Want to switch but a slight concern.

collywollys

Hi,


Looking at switching our main account to First Direct. We are currently with Santander with an overdraft facility of £2,000 which is costing on average £30 a month.


I have the opportunity of a competitive 0% money transfer ( 4% fee ) but would also slap about £500 of my own cash as well to clear the overdraft.


Question is shall I do all this before applying for the switch or at least get the ball rolling by applying now ??


Many thanks

mgdavid

your post is a bit unclear.
You say you have an o/d facility of £2k but are you using it?
You suggest a £500 o/d but say this costs £30/month which is excessive.
Whatever, I'd clear it completely before trying to switch, there's numerous other threads raised by people who have tried to move an o/d and it all ends in tears.

colsten

Are you asking whether you should do both, apply for a new current account (to switch to), and a 0% balance transfer credit card?

How much of your Santander overdraft is used, and do you also have £500 debt on a credit card?

How are you planning to clear the overdraft on your Santander account?

grumbler

mgdavid wrote: »

your post is a bit unclear.
You say you have an o/d facility of £2k but are you using it?
You suggest a £500 o/d but say this costs £30/month which is excessive.

Using arranged overdraft costs £1/day at Santander.

collywollys wrote: »

I have the opportunity of a competitive 0% money transfer ( 4% fee ) but would also slap about £500 of my own cash as well to clear the overdraft.


Question is shall I do all this before applying for the switch or at least get the ball rolling by applying now ??

You can do this after applying - when you know your overdraft limit at FD, but you have to clear the missing amount before the actual switch to avoid any complications.

YorkshireBoy

colsten wrote: »

How are you planning to clear the overdraft on your Santander account?

By using a £1.5K SBT (money transfer) on an MBNA card, and £500 of their own savings.

The question is...

Do they settle the Santander current account overdraft before applying/switching their Santander current account to First Direct, or afterwards.

The answer (IMO) is...

Take the MBNA money transfer, add the savings, clear the Santander overdraft, wait for their CRA file to update, then apply for the FD account, then switch the Santander account to FD (if the application is successful).

collywollys

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

By using a £1.5K SBT (money transfer) on an MBNA card, and £500 of their own savings.

The question is...

Do they settle the Santander current account overdraft before applying/switching their Santander current account to First Direct, or afterwards.

The answer (IMO) is...

Take the MBNA money transfer, add the savings, clear the Santander overdraft, wait for their CRA file to update, then apply for the FD account, then switch the Santander account to FD (if the application is successful).

Thanks YorkshireBoy, that's exactly what I mean. I'll do what you advise, sounds the best way with the least complications.

parksajj

Money transfer to MBNA the day after the bill is produced.
Also clear overdraft to 0 and then have SanTanDumb manually push the info to Equifax Experian and CallCredit. (i think it's called a push but it's effectivley where the information about your lending is updated within 24 hours)

Then check credit reports. (once they're clear of the -2k @ STD apply)

Apply for First Direct. (they're fantastic)

Run the account well and keep your credit files clean and they will bend over backwards to help.



Santander on the other hand won't do Jacks.

They're rubbish. And it's mainly the staff workers attitudes.

collywollys

Thanks Parksajj, never heard of credit file being updated that quickly.


Do I literally just ask them to do that in branch when I go to settle the overdraft ?