Switch and switch and switch again?

Chockolate

Hi,
I have just reactivated a TSB current account that had been lying dormant for 9 years with the incredible sum of 5p in it, lol. Last week I put a few hundred quid in it and switched to the Halifax to take advantage of the £125 switching incentive. Now that I have got that (was very impressed with the way the switch went) I am looking to switch another current account I have over to the Co-op.
I've had a good read of the T&C's (as I have on other banks current account T&C's) and cannot see anywhere that states that in order to be eligible/keep the incentive to switch you must keep the account active AFTER you have got the the incentive.
Am I free to switch accounts immediately after or do I have to remain a customer for a certain length of time? Can I legally do this or would the bank be entitled to reclaim the £100 back from me even though I made sure the balance of the account was nil when I used the switching service again.

boroboy123

Hi

I'm also looking for some info on this. I did a same as you, switched to Halifax from an old Barclays account I never used, I was also really impressed how smooth this switch went. I received the £125 within 3 days of the switch date, and thinking of doing it again to First Direct. I know certain banks have a criteria - Yorkshire Bank recently removed, the reintroduced their £150 offer to tighten up the criteria. You now have to have £1000 paid in with x amount of days, have 2 DD set up on the account, and don't get the money for 90 days after these have all been met.

This all been said, I still can't find anything in the T&C's of all the other offers saying you must stay with them for a certain amount of time after. I do wonder however if opening lots of new accounts would have an adverse effect on your credit rating, as they do some sort of search when opening an account. I'm not sure if this is a hard search or maybe something more like what comparison sites use when they search for insurance etc?

Hope this help a little.:beer:

Chockolate

Thanks for the info on credit rating, I had not thought of that.
It is Yorkshire Bank that I am looking to switch to after I have got the incentive from Co-op. The DD's are not so much of a problem. On the account I am looking to switch I only have one DD which is for my mobile phone but a few days ago I took out a DD with Moneywise magazine, 3 months issues for £1 to get around the problem of needing 2 DD's. After the incentive has been paid in I will cancel the DD and then set a similar one up as and when I do any future switches.

boroboy123

Like I said I think it's more of a soft search, as looking on my Equifax I have had a lot of searches over the last year 50+!!! But I think these are just from around when I've been comparing insurance , as they use a traffic light systems and this is still classed as green.

Only other think is to remember its 90 days from when you've paid your £1000 in (do this AFTER the switch date, but within the timescale) so your looking are looking around 4 months before you get your ££.

I use one main bank account (that I actually use) and then just used and old one to switch and then continue to switch from this one to get the benefit! like Martin says its just a bribe so may as well get what we can!

Chockolate

I have to admit I did a bit of switching about 10 years ago and got about £400 but then settled down with a b/s and was getting good rates.
I cannot take the offer of First Direct's £100 for switching and another £100 if you leave them within 6 months if you are not happy as I joined them about 10 years ago and got the £100 (no £100 for leaving in those days) and I did leave them within a couple of months because I was not happy with their level of service, can't see why it gets such a high score but they may have got better these days.
RBS was probably the worst of all, what a shambles. I had an account in YBS and wanted to transfer it to them. You would not believe how difficult it was to get them to move my account over. I even had 3 appointments in the branch to sort it out and they couldn't. The most laughable thing is the YBS and RBS branches where I live face one another, Lol.
In the end I gave up and within an hour of the incentive going into my RBS account (I think it was £50) I took the money out and never used that account again.