Tarting - how to set up standing orders?

[Deleted User]

So I've decided to become a bank tart - opening current accounts and switching to new ones to get the switching incentives. I've got a main Santander 123 account and I've set up some new basic current accounts and started the switching process to 3 other banks. They all need some form of minimum pay in to be eligible, which is fine as I have the money. However, I'm not sure how to structure it.

I was worried about doing them all for the same day so I've currently got them for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of the month. So the 1st is account A to B and then B back A, then 2nd is A to C and C back to A, then 3rd is A to D and D back to A.

I was wondering the best way to structure, and if it's wise to do it on the same day or spread it out. Would it work to do A to B to C to D back to A on the 1st month? Or some other way?

Thanks!

Zanderman

Others will give fuller advice I'm sure - but my quick tip is just to say don't make them so close to each other!

If, say, the 1st is a non-banking day then the SO might not go out until the 2nd... Have a few days gap!

[Deleted User]

Yes, possibly wise. I should usually have enough in my account to cover all the standing orders but don't want to risk being overdrawn.
I'm mainly curious about posts I've seen in the past that say they've got their standing orders all set up and it's all done on one day before they even wake up, etc. But this may be for a simpler set up of one account or something? Or that they have enough cash to cover all of them going out on one day?

Katiehound

Well my money goes round rather than back and forth. I set this up by SOs ('though I know some do it manually on the one day!)
I allow 3 or 4 days between each transaction as that allows for w/e, b/hs etc. (though there is always enough to cover one payment leaving before the next is due.
So my plan would be into A on 1st, A to B on 4th, B to C on 8th etc ensuring that the money gets back to the last in the circuit before 28th (think Feb!) so that it can leave for A on 1st. At one stage I didn't have the max in an account to earn interest so the money circulated with shorter gaps and then spent say 15 days earning money in the last a/c. I actually have 2 'circles'- one of £1k and another of £500

ceredigion

Just to put the other opinion across , I use the hub method. Fully loaded S123 in the middle and round the outside all the other accounts that are maxed out for interest purposes. One standing order from Santander to all the others on the first of the month and straight back from wherever it went. The only exception is money to feed regular savers which if cant be sent direct to the savings account ,is sent to its associated current account 3 days before its due by standing order.

[Deleted User]

Hmm - I'm now reconsidering my method! One is £1500 and the others are £1000, so I could just start with £1500 to send round, and coming back with £1400 after £100 is dropped off in the account that requires two direct debits... Would be over the course of the month to account for delays, and would mean that my main 123 account wouldn't drop low.

msallen

As you've seen already there are many ways to do this. It will also depend on whether the accounts have any significant balance or not (i.e. do you have them for their interest rate, or for another benefit). If you always hold at least as much as is being transferred in/out, then its obviously safe to do it on one day, other wise I would leave a three day gap if doing it via SOs.

I gave up on SOs a couple of years ago and do it all manually now (in the A->B->-C->D etc format). It probably takes me a total of about 20/30 minutes one day a month, although that is sometimes split into 2 or 3 short bursts of a few minutes as some accounts (I'm looking at you primarily Tesco) don't credit a transfer in immediately and can take an hour or two. Doing it manually also allows me to vary the amounts transferred according the direct debit amounts, some of which are variable as they are credit card payments.

eschaton

I just do it manually once a month on the day that interest due on the 1st goes in.

Takes no time at all on your phone.

I know some pay in requirements are lower but I just move £1000 from one TSB account to the other then back plus the interest then I transfer the interest from both to my S123 account.

I then move £1000 from one Bank of Scotland Vantage to the other then move it on with the interest to the Halifax Reward account before moving the £1000 + interest + £3 Reward back to the 1st account. I then transfer the interest + reward to my S123 account.

I then transfer £2000 from my S123 to my M&S account then onto First Direct before going back to S123.

For accounts paying bills, I just set up faster payments to leave my S123 account the day before Direct Debits are due. Works perfectly including weekends.

My S123 is really central to all that I do so I really hope that the financial benefits of the account don't get any worse.

I also set up a faster payment to the source accounts for First Direct and M&S regular savers the day before payment is due from S123.

polymaff

[Deleted User] wrote:

I was worried about doing them all for the same day so I've currently got them for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of the month. So the 1st is account A to B and then B back A, then 2nd is A to C and C back to A, then 3rd is A to D and D back to A.

Zanderman wrote: »

Others will give fuller advice I'm sure - but my quick tip is just to say don't make them so close to each other!

If, say, the 1st is a non-banking day then the SO might not go out until the 2nd... Have a few days gap!

Don't most banks observe the same non-banking dates? When this is so then the safest thing IS to pair them up on the same day. Whatever delays the A->B will then be mirrored by the same delay in the B->A.

I do it all manually. It's a control-freak thing.

datlex

Some people put in the required amount from the salary each month, circulate it around and send it back to first bank.
I have £200 which circulates around my banks each week. It's the same £200 and has been going around for years. It will keep going around. On the few weeks with a bank holiday on a Monday, I just make a temporary manual payment to the first bank, then a manual payment back on the Tuesday. (I do the equivalent at Christmas/New Year).