Switching current acct..best day?

barbiedoll

I'm seriously considering switching from Santander to First Direct.

The free £250 overdraft plus the £100 switching bonus is a good deal for me, I'm currently paying around £28 to Santander whenever I go overdrawn (not every month, £10 is account fee) so it's a no-brainer really.

I get paid on 24th of each month and all household DD's come out of my account. The big bills (mortgage, CT, fuel, car loan etc) are all taken out by the 8th of the month, I have a couple of smaller amounts coming out later on, they're all paid by the 18th.

What would be the best day to start a switch? I'm going to leave a couple of hundred quid in the Santander account for a month at least, in case any DD's get "missed" or taken out twice.

Any advice on when to start the proceedings? I haven't changed accounts in years but I've had enough of Santander's ever-increasing charges. I bank online only, my phone is older than Moses so I won't need mobile banking, yet at least (although could probably treat myself to a new phone with the savings!)

binaryuniverse

If you want the switching bonus you will need to do a full switch. This means FD will take all the money from your Santander account, and close it down. So you won't be leaving any money in there 'just in case'

The switch guarantee will cover you, should any payments go wrong during the switch, but you do have to inform FD that it has happened.

If I were to a switch, I'd try and aim for the quietest period of the month. I'm pretty similar in that my salary is paid in on the 25th, and most of my bills have gone out by 5th. So getting the ball rolling anytime after then would work for me. If I did have any credit card direct debits coming out, in the 7 day period, I'd probably pay the minimum manually anyway.

YorkshireBoy

barbiedoll wrote: »

The free £250 overdraft plus the £100 switching bonus is a good deal for me, I'm currently paying around £28 to Santander whenever I go overdrawn (not every month, £10 is account fee) so it's a no-brainer really.

That detail would suggest you have a 'Choice' account, and £28 would indicate that you spent 18 days in your overdraft facility (at £1 per day)? Whilst the free £250 facility (and the £100 incentive) from FD would help, you really ought to be focussing on building an emergency buffer...and by that I mean your own cash rather than using the £250 facility as your emergency fund.

I bank online only

FD online banking isn't the best, and a lot worse than Santander's. Prepare to be disappointed.

(although could probably treat myself to a new phone with the savings!)

After first building an emergency fund of course.

fozmcfc

I assume when FD look at switching they will do a full credit check also.

Would the OP likely to be refused for it, if they go overdrawn sometimes and thus their credit rating could not be good enough. Or are they less strict.

barbiedoll

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

That detail would suggest you have a 'Choice' account, and £28 would indicate that you spent 18 days in your overdraft facility (at £1 per day)? Whilst the free £250 facility (and the £100 incentive) from FD would help, you really ought to be focussing on building an emergency buffer...and by that I mean your own cash rather than using the £250 facility as your emergency fund. FD online banking isn't the best, and a lot worse than Santander's. Prepare to be disappointed.After first building an emergency fund of course.

This is all true of course....I am working on it, hence the move to a fee-free bank. I'm normally within my means as it were but the occasional big bill (car repairs last month, car tax, MOT and insurance this month) tip me over the edge. I haven't ever been in unauthorised OD on my Santander account, and my credit rating is good so I'm hoping that despite this poster .......

fozmcfc wrote: »

I assume when FD look at switching they will do a full credit check also.

Would the OP likely to be refused for it, if they go overdrawn sometimes and thus their credit rating could not be good enough. Or are they less strict.

I'd be accepted?

Not sure about the online banking appraisal though? I don't really "bank" as such, e.g. move money around and so on. It goes in (wages) and it goes out (bills), I check it weekly and that's about the extent of my online banking usage, would that cause any problems? I do like the ease of logging into Santander, my husband has a NatWest account and logging into it is a nightmare. But that's probably just me being lazy, which isn't saving me money!