Santander - closing two of three 123 current accounts - can they be 'switched' ?

DSofCambs

My wife and I have three Santander 123 current accounts between us - one joint account and one in each of our names. 
We want to close the two accounts that are in our names and 'switch' them to our joint account. 
When we eventually get to make contact* with  Santander   does anyone know whether the banking switching service applies to switching accounts within Santander? 
*Contact! because of the crisis, Santander currently ask that only 'emergency' matters are directed through their telephone service and the online chat (automatic - not live person)  only provides an option to close the accounts (not switch). The 'live person chat' appears not to be available and therefore precludes our leaving a message.
NB Am not 'making a point' about Santander, I know they are trying to do their best in these very trying times.

colsten

You cannot use CASS for internal switches. CASS also only switches sole to sole, and joint to joint accounts.

I doubt you can internally switch a sole 123 into a joint one. The 'upgrade' option just changes the account type of a Santander account, not merge two accounts.

ianto11

DSofCambs

*Contact! because of the crisis, Santander currently ask that only 'emergency' matters are directed through their telephone service and the online chat (automatic - not live person)  only provides an option to close the accounts (not switch). The 'live person chat' appears not to be available and therefore precludes our leaving a message.
NB Am not 'making a point' about Santander, I know they are trying to do their best in these very trying times.

If you use the chat now and tell the Web bot you want to talk to a live person it'll connect you

[Deleted User]

Just convert them both to Everyday Current Accounts and there is no charge - plus you both have your own privacy. 

YorkshireBoy

colsten said:

CASS also only switches sole to sole, and joint to joint accounts.

CASS does facilitate sole to joint switches. It's only joint to sole that aren't possible.

colsten

YorkshireBoy said:

colsten said:

CASS also only switches sole to sole, and joint to joint accounts.

CASS does facilitate sole to joint switches. It's only joint to sole that aren't possible.

I stand corrected.

In which case, if the OP does not manage an internal consolidation in Santander, the answer could be to switch to a joint non-Santander account, and then switch that account to the joint Santander.

hermante

Is it that much of an inconvenience to move all your DDs yourself?

colsten

hermante said:

Is it that much of an inconvenience to move all your DDs yourself?

If you have several, it can take longer than filling in a switch form. If you do it yourself, you also don‘t have the switch guarantee if something goes wrong. All this obviously only applies if you can do a CASS switch.

Also, moving your DDs manually doesn‘t close your old account. 

olbas_oil

colsten said:

hermante said:

Is it that much of an inconvenience to move all your DDs yourself?

If you have several, it can take longer than filling in a switch form. If you do it yourself, you also don‘t have the switch guarantee if something goes wrong. All this obviously only applies if you can do a CASS switch.

Also, moving your DDs manually doesn‘t close your old account. 

Yes I started to move a number and then phoned up to see if there was a more efficient way. There wasn't, but she volunteered to do them one by one whilst I stayed on the phone. I doubt if they would still offer this service, but it may be worth asking. (There was one mistake- I got a security alert when it turned out that a £1000 transfer had been keyed in as a £100,000 transfer and even though they had made the mistake at their end, I had to go through all sorts of hurdles to convince them I wasn't a criminal. But overall I was very pleased with the service)

jim1999

You can't switch internally.  I asked Santander a while ago, and the conclusion we came to is that I'd have to switch them to another bank, and then switch that new account back to Santander.  I decided to just close them.