Have questions about switching current acc from Natwest to Halifax using the switcher

lanceuppercut

I am looking to switch my current account to another bank, very likely the Halifax Reward Current Account with the £100 switching bonus plus the £5/month "freebie" that's on offer.

I satisfy Halifax's £750 to be paid into the account per month criteria.

However at the moment I have a single direct debit on my existing account but I should be able to get a 2nd one moved to it, satisfy the criteria. Do I need to do have the 2nd one in place before switching or can I add a 2nd DD afterwards to then qualify for the £5/month bonus?

I currently have a Natwest "Select Account" account which is a bog standard account, I don't seem to get any perks with it so I wouldn't lose much sleep if I changed. Although the emergency cash feature is quite nice so that I don't have to carry my debit card with me everywhere, it's certainly not worth £5/month I'm missing out on!

My Natwest online banking shows the following Natwest accounts attached to it:
-Select Account
-E-Savings
-Cash ISA
-Instant Saver
-YourPoints Mastercard

I need to use the switcher which transfers everything like DD's over, what happens to money in the saving/ISA accounts? If I understand it, the existing account gets shut down as part of the process. So should I empty them into the main account, make the switch, then apply for savings/ISA accounts with Halifax?

The switcher won't touch my Natwest YourPoints Mastercard, will it?

eskbanker

lanceuppercut wrote: »

I need to use the switcher which transfers everything like DD's over, what happens to money in the saving/ISA accounts? If I understand it, the existing account gets shut down as part of the process. So should I empty them into the main account, make the switch, then apply for savings/ISA accounts with Halifax?

The switcher won't touch my Natwest YourPoints Mastercard, will it?

The standard switching process itself relates to closing a single current account down, so it won't affect any other accounts directly. However, you should check the Ts & Cs of all the others to ensure that you don't fall foul of any stipulations requiring you to have a NatWest current account to retain them.

YorkshireBoy

lanceuppercut wrote: »

Do I need to do have the 2nd one in place before switching

No.

or can I add a 2nd DD afterwards to then qualify for the £5/month bonus?

Yes.....

lanceuppercut

eskbanker wrote: »

The standard switching process itself relates to closing a single current account down, so it won't affect any other accounts directly. However, you should check the Ts & Cs of all the others to ensure that you don't fall foul of any stipulations requiring you to have a NatWest current account to retain them.

I will contact them in the morning, thanks.

lanceuppercut

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

No.Yes.....

Does having a credit card full payment DD count as a "valid" DD even though 99% of the time nothing will be moving via that DD as the credit card in question would be the Halifax Clarity which would only be used for when on holiday.

As long as 2 DD instructions are "set-up" right..?

anoncol

lanceuppercut wrote: »

Does having a credit card full payment DD count as a "valid" DD even though 99% of the time nothing will be moving via that DD as the credit card in question would be the Halifax Clarity which would only be used for when on holiday.

As long as 2 DD instructions are "set-up" right..?

It has to be active DD. You would only get the fiver after holiday.

lanceuppercut

anoncol wrote: »

It has to be active DD. You would only get the fiver after holiday.

What if I set the DD instruction to pay the full amount and I use the Clarity card to buy a packet of crisps every month?

Technically the DD will count as it's being triggered that month (even though the amount itself won't be much), right?

YorkshireBoy

lanceuppercut wrote: »

What if I set the DD instruction to pay the full amount and I use the Clarity card to buy a packet of crisps every month?

Technically the DD will count as it's being triggered that month (even though the amount itself won't be much), right?

The criteria for the £5 Reward is very clear...

We’ll give you £5 for each month that you pay in £750, pay out two different direct debits and stay in credit.

Why are we talking about packets of crisps!?

lanceuppercut

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

The criteria for the £5 Reward is very clear...Why are we talking about packets of crisps!?

Because I was using it as an example.

If I set up a DD from my credit card which I hardly will use, to buy a packet of crisps with (this can be anything, use your imagination..), then the DD instruction that pays off my credit card should count as the 2nd DD in this case, yes?

My question is if there was a minimum that the DD had to be to count as valid. I know about the £750 pay-in, that's not what I'm talking about.

tl;dr - under the 2 DD requirements term, will the 2nd direct debit be accepted if it is simply me buying a packet of crisps on my credit card (which I'll have a DD set up to pay automatically to take from my current account)?

colsten

The criteria for getting the monthly £5 are very clearly described in the Halifax terms. So you can answer your own question - what do the terms say the minimum amount the DDs must be for?

As to whether the purchase of a packet of crisps as the only transaction on a CC will actually trigger a DD is an entirely different question. Some CC companies don't bother collecting just pennies.

lanceuppercut

colsten wrote: »

The criteria for getting the monthly £5 are very clearly described in the Halifax terms. So you can answer your own question - what do the terms say the minimum amount the DDs must be for?

As to whether the purchase of a packet of crisps as the only transaction on a CC will actually trigger a DD is an entirely different question. Some CC companies don't bother collecting just pennies.

That's what I'm asking help for, the 2 DD criteria is clear (why is everyone fixating on that?), I can't find a clear answer what the minimum amount collected on a DD counts as one of my 2 DDs..