Opening Multiple Bank Accounts

MystArch89

Hi there,

Sorry im slightly new here but finally decided to take ahold of managing my own finances and just been lumbered with so much information to feed through with all the different techniques and bank accounts interest etc.

Just a quick question, I'm trying to take advantages of the offer on the savings and current account of Multiple banks (some which require switching). What would be the best time frame for me to leave in between applications? Or should i just try and apply for the 3 banks that i am after? Basically they are first direct (saver), nationwide(Flexplus) and santander 123 atm.

Credit rating wise i'm probably in the average band of fair - average.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

:j

TartanSaver

Shouldn't make a lot of difference, in theory, unless you have a number of very recent searches from other activity. Are you sure you don't mean Nationwide Flexdirect? It pays 5% on £2,500. Nationwide are currently paying £80 if you sign up through quidco or topcashback and switch an account to them. First direct consistently pay £100 to switch, sometimes £125. Santander had a small quidco offer last time I looked (about £30.)

bouicca21

I opened several accounts within a 7-14 day period for precisely the same reason. I also opened a 0% credit card account to stooze a couple of large purchases. My only problem was some extra checks because I had recently moved.

robotrobo

MystArch89 wrote: »

Hi there,

Sorry im slightly new here but finally decided to take ahold of managing my own finances and just been lumbered with so much information to feed through with all the different techniques and bank accounts interest etc.

Just a quick question, I'm trying to take advantages of the offer on the savings and current account of Multiple banks (some which require switching). What would be the best time frame for me to leave in between applications? Or should i just try and apply for the 3 banks that i am after? Basically they are first direct (saver), nationwide(Flexplus) and santander 123 atm.

Credit rating wise i'm probably in the average band of fair - average.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

:j

I have opened the f/d & the 123 accounts without closeing my main current account.
Keep the original account open until you are happy with the situation, and then if you want to get rid of it , ditch & switch for the incentive, me I keep it going as a holding come sorting account & it works for me

MystArch89

Sorry definitely meant the Nationwide FlexDirect.!

@Robotrobo : F/D is needing me to switch my halifax ac to be able to offer me the incentive. Would they still pay the incentive to move all the account activity to the new acc? But keep the old account open? Is it possible?

Just a silly question though as im not entirely sure of the whole switching process. When u switch a current account, would that mean they close all the accounts u hold with the bank? Including savers? As i took advantage of the switch to halifax back in mid 2012, apparently i'll be eligible to do the same again in mid 2016. Sort of a vague plan but if halifax continue to offer incentive by then, i might switch the acc back from f/d to halifax in the near future.

Trying to use the nationwide account to make full use of my other account which is giving me 3k pds interest free o/d atm which is not doing anything other than staying in credit.

TartanSaver

MystArch89 wrote: »

F/D is needing me to switch my halifax ac to be able to offer me the incentive. Would they still pay the incentive to move all the account activity to the new acc? But keep the old account open? Is it possible?

No. You need to complete a full switch for the incentive, than means closing an account. What you can do is open another account (maybe with one of your current banks) and switch that instead.

MystArch89 wrote: »

Just a silly question though as im not entirely sure of the whole switching process. When u switch a current account, would that mean they close all the accounts u hold with the bank? Including savers?.

Not necessarily, but if you're talking about the FD regular saver, holding their current account is a condition, and they will close it if you switch away, almost certainly without paying you any interest for the time you held it. Why not keep a Halifax reward for a free £5/mo?

Paully232000

MystArch89 wrote: »

Hi there,

Sorry im slightly new here but finally decided to take ahold of managing my own finances and just been lumbered with so much information to feed through with all the different techniques and bank accounts interest etc.

Just a quick question, I'm trying to take advantages of the offer on the savings and current account of Multiple banks (some which require switching). What would be the best time frame for me to leave in between applications? Or should i just try and apply for the 3 banks that i am after? Basically they are first direct (saver), nationwide(Flexplus) and santander 123 atm.

Credit rating wise i'm probably in the average band of fair - average.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

:j

I opened 3 with no issues within the space of about half an hour.

robotrobo

[QUOTE=MystArch89;67917825]Sorry definitely meant the Nationwide FlexDirect.!

@Robotrobo : F/D is needing me to switch my halifax ac to be able to offer me the incentive. Would they still pay the incentive to move all the account activity to the new acc? But keep the old account open? Is it possible?

Just a silly question though as im not entirely sure of the whole switching process. When u switch a current account, would that mean they close all the accounts u hold with the bank? Including savers? As i took advantage of the switch to halifax back in mid 2012, apparently i'll be eligible to do the same again in mid 2016. Sort of a vague plan but if halifax continue to offer incentive by then, i might switch the acc back from f/d to halifax in the near future.

Trying to use the nationwide account to make full use of my other account which is giving me 3k pds interest free o/d atm which is not doing anything other than staying in credit.[/QUOTE]

Sorry!!.
I only opened a regular saver with £1500 funding.
Opened the e saver so exempt account fees.
And opened the regular saver £300 per month @6%.
2 d/d was needed then , but not sure if you still need them now , as I have removed 1& still meet the requirements.
Myself I talked to the bank over the phone & they were very helpful on setting things up , as I struggle on the PC, same with the Lloyd club accounts we are opening at the moment, I find it better to go &see the manager & they sort it out & even put it online for me, after all they are after your money aren't they?.

MystArch89

Dunno whether its to do with my credit rating, each time opening an account took ages with identify ID and address check which was tedious.

@Tartan, I am interested to keep the halifax open but how should i go about it since f/d is currently about to start the switching process which would close my halifax acc. Do i just open another normal current account with Halifax and upgrade it to the reward account once the switching process is done? Still new to all these banking loop holes. I always thought i am only allowed to keep one current account at a time with each bank.

letThemPlay

MystArch89 wrote: »

Dunno whether its to do with my credit rating, each time opening an account took ages with identify ID and address check which was tedious.

@Tartan, I am interested to keep the halifax open but how should i go about it since f/d is currently about to start the switching process which would close my halifax acc. Do i just open another normal current account with Halifax and upgrade it to the reward account once the switching process is done? Still new to all these banking loop holes. I always thought i am only allowed to keep one current account at a time with each bank.

I'm not sure if you are already past the point of no return regarding switching; I would just open up another Halifax account and upgrade once the switch is complete.

You are allowed as many current accounts as each bank will let you have; generally accounts that have rewards or high interest are limited to 1 or 2 but normal accounts without these extras don't tend to have any limit.

Halifax will only allow you to have one single and one joint (I believe) reward accounts; but you can have as many of their basic account as they will allow you to open.

secondtoughest

I've opened a couple of donor accounts in the last few days to be sacrificed to a switch to an account with benefits. Couple of questions:

Do I need to set my direct debits up before I switch or can I set them up in the new account after e.g. the Halifax £5 a month?

I have my sortcode and account numbers for the donors - is there a minimum amount of time I need to have them for before I switch them?