Opening many current accounts in short periond

Darkky

Hello,
I have decided to go after the bonus many banks offer for switching a current account to them. However, i am aware that this means many credit checks in short period of time i.e. lower credit score. What i could not find is for how long do these checks stay on your record?

And just so that i don't open another thread, many accounts require minimum monthly pay in. Is there a minimum time the money need to stay in the account, e.g. if i transfer them in the morning and take them out again in the early afternoon will that count? Thanks

Nebulous2

Searches stay on your account for two years. They are said to have limited impact after 6 months.

My money usually stays in some of my accounts just long enough for me to change from one bank's mobile banking app to another one on my mobile phone.

Darkky

What does 'limited impact' mean in practice? And, after 2 years are they completely erased from my record as if they never happened?

YorkshireBoy

Darkky wrote: »

I have decided to go after the bonus many banks offer for switching a current account to them. However, i am aware that this means many credit checks in short period of time

Since several of the payments are 70 days later (and with Nationwide you need to keep the account open for 3 months after receiving the payment), unless you do several in parallel you'll possibly only get 4 or 5 done by year end. In my opinion that's not excessive. Indeed, this time last year I opened nearly 20 current accounts over a 3 month period...and still got accepted for 3 or 4 credit cards during that same period (although I was declined for one...but I put that down to stoozing debt rather than excessive current account credit checks).

And, after 2 years are they completely erased from my record as if they never happened?

Yes, but I believe it's only CallCredit that keep them 2 years. Experian and Equifax only keep them for 1 year (unless things have changed?).

Darkky

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Since several of the payments are 70 days later (and with Nationwide you need to keep the account open for 3 months after receiving the payment), unless you do several in parallel you'll possibly only get 4 or 5 done by year end. In my opinion that's not excessive. Indeed, this time last year I opened nearly 20 current accounts over a 3 month period...and still got accepted for 3 or 4 credit cards during that same period (although I was declined for one...but I put that down to stoozing debt rather than excessive current account credit checks).

Yes, but I believe it's only CallCredit that keep them 2 years. Experian and Equifax only keep them for 1 year (unless things have changed?).

I will be doing some of them in parallel. A good estimate will probably be about 6 new accounts opened in 3 months. Chances of me applying for a loan/credit card within the next few years are slim at best, so i guess i am in the clear?

Does each bank usually use only one credit reference agency and which is the most common one (if anyone knows?) ?

YorkshireBoy

Darkky wrote: »

Does each bank usually use only one credit reference agency and which is the most common one (if anyone knows?) ?

In my experience, Experian is by far the most commonly used.

Also in my opinion, whilst a mainstream provider (eg bank or credit card) may search one or two of Experian and/or Equifax, most of my searches for bank accounts on CallCredit are purely ID verification/administrative review searches, ie they're 'unrecorded'/'soft' searches, so not seen by other lenders.