I certainly got plenty of notification letters when switching to Santander.

grumbler

Pincher wrote: »

I suspect some people closed their First Direct account just so that they can qualify for the bonus by switching back later.

Bonus for switching back to FD? No chance.

huw01

The most striking thing i see from those figures is the co-op's numbers. They've lost more in numbers that the likes of HSBC/ FD or the Nat West brand who are a lot bigger banks in comparison.

Wonder where the ethical luvies are all moving their money to?

zerog

So Halifax have spent around £7M on switching bonuses over a 3 month period. Wonder how that relates to their other marketing costs.

Bearing in mind that some people have several accounts, overall about 200,000 movements in 3 months, or 1 in 3000 people is savvy with banking or very unhappy with their previous bank. Sounds about right.

Stuart_W

huw01 wrote: »

The most striking thing i see from those figures is the co-op's numbers. They've lost more in numbers that the likes of HSBC/ FD or the Nat West brand who are a lot bigger banks in comparison.

I think I agree that this is the most significant bit. Most of the rest of the figures show general churn and the incentive accounts (Halifax Reward, Santander 123 etc) doing well amongst switchers.

If figures were shown by % of current account customers leaving, Co-op would be right at the top, surely.

My local Co-op shop has ripped out the Co-op Bank cash machine and replaced it with a cashzone ATM instead.

So customers had been leaving at a rate of 1320 a week, with only 149 joining each week - and even then I reckon that's a fair number of previously loyal long-standing customers being replaced with temporary incentive-chasing ones who will be gone again by next year.

Wonder what has happened in the 7 months since these figures? Customers walking out at the same rate would mean another 40,000 quitting the bank. There's got to be a limit to how many customers the co-op can lose before the whole thing becomes uneconomic.