Afraid of switching current accounts

freeman3030

Hi,
I've banked with since I was 18, so about 7/8 years. I've seen/heard about people switching and getting £150 for free so I thought why not? The only thing is, I'm afraid incase it all goes wrong. So I've got a few questions:
1) Do I tell my employer my new details or are they informed in the switch?
2) Will all my direct debits deffinatly change to the new account ok?
3) I have to instant savers with natwest, before changing should I transfer all of the funds into my current account and open similar accounts with the new bank?

Now for more about the bank itself, my partner pays our mortgage and I pay for water, gas, electricity, food, mobile phones etc. I'm sure on some accounts you can get cash back, but they have fees and I'm not sure if what I'd earn back in cash back would cover the account cost. I also payin over £1k per month to the account.

4) I like the natwest app on my iPhone as it uses my fingerprint to login, do other banks use the fingerprint reader to login?
5) as mentioned before, I have 2 instants savers with natwest with about 2k in each account. One is for regular savings and the other I pay in regularly to help cover car maintenance, Xmas and birthday presents, holidays etc. I frequently transfer money to and from the account so it's easier to have the accounts with one bank. Obviously my savings are minimal so am never going to earn masses in interest, I just like having easy access to transfer money between my current account and savings accounts.

Any help/advise is much appreciated!

agrinnall

If you want to keep your NatWest account just open another account somewhere else, set up a couple of DDs, and transfer that. If you look through the board you will find dozens, if not hundreds, of threads asking about this.

grumbler

freeman3030 wrote: »

1) Do I tell my employer my new details or are they informed in the switch?

They are informed, but it's worth telling regardless.

2) Will all my direct debits deffinatly change to the new account ok?

Normally, yes, but it's worth keeping your eye on them.

3) I have to instant savers with natwest, before changing should I transfer all of the funds into my current account and open similar accounts with the new bank?

Yes, if they are linked to the current account and can't work without it.

Now for more about the bank itself, my partner pays our mortgage and I pay for water, gas, electricity, food, mobile phones etc. I'm sure on some accounts you can get cash back, but they have fees and I'm not sure if what I'd earn back in cash back would cover the account cost.

Take a calculator then. Or pen and paper. Possibly the bank in question has some special calculator on the website. Santander certainly has.

I also payin over £1k per month to the account.

4) I like the natwest app on my iPhone as it uses my fingerprint to login, do other banks use the fingerprint reader to login?

I don't think that you can get a bonus and everything you like. BTW, IIRC, Natwest is one of the best accounts for cashback on DDs.
If you like Natwest and it's only a bonus that you are after, open a new account with Natwest and switch it for a bonus.