M & S Bank Current account switch

John_Blackwell

Thought this was a good deal, so applied.
When I changed last time to Halifax, the whole process was done in a week.
This time, it's taken M & S a week, just to open the account and told me on 17th, that paperwork was on it's way. Now 11 days later, still not had anything.
Even when I receive paperwork, I have to sign a form & return, by post, just to activate account and switch not even started yet!
Can't ring their customer services, as automated telephone system won't let me through, without account details!
Has anyone else had similar problems, or managed to switch, but found service poor afterwards?

colsten

If you look on this board, you will see that HSBC banks, of which M&S is one, are well known for taking ages. Be patient. It's still one of the easiest ways to earn £185.

Willing2Learn

It takes a few weeks. Some of the paperwork you have to sign and send back. There is no quick way of opening an M&S current account. Don't forget to open a linked Monthly Saver account for 5% gross interest (once the current account is open).

Inner_Zone

My transfer is due to go ahead this Friday to M&S Bank, nearly five weeks since I applied. Think I will wait and earn the £185 and 5% on £250 per month savings for one year and then go elsewhere. Can't see any incentive to stay after that at the moment.

colsten

Inner_Zone wrote: »

Can't see any incentive to stay after that at the moment.

The 5% regular saver is worth having (assuming you are already maxing out any other 5% RS you may have access to). That's why I kept my M&S account. I don't use it as a current account though

Futuristic

Do you need to have active DDs from the account your switching from or can add them on within first 30 days?

PRAISETHESUN

See a similar thread I posted on last week - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74701970#Comment_74701970

In a nutshell HSBC systems are slow and occasionally need a shove in the right direction, but things usually get there by themselves in the end

PRAISETHESUN wrote: »

My experience is any bank that uses HSBC systems is rather slow and clunky, but they get there in the end. My M&S Bank current account took about a week from putting in the application until I was notified I was accepted, but was rather quick after that. I got a series of letters in quick succession confirming the account was opened, then the debit card/PIN, and finally the authenticator about a week later. After putting in an application to switch to them, I got a letter confirming my switch would commence about 2 days AFTER it had actually started, but at least nothing actually went wrong. Now I'm just waiting to see when the gift card will arrive... sometime in the next few weeks hopefully

Much more positive than when I opened an Advance account with HSBC proper...

Futuristic wrote: »

Do you need to have active DDs from the account your switching from or can add them on within first 30 days?

You need to have the DDs active on the account that you are switching TO M&S bank. You can't set them up after you switch

Inner_Zone

colsten wrote: »

The 5% regular saver is worth having (assuming you are already maxing out any other 5% RS you may have access to). That's why I kept my M&S account. I don't use it as a current account though

Now that's an idea.