Trading a current account you've held for years for a switching bonus

Matthew0888

I'm considering switching my main current account from Halifax to one of the other providers now that they're reducing their monthly reward to £2/month (originally £5 then £3/month). The concern I have is that my credit score if affected by "account stability" for which the MSE Credit Club says this:

"The average length of your financial relationships is less than six years. Remember, this isn’t just bank accounts, mortgages, loans and credit cards, it can include utilities, mobile phone contracts, broadband and more."

Therefore my concern is do I switch one of my longest standing accounts in order to obtain lets say £100? Is it worth switching for the sake of £100 and potentially lowering my credit score?

[Deleted User]

You don!!!8217;t have a score to lower. Or a rating. So ignore them.

How long have you had the account for?

BakingC

Halifax are reducing their reward? Well that's me gone.

As long as you don't have any other major issues on your file and you aren't a serial switcher for your main account you should be fine as lenders shouldn't mind too much.

Nasqueron

Credit scores are made up, only you see them. All lenders care about are the details on there, moving an account may affect how they see you, it may not. So long as you do all the normal credit management stuff (credit card paid off in full each month, phone contract paid on time etc) then minor changes won't make any difference long term

Matthew0888

I'm not entirely sure the exact duration I've had the account but I've got bank statements for the account dating back to April 2011.

No as far as I'm aware my only "negative points" on my credit file are that I am not currently a homeowner and my account stability in the sense that a few of my accounts are relatively new (credit cards: 2+ years, mobile phone contract: 1+ years etc).

Yes I do all those other things though, credit card always paid off in full and I'm never late on a payment and never go into my overdraft.

Nasqueron

I moved from one bank to another just before I got a PCP deal on a new car, had no issues at all

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

If you switch your credit report will be trashed and you may never get a mortgage. Some freak will hack your details and your second nemesis will be trading on your name!


Get a tin foil hat and lead underwear just to be safe!

sparkey1

You could just open a current account somewhere else and not use the automated switch service. Then you could have 2 current accounts. One paying you £2 a moth with 2 direct debits in place. The other one doing what it needs to do.

Willing2Learn

sparkey1 wrote: »

You could just open a current account somewhere else and not use the automated switch service. Then you could have 2 current accounts. One paying you £2 a moth with 2 direct debits in place. The other one doing what it needs to do.

...or open up a dummy 3rd account, put 2 direct debits in it, and then switch and close from this account to claim your switch reward.

I've been using dummy accounts for a while now just for claiming lots of switch rewards while keeping the long-standing account intact.

PixelPound

The CRA don't give credit, hence people say the score is meaningless. I would believe its a minor factor and really doubt mortgage providers would have whether you switched to a new account recently a deciding factor.
They don't see the report how you see it, just a list of account types. So they would see a settled current account from whenever you opened it until Aug 2018 and another open account starting Aug 2018. Settled accounts are a positive factor too.

Matthew0888

Thanks for all the input guys!