Switch to 2 current bank accounts possible?

nkomp18

Hello,

Since Santander 123 current account fee is about to increase soon I've been looking into switching to another bank account and I notice there are a few bank accounts that offer switching bonus.

If the income is substantial enough, is it possible to therefore open two of those accounts?

For example can I get both the £150 switching bonus from First direct as well as the £150 bonus from Clydesdale and then deposit the required amounts into them?
Never done anything like this before but I don't see why not. The only tricky bit here is that I would have to receive my salary in one of them and then arrange a standing order into the other one.

Does anyone have any experience with this and know if it's possible?

Aretnap

The switching service means a full switch - your full balance, all direct debits and all standing orders are switched to the new account. So you can't use it to switch part of your account to Bank A, then another part of it to bank B - and you have to use it to get the switching bonus.

What you can do is switch to bank A, collect the switching bonus from bank A, and then switch again from bank A to bank B.

Or you can set up another current account with yet another bank (bank X), put £50 in it and switch that one to bank A, while switching your Santander account to Bank B, and thus getting two switching bonuses (more or less) simultaneously. Check the terms and conditions for each bank to see if the donor account has to have any direct debits or standing orders for the switching bonus to apply.

nkomp18

Very interesting. Thanks for the info! I'll look into it.
I do realize I'm being greedy, but if it's possible I don't see why not just going for it. It's not like banks don't try to maximize their own profits.

cifpower

nkomp18 wrote: »

Very interesting. Thanks for the info! I'll look into it.
I do realize I'm being greedy, but if it's possible I don't see why not just going for it. It's not like banks don't try to maximize their own profits.

Which, as a private company responsible to their shareholders, they must do.

Kernel_Sanders

nkomp18 wrote: »

The only tricky bit here is that I would have to receive my salary in one of them and then arrange a standing order into the other one.

Why would that be tricky?

jimjames

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

Why would that be tricky?

As someone who has multiple current accounts and moves money between them on a daily basis I can certainly confirm it is in no way tricky to do once all setup. Only issue is with some banks that limit the payment amounts without using card readers etc which I find a pain in the proverbial.