Top Bank Accounts Discussion Area

MoneySavingMonkey

Hi,

Can I just transfer £500 from my current account and still get the £100 etc...?

Also, I saw somewhere that you can get £60 for opening this account from Quidco? What's all that about?

Any help grately appreciated.

skint_but_working_on_it

hanmil81 wrote: »

hi, 2 questions. am thinking of switching to the A&L £100 back account. questions are: 1, if i close my account with current bank will my bank charges reclaim still be processed?
2, will my tax credits be transferred to my new account or do i have to sort that myself?
hope you can help me!

Can answer your second query - A&L won't notify tax credits/child benefit people about your new account but I rang them both and they took my new A&L details over the phone and the money was paid in without a hitch. A&L only notify your employers so any other income you have will need to be sorted by you. Make sure you only do it after A&L have confirmed your SO/DD payments have been transferred - from previous posts on here jumping the gun and doing things yourself does not get you the £100 at the end of the day so better to be safe than sorry.

skint_but_working_on_it

Cujo80 wrote: »

Hello,

I am thinking of switching to the A&L premier account. I have banked with HSBC for years and aswell as a current account have a large graduate loan, credit card and a small savings account.

Will HSBC honour my existing accounts if I switch - am nervoius that they will withdraw my credit card and loan!!! Paranoid I know!

Reassurance would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Kate

I transferred to A&L from First Direct. I have a loan account and an ISA with FD which are still there. They never mentioned withdrawing the facilities or closing the accounts - and I don't think they can do that anyway just because you moved your current account.

Synonymous

In response to a few people's questions, if you are using the switching service just to get the £100 and don't want to use the account after, then tranfer your most unimportant direct debit with them, something which if they screw up wont cost you anything in late payment, or have an impact on your credit rating. They only have to switch the one thing, you don't have to let them move your salary (I bloody didn't!) and you don't have to let them close your old account.

Then you can just cycle the money through your account each month until you get the £100, then move that one direct debit back and close the A&L account. Its really not good for anything else. (I'm applying for First Direct current account today)

stphnstevey

Did anyone open the First Direct account to use the ISA as well?

If so, how are you going to get around closing it and it reverting to a normal ISA before recieving the £100 for closing the bank account?

ShelfStacker_3

Cujo80 wrote: »

Will HSBC honour my existing accounts if I switch - am nervoius that they will withdraw my credit card and loan!!!

I switched from HSBC to FD, my CC stayed open. So long as you carry on making payments, which I'm sure you will there'll be no issues.

However, kiss goodbye any chance of getting any further credit from HSBC if you don't run your salary through an account held with them. They'll turn you down like a shot.

LongTermLurker

stphnstevey wrote: »

Did anyone open the First Direct account to use the ISA as well?

If so, how are you going to get around closing it and it reverting to a normal ISA before recieving the £100 for closing the bank account?

I intend to once it's approved, but I don't intend to bail out for the second hundred - isn't £100 plus a great tax-free regular saver enough????

Your suggestion wouldn't work - if you claim your second hundred, you'd be forced to close your ISA with them (all accounts must be closed) and would lose your tax-free status - this must be done between 6 months and a year, hense before the ISA matures.

stphnstevey

LongTermLurker wrote: »

I intend to once it's approved, but I don't intend to bail out for the second hundred - isn't £100 plus a great tax-free regular saver enough????

Your suggestion wouldn't work - if you claim your second hundred, you'd be forced to close your ISA with them (all accounts must be closed) and would lose your tax-free status - this must be done between 6 months and a year, hense before the ISA matures.

Yeah, this is what I have found too - however the extra £100 is proberbly better than the RS ISA as
- As an RS you don't get that rate - about 2% less
- You could get a fairly good rates elsewhere and the difference between RS ISA and the next best ISA is proberbly less than £100

Gambit

When I switched my account to Alliance and Leicester last year I chose to switch my Barclays current account which I hardly used. To enable them to transfer something over I created a Standing Order from my Barclays Current Account to my Barclays E-Saver. I then asked the transfer service to transfer everything over from my Barclays Account but to leave it open which they did. I did not change my salary details with them or ask them to close my acccount but still got the £100 as promised. They also matched my exisiting Barclays Account overdraft limit and gave this to me interest free (which I am still enjoying now).

Hope this helps anyone currently going through the process of opening an account!

Gambit

Cujo80 wrote: »

Hello,

I am thinking of switching to the A&L premier account. I have banked with HSBC for years and aswell as a current account have a large graduate loan, credit card and a small savings account.

Will HSBC honour my existing accounts if I switch - am nervoius that they will withdraw my credit card and loan!!! Paranoid I know!

Reassurance would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Kate

Hi Kate,

If you stopped using or closed your current account with HSBC, then this should not affect your existing loan or credit cards as far as I'm aware. You could always leave the HSBC current account open just in case you needed it again as the A&L switching servince will only close your exisiting account if you ask them to do so.

Hope this helps, Peter