Santander 123 switch advice

Lord_e55ex

first post, so quite the newbie....

I am considering moving from NatWest to the Santander 123 account. I have heard a few horror stories using the switching service.... Would I be best placed just opening it as a separate account and moving everything over?

Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated.

realaledrinker

For every 'horror story' there are thousands of successful switches which go off without a problem but of course you never hear about them.

The switch guarantee and the fact that any stray debits and credits that go to the old account are automatically rerouted for 13 months make it a no brainer. I've used it several times to bag bonuses with no issues whatsoever.

BobQ

I would let them do the switch for you.

However, try to keep enough in both accounts (temporarily) to allow for delays or scheduling of DDs.

Things will be fine in most cases, but if one or two DDs are missed or the firm will not let the bank do the change you will have to do it yourself.

Lord_e55ex

realaledrinker wrote: »

For every 'horror story' there are thousands of successful switches which go off without a problem but of course you never hear about them.

The switch guarantee and the fact that any stray debits and credits that go to the old account are automatically rerouted for 13 months make it a no brainer. I've used it several times to bag bonuses with no issues whatsoever.

From what you say, I think i will let payday pass then initate the switch. Cheers for the advice.

AbbieCadabra

i applied online Monday 11th April for our main joint account to switch from smile to santander, to take place asap. switch date was 19th & balance from smile was switched that day.

however, i'm still waiting for all info to come through from santander so i can access our account online. the debit cards & a few other bits of info have come, but you need 2 separate letters for online access (rang santander for this to be advised, it's not on any letter received) &, typically, these seem to be the last sent.

we're not near any DD dates for us for another week so i'm not overly concerned that i can't check anything on our new account, but it's not a pleasant feeling not knowing if our money has arrived ok at santander in the meantime!

would have to say that the letters explaining the switch process aren't the best, but i also applied for a nationwide current account at the same time & the lack of info/delay from them has been similar.

badger09

AbbieCadabra wrote: »

i applied online Monday 11th April for our main joint account to switch from smile to santander, to take place asap. switch date was 19th & balance from smile was switched that day.

however, i'm still waiting for all info to come through from santander so i can access our account online. the debit cards & a few other bits of info have come, but you need 2 separate letters for online access (rang santander for this to be advised, it's not on any letter received) &, typically, these seem to be the last sent.

we're not near any DD dates for us for another week so i'm not overly concerned that i can't check anything on our new account, but it's not a pleasant feeling not knowing if our money has arrived ok at santander in the meantime!

would have to say that the letters explaining the switch process aren't the best, but i also applied for a nationwide current account at the same time & the lack of info/delay from them has been similar.

Wouldn't it have been more sensible to make sure your new Santander account was up and running, with full online & physical access before requesting your main account to be switched?

fromtheshires

The switch service is designed so any mess ups are rectified and at not loss t oyourself.
Mine went through fine apart from one DD. As I am on the ball and check my account daily, I saw that the DD hadnt gone out so paid £12 to pay the bill on my card. I contacted my new bank (Santander) who refunded the £12 and gave me £15 for the phone calls as well.
The switching service ensures that everything gets fixed for you so if I had of missed the DD not going out and got fees / markers etc, the switch guarantee ensures that it would all be rectifed for me as though it hadnt happened.

AbbieCadabra

badger09 wrote: »

Wouldn't it have been more sensible to make sure your new Santander account was up and running, with full online & physical access before requesting your main account to be switched?

i used the switching service & this is how they do it, suppose if i'd chosen a date in a weeks time for the switch to go ahead, i might have received all the paperwork in time, but i didn't. i chose straight away when applying on the 11th as a transfer date of the 19th didn't coincide with any dd's etc due to be taken. as mentioned above, the switch service covers you if anything does go wrong, but choosing a date when no payments are due & it gives time for dd's to be updated by originators seemed the best option.

final paperwork from santander safely received today so i've got online access, all funds/dd's/payment mandates have transferred from smile ok & a payment made into our a/c yesterday is showing ok too.

colsten

The switching service does not include the account opening process. Sadly this fact is being ignored in the Marketing hype about 7-day switching and many people don't investigate it enough to find out.

knightstyle

We switched from Santander to TSB a couple of months ago using the switching service, all went very smoothly, no problems and good correspondence on progress from both banks.
Make sure you open your new account and tell both banks you are using the switching system.

sharifah

Lord_e55ex wrote: »

first post, so quite the newbie....

I am considering moving from NatWest to the Santander 123 account. I have heard a few horror stories using the switching service.... Would I be best placed just opening it as a separate account and moving everything over?

Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated.

I switched from Lloyds to Santander a couple of weeks ago. Opened the account online on the Saturday, and opted for the switching service, and I was informed that all would be complete by the following Friday. Got my debit card, pin number, cheque book and all DDs and SOs done by the Friday. Santander kept me updated via emails and text messages. Excellent service - no horror stories here