Yorkshire & Clydesdale Banks offering £150 for switching

Ed-1

Wammer wrote: »

So those of us currently on the 4% Current Account Direct with YB are now free to open an account with CB and switch for the bonus?

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but it has looked like a no-no until now so just looking for confirmation.

It doesn't matter whether it's Yorkshire Bank or Clydesdale Bank - they're one and the same for the purposes of the £150 and the T&Cs are the same. The amended terms are (PDF still to be updated on YB site) that balances transferred as part of the switch now count towards the £1000 which doesn't have to be in a single payment and existing customers who have an account with either YB or CB where they have credited it with £1000 per month for the six months prior to 27th Nov now qualify if they open and switch to a new account opened after 27th Nov with either YB or CB.

Ed-1

norm_ wrote: »

I don't get why eligibility depends on how fast they process the switch? It's entirely outside the control of the customer?

It doesn't. They confirmed to me that the terms mean that you have to state a switch date within 21 days of the date you sign the forms, whether or not the actual switch date ends up being that date (as obviously that depends on how fast they process it).

norm_

Ed-1 wrote: »

It doesn't. They confirmed to me that the terms mean that you have to state a switch date within 21 days of the date you sign the forms, whether or note the actual switch date ends up being that date (as obviously that depends on how fast they process it).

I'm going to wait until my account is fully active until switching either way. The whole process seems more than a little haphazard. I can only imagine how inundated the bank admin staff must be with paperwork right now.

fuzzgun19

I got the 'Your account is now open' letter today from YB, waiting for card/pin to arrive now.
Has anyone heard anything about their switch yet?

derrick

Went into local YB Monday 24th November, signed all forms for Direct acc, account opened, registered online Thursday 26th November after receiving debit card and pin and did a small test FP which worked immeadiately, Tuesday 02nd December switch completed and I transferred £1000.00 into the acc.

Monday 01st December, went in to YB again and opened a Plus account, (after being told both on the phone and in branch that I could open both accs and receive 2 x £150 switching incentives), signed all the forms, 03rd December did a small FP payment that worked, 10th December, today, second account is switched and working, will now pay in £1000.00 then play the waiting game.

Much quicker and easier if you can get to a branch, I am still waiting for the forms when I applied for the second account over the phone on 27th November.


.

Hooloovoo

badger09 wrote: »

I'm losing the will

Me too and I've only just started.

Since my Nationwide FlexDirect account has just lost its bonus interest rate, I thought this was a good time to use it as a sacrificial account for a switch. The YB £150 bonus came at just the right time.

I went to my local YB yesterday. They said I couldn't open an account because "the advisor" wasn't there today. I could either come back on Thursday or I could complete the application with an advisor from another branch, over the phone.

It never even occurred to me that I might need to make an appointment to open an account!

I couldn't come back later so I went ahead and discussed the account on the phone to another branch. The whole reason I went to the trouble of going to a branch was because I don't like doing stuff on the phone. But hey ho.

To cut a very long story short, an hour and ten minutes later (!) I walked out with some paperwork and the account in the process of being opened.

To my surprise, my Nationwide FlexDirect is already today showing the label "this account is switching out".

I wonder how long the rest of the process will take. It's like going back to the 1980s. I opened two TSB accounts while sitting at home in my underpants. Within ten minutes they were up and running with online access all registered and working. I only had to wait for the cards. I've never even been in a TSB branch, never mind had to actually show real documents for them to photocopy.

No wonder YB are needing to pay people to open accounts. If this is how the bank works I can't see me using it much or opening any more accounts once I've got the £150 incentive.

7sefton

If you think the account opening process is difficult and old fashioned, just wait until you actually start using the account!


- Mobile app regularly fails
- When it works, all you can basically do is look at the balance. No functionality to do anything else useful, not even an internal transfer from current account to ISA
- Their online banking is from the dark ages - weird security token thing, confusing lists of payees 'fund transfer, payments, billers' none of which mean what you think they do
- Paying in slips needed when using branches
- No notification of private messages on internet banking (by email), even though this is the sole way of letting you know you are about to be charged when the take a future dated payment out of your account early because of 'bank working days'
- CB accounts can't use YB branches and vice versa... in the London branch they actually have different counters and different cashiers depending what brand of account you want to pay in because the two computer systems don't talk to oneanother!


Madness. Good luck to whoever buys them!

System

7sefton wrote: »

If you think the account opening process is difficult and old fashioned, just wait until you actually start using the account!


- Mobile app regularly fails
- When it works, all you can basically do is look at the balance. No functionality to do anything else useful, not even an internal transfer from current account to ISA
- Their online banking is from the dark ages - weird security token thing, confusing lists of payees 'fund transfer, payments, billers' none of which mean what you think they do
- Paying in slips needed when using branches
- No notification of private messages on internet banking (by email), even though this is the sole way of letting you know you are about to be charged when the take a future dated payment out of your account early because of 'bank working days'
- CB accounts can't use YB branches and vice versa... in the London branch they actually have different counters and different cashiers depending what brand of account you want to pay in because the two computer systems don't talk to oneanother!


Madness. Good luck to whoever buys them!

I have been with Clydesdale Bank for nearly a year now an am very happy. Not had these problems. The mobile banking app allows you to do a variety of transactions - you can pay an external account using sort code and account number as well as by Paym. You can also access the full banking app in mobile web version on a phone which gives you full access to the banking service. Have never had it fail. The web version is fully functional and is at least as good as any other bank I have used, and that includes all high street banks and many online banks.

When I log in through the web I get a very visible notification that I have a secure message. Any messages I send are always responded to promptly and any problems quickly sorted out.

The security token is pretty standard with several banks - I have a similar device from Smile, NatWest and Nationwide. I am rarely required to use it.

I have never visited a branch - any cash I need to pay in I do at the Post Office and the credit is immediately available in my Clydesdale account.

Yes, it was a bit of a hassle to open the account, but acceptable and you only need to do it once.

I'm a very happy customer and can heartily recommend Clydesdale and Yorkshire.

colsten

Hooloovoo wrote: »

It's like going back to the 1980s.

Oh no it isn't. In the 1980s, you were lucky if the Bank Manager let you have an account. He was the local God and if you got on the wrong side of him (always a him, never a her), you have had it. He most certainly wouldn't pay you £150, or even a fiver, to take you on as a customer, and if you "banked" elsewhere already, what were you doing wasting his time by applying for an account with his bank, anyway! Very little if anything of that is left in 2014.

Hooloovoo wrote: »

I opened two TSB accounts while sitting at home in my underpants. Within ten minutes they were up and running with online access all registered and working. I only had to wait for the cards. I've never even been in a TSB branch, never mind had to actually show real documents for them to photocopy.

I know it's miles easier to open TSB accounts, but then, they don't pay you a penny to join them, do they? No pain, no gain.

Hooloovoo wrote: »

If this is how the bank works I can't see me using it much or opening any more accounts once I've got the £150 incentive.

They are desperate to make the whole outfit look more attractive to potential buyers/investors. Having lots of customers, and lots of recent new customers in particular, can be good when you want to float/sell.

As reported all over the media, e.g. in
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/30/national-australia-bank-sale-yorkshire-clydesdale

Not sure how buying customers with questionable profitability at £150 a pop really helps them, but I won't argue if they think they should pay me for enduring their pathetic application process. And who knows, may be they will have attractive ISAs or some other innovative products for existing customers at some stage in the future....

bolzano

Not that I'm actually planning on using my card, but is it true that Maestro has worse protection than Visa and may not be usable as widely abroad? Is there any conceivable situation in which it would be an advantage to use Maestro? I had just assumed it would be Visa (as per my other n accounts).