M&S current account

chriswright

My wife and I are about to each apply to open one of these. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of successfully or unsuccessfully applying?
Thanks for any thoughts,
Chris

ceredigion

Quite long winded and slow, but it is in effect HSBC so not unexpected

eschaton

Slow as mentioned. I don't rate their customer service very highly.

It was worth it for £220 in gift cards and regular saver, but I think I'll be closing mine next month when I get the final £10 and the regular saver matures.

Mchambers

Nice and easy for the gift card rewards.I will close the account when the gift card rewards stop.

System

• The staff were nice but slow.
• I seemed younger than their baby boomer demographic (M&S generally)
• Systems were a clone of First Direct in pastel colours.
• A debit card that looked like it had been designed by Jacob Rees-Mogg.

[Deleted User]

Heng_Leng wrote: »

• A debit card that looked like it had been designed by Jacob Rees-Mogg.

LOL! Very good.

ValiantSon

eschaton wrote: »

Slow as mentioned. I don't rate their customer service very highly.

It was worth it for £220 in gift cards and regular saver, but I think I'll be closing mine next month when I get the final £10 and the regular saver matures.

If you don't have any need of the regular saver then that seems sensible, but if you could get anther year's use out of it then why not just open a new one?

I'd also suggest not closing the account, but switching to earn a bonus. If there are none available to you then just keep the account open until one does come along.

eschaton

ValiantSon wrote: »

If you don't have any need of the regular saver then that seems sensible, but if you could get anther year's use out of it then why not just open a new one?

I'd also suggest not closing the account, but switching to earn a bonus. If there are none available to you then just keep the account open until one does come along.

I was 50/50 on keeping it for the regular saver but probably won't. The two direct debits on the account are for First Direct and Tesco Bank credit cards that are now out of 0% and I want to close them.

I don't need it for switching as I've got a few spare accounts for that if required, not to mention the Nat West one I'll have ready to switch around April but good advice for someone that doesn't realise things like that.

[Deleted User]

The two DDs required on the M and S Bank account to qualify you for the Regular Saver don't need to pay out every month, just need to be "active" (is not dormant). All you need to do is buy something once a year on each of the credit cards and arrange for the balance to be paid off in full by the direct debit. That will keep the DDs active and you won't incur interest on the cards. Might be too much bother just to ensure you can have the RS. Check the terms of the RS but I think it just says that you must have two active DDs on the current account at the point in time when you apply for the RS.

eschaton

Deleted_User wrote: »

The two DDs required on the M and S Bank account to qualify you for the Regular Saver don't need to pay out every month, just need to be "active" (is not dormant). All you need to do is buy something once a year on each of the credit cards and arrange for the balance to be paid off in full by the direct debit. That will keep the DDs active and you won't incur interest on the cards. Might be too much bother just to ensure you can have the RS. Check the terms of the RS but I think it just says that you must have two active DDs on the current account at the point in time when you apply for the RS.

I want to close the cards as they are using up £7400 of available credit. I took out a 6th credit card last week and the limit was only £2600 so this will help get a decent limit on the next card.

datlex

I found opening it quick and easy. The app used to be very poor, but is much better now.