Bank Account "Switch" Service - Should I?

psychological

Hi Folks,

I wondered if you had any experience in switching your very first bank current account?

I've been with Barclays since I was a wee lad, I currently have their Premier Life package which suits me quite well in spite of the £17.50 monthly fee (concierge, RAC, phone insurance, cinema membership etc all go to good use).

However, I'm trying to get a little more serious with my savings and Barclays just don't have competitive products. My ISA is pitiful as are the rates for their regular savings accounts. I'm seriously tempted by the First Direct account, which has a 6% reg saver account for customers.

My concerns are that Barclays have known my financial history for a long time, I'd assume that if I get to a point where a first time mortgage is feasible for me (i.e. saving a shedload of money), that they would be the most likely to get me on the ladder.

Perhaps this is misguided but if a financial institution has such a wide insight into my financial history, does it make sense to ditch and switch to a different provider entirely (i.e. use the first direct switch facility and make myself £125)?

I suspect It'd be best if I kept my Barclays account open and just opened a First Direct without using the switch facility, pay in £1k per month. It will lose me £125 but allow me to keep Barclays sweet.

Would appreciate any thoughts from the forum.

Cheers.

bsms1147

Option 3) Open another Barclays account (or any account anywhere else) and switch that one to your desired First Direct account, getting the bonus in the process and leaving your original Barclays account untouched.

I've experienced the switch process a few times, each time it's been faultless.

You do not have to pay in £1000 a month to First Direct to avoid the fee, there are plenty of ways to avoid it, some very simple.

There are better bank accounts than First Direct's in terms of rewards, but their regular saver is decent.

psychological

Thanks BSMS,

Sounds like a plan, have you had success in doing this yourself? If First Direct have no expectation of activity in the account to authorise the switch and £125 then that sounds like a winner.

castle96

Have been with Barclays since 16 (now 62) so know what you mean. But, there is no point in keeping any money in there.

Look at all the switching incentives and earn £1500 +
Leave 0.01p in Barclays to keep open. (Never close and a/c you have opened - use for the next switch.)
Open a 'batch' of new accounts, incl. Barclays (Beware any effect on credit rating re mortgage app., etc.
Open tesco savings a/c for direct debits requirement for some switches.
Plenty of a/cs offering 2/3/4/5% on £3k-£20k. Single and joint. £150-200k to fill the lot.
Read the switching/incentive threads

YorkshireBoy

castle96 wrote: »

Plenty of a/cs offering 2/3/4/5% on £3k-£20k. Single and joint. £150-200k to fill the lot.

A tad optimistic?

I make it £145.5K (max per couple*)...unless you know different? If you do I'm all ears!


* £55.5K for sole accounts.

[Deleted User]

The mortgage bit assumes that you'll be going to Barclays for your mortgage. You might be better off getting a broker to assess your chances across the whole market.

Archi_Bald

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

A tad optimistic?

I make it £145.5K (max per couple*)...unless you know different? If you do I'm all ears!


* £54.5K for sole accounts.

Can you detail the numbers please as I seem to be missing some. I make it £50.5K sole (twice), plus £29.5K joint, so £130.5K total. Which ones am I missing (apart from ones you can't have any longer, and accounts with less than 3% AER)?

Sorry about the formatting, the forum SW is a bit hostile to lists.

	          AmountSole	Joint	Total sole	Total joint
TSB              £2,000	1	1	£2,000	£2,000
Santander	£20,000	1	1	£20,000	£20,000
Club Lloyds      £5,000	1	1	£5,000	£5,000
BOS	         £5,000	3	0	£15,000	£0
FlexDirect       £2,500	1	1	£2,500	£2,500
Tesco            £3,000	2	0	£6,000	£0
				       £50,500	£29,500

YorkshireBoy

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Can you detail the numbers please as I seem to be missing some. I make it £50.5K sole (twice), plus £29.5K joint, so £130.5K total. Which ones am I missing (apart from ones you can't have any longer, and accounts with less than 3% AER)?

castle96 was including 2% accounts, so I added YB/CB at £3K per sole and £9K per couple.

I also used 2 x £2K & 6 x £2K at TSB (since people are reporting the old rules are still applying...presumably until the end of this month?).


The above two points make up your £5K shortfall (or my £5K overstatement! ) on sole accounts.

Sole:

3 x BoS for £15K
2 x Tesco for £6K
1 x YB for £3K
1 x Club Lloyds for £5K
2 x TSB for £4K
1 x Santander for £20K
1 x Nationwide for £2.5K

---

Total £55.5K (I was £1K out earlier...typo!)


Couple:

6 x BoS for £30K
4 x Tesco for £12K
3 x YB for £9K
3 x Club Lloyds for £15K
6 x TSB for £12K
3 x Santander for £60K
3 x Nationwide for £7.5K

---

Total £145.5K

psychological

Good afternoon all,

Taking the plunge today, have opened a separate bank account with my bank and planning on switching over to First Direct today.

One thing I'm not clear on re the £100 bonus, it's contingent on you paying in £1k per month, but there is also mention that if you have a savings account that isn't necessary? I am planning on taking advantage of the 6% regular saver they have, would this mean th £1k minimum is not necessary to receive the switching bonus?

Did have a scan on the forum but couldn't find a clear answer on it.

Cheers,

Matt

NoMore

Open a 1st Account then switch your banking to us using the Current Account Switch Service and pay in at least £1,000 within three months of your account opening and we'll add £100 to your account.

From the fd website so you need to at least deposit £1000 once in the first three months

YorkshireBoy

psychological wrote: »

One thing I'm not clear on re the £100 bonus, it's contingent on you paying in £1k per month, but there is also mention that if you have a savings account that isn't necessary? I am planning on taking advantage of the 6% regular saver they have, would this mean th £1k minimum is not necessary to receive the switching bonus?

Did have a scan on the forum but couldn't find a clear answer on it.

You'll find the "clear answer" by reading the T&Cs (3 sets...Switching Incentive, 1st Account, & Regular Saver), not scanning an internet forum. For example:

1. The £100 switching incentive is NOT contingent on paying in £1000 "per month". Just one £1,000 credit will get you your incentive payment.

2. You won't pay a banking fee (were you even aware of it?) for the first 6 months, but you will pay it afterwards if you don't meet one of several fee waiver qualifiers. Do you know what they are? Hint: The regular saver isn't one of them!