Opening Multiple Bank Accounts

TartanSaver

secondtoughest wrote: »

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?

For Halifax incentive, no, you don't need DDs at switch. Unless it has changed since I did it recently. You do need it for the fivers though. I think co-op requires them to be switched in.

There's no minimum time. I have had one for less than a fortnight, before I switched for incentive.

MystArch89

I just rang F/D today and apparently they are still trying to process some of my documents that i posted. So i just opened up another Halifax Current Account right now.

Would the bank not question me seeing as Im opening an account for a few days then i'll ring f/d to inform them that the account that i'm willing to use as a switch would be this new ac that was just opened 3 days ago?

And secondly, sorry but i could not catch the jargon. What exactly is a donor account? Taking halifax for example, If i opened a reward account, then opened another 2 free current ac with just £1 in them and use them for switching for good deals? I'm just afraid this would take a hit on my credit score seeing i have got so many accounts opened?

Sorry for the long winded message. ><!

TartanSaver

MystArch89 wrote: »

Would the bank not question me seeing as Im opening an account for a few days then i'll ring f/d to inform them that the account that i'm willing to use as a switch would be this new ac that was just opened 3 days ago?

Which bank? FD will not even know it's only been a few days. Halifax is unlikely to care either.

MystArch89 wrote: »

And secondly, sorry but i could not catch the jargon. What exactly is a donor account? Taking halifax for example, If i opened a reward account, then opened another 2 free current ac with just £1 in them and use them for switching for good deals? I'm just afraid this would take a hit on my credit score seeing i have got so many accounts opened?

Sorry for the long winded message. ><!

Yes, that's what a donor account is. An account you open with the purpose of gaining a switch incentive from another bank. Re credit file, searches only have a fairly short term effect, and having lots of current accounts (which are not all overdrawn) shows you can handle your financial obligations. Some lenders might take a dislike, but then others might like you more. It's pretty hard to guess the impact - all the lenders have their own rules.

MystArch89

Ah ok. that clears up quite abit of my understanding now. It almost feels like the banks are throwing money in order to bait unknowing people to switch and maintain.

Sorry to keep asking question, but after looking at so many accounts,most requires minimum pay in per month. It cant all be from a single salary right? Trying to make sure i get it right or i might end up having to find money to fund so many accounts hah!

Say if I put 2k in TSB, min pay in of 500pds pm, is it sensible to just put 2k in there permanently and 500 pds deposit each month and move the 500 pds out again the next day? And to keep taking advantage of Halifax reward account, i'll just move the 500 from tsb to halifax and another 250 from a different account? ** In regards to that, its said funding exclude internal transfer ** - does that mean internal transfer within the bank own account? Or internal between the group of banks under one group? I was told TSB, Lloyds, Halifax still belong to one company group.

MARTYM8`

MystArch89 wrote: »

Ah ok. that clears up quite abit of my understanding now. It almost feels like the banks are throwing money in order to bait unknowing people to switch and maintain.

Sorry to keep asking question, but after looking at so many accounts,most requires minimum pay in per month. It cant all be from a single salary right? Trying to make sure i get it right or i might end up having to find money to fund so many accounts hah!

Say if I put 2k in TSB, min pay in of 500pds pm, is it sensible to just put 2k in there permanently and 500 pds deposit each month and move the 500 pds out again the next day? And to keep taking advantage of Halifax reward account, i'll just move the 500 from tsb to halifax and another 250 from a different account? ** In regards to that, its said funding exclude internal transfer ** - does that mean internal transfer within the bank own account? Or internal between the group of banks under one group? I was told TSB, Lloyds, Halifax still belong to one company group.

Yes - you can recycle the money through your accounts using 1 salary. Pay in the required minimum for that account to earn interest, keep it in for the day (in theory you can move it the same day) and then move it out the next day to another account and repeat for that.

Its a bit fiddly as they all have different minimums for the interest bearing accounts e.g.

TSB and Santander 123 £500
Tesco and Halifax reward £750
Nationwide flex direct and CB/YB current account direct and Bank of Scotland vantage £1k
Club Lloyds £1500

Archi_Bald

MARTYM8` wrote: »

Its a bit fiddly as they all have different minimums for the interest bearing accounts e.g.

If it's too fiddly, just pass £1,500 (or whatever your largest is) through all of them.

bazster

Me and my missus opened them all as quickly as we could, one account each plus a joint account, with Santander, Nationwide, Lloyds and TSB. Yep, 12 current accounts, plus the "real" current accounts we already had!

Keeping track of all the paperwork was a bit of a pain, but otherwise there was no problem. Money just goes around them all in circles in order to comply with the paying-in requirements, and when we ran out of DD payees for some of them, some charities found themselves the beneficiaries of small monthly donations.

TartanSaver

MARTYM8` wrote: »

Yes - you can recycle the money through your accounts using 1 salary. Pay in the required minimum for that account to earn interest, keep it in for the day (in theory you can move it the same day) and then move it out the next day to another account and repeat for that.

And lose interest on all the days you've left it there for no reason? I cycle it all in one sitting. This month I timed myself (after reading various posts with people saying it's "a faff.") Took me 13 minutes to do them all and have back in my 123.

MystArch89

Which current account would be the easier to open as a donor accounts?

And Tartan, u mean recycle the money all on the same day? Pay into tsb, next min move to santander, next min move to halifax and finally back to the main current account?

TartanSaver

MystArch89 wrote: »

And Tartan, u mean recycle the money all on the same day? Pay into tsb, next min move to santander, next min move to halifax and finally back to the main current account?

Yes. In my case the "main account" is Santander because I don't have £20k, so the more I have in there, the more I earn 3% on. Re donor accounts, that's harder to answer. For my next ones I think I'm going to try Nationwide, as I already hold a Flexdirect and I think setting up an account online should be easy enough. Whoever you currently hold accounts with that does online applications might be simplest.