Looking to change current bank.

chalkybar

Just a quick question for all you knowledgeable people. I’m looking to change current account, maybe to one that has incentives or interest paid?
lots of them insist on you transferring/setting up direct debits- why is this important to the bank? 

My partner and I have separate bank accounts which receive our salaries and then transfer a regular amount into our joint account from which all our general household bills are paid, mostly by direct debit. My own current account has no direct debits set up on it.
i was just wondering why the banks have this as a criteria for their accounts?
many thanks

Robin9

Have a look at

moneysavingexpert.com/banking/

blue.peter

See this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5048411/why-do-banks-need-you-to-have-2-direct-debits .

It's fairly easy to put a couple of small DDs on your new account if that's a requirement of your chosen new bank. You might, for example, set up a couple of small monthly charitable or political donations. Most charities are happy to accept monthly donations of £2 or £3 (though, of course, they'd welcome more!).

Archi_Bald

chalkybar said:

lots of them insist on you transferring/setting up direct debits- why is this important to the bank? 

No bank insists on transferring/setting up direct debits, or anything else, when you set up a new current account. You can apply of any current account without switching your existing account to it.

There used to be some switch offers which would not pay the switch bonus unless you transferred a number of DDs and/or SOs, presumably to deter serial switchers [like myself] who are only after the bonus. All these offers have now disappeared since we went into lockdown. Whether they will reappear, nobody knows.It's a matter of wait and see.

In the meantime, if you want to apply for a new account for yourself, you can go ahead straight away. Apart from First Direct, applications for all current accounts are available at present.

blue.peter

Archi_Bald said:

There used to be some switch offers which would not pay the switch bonus unless you transferred a number of DDs and/or SOs, presumably to deter serial switchers [like myself] who are only after the bonus. All these offers have now disappeared since we went into lockdown. Whether they will reappear, nobody knows.It's a matter of wait and see.

It's not quite as simple as this. There are still incentives, other than switch bonuses, that are conditional on the use of DDs. For example, the Santander 1|2|3 Lite will only pay cashback on "selected household bills paid by Direct Debit every month" (see https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/123-lite-current-account).

Archi_Bald

blue.peter said:

Archi_Bald said:

There used to be some switch offers which would not pay the switch bonus unless you transferred a number of DDs and/or SOs, presumably to deter serial switchers [like myself] who are only after the bonus. All these offers have now disappeared since we went into lockdown. Whether they will reappear, nobody knows.It's a matter of wait and see.

It's not quite as simple as this. There are still incentives, other than switch bonuses, that are conditional on the use of DDs. For example, the Santander 1|2|3 Lite will only pay cashback on "selected household bills paid by Direct Debit every month" (see https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/123-lite-current-account).

 It is as simple as I said. The OP said "lots of them insist on you transferring/setting up direct debits". My answer remains as before.

Archi_Bald said:

No bank insists on transferring/setting up direct debits, or anything else, when you set up a new current account. You can apply of any current account without switching your existing account to it.

To take your example: When people apply for a 123 account, they do not have to transfer or set up direct debits. It goes without saying that if they want cashback for qualifying DDs, they will have to have those DDs. But they can operate the 123  account without any DDs (or SOs). There are others who won't pay you interest / rewards if you don't have DDs, but again, you can set up and operate those accounts entirely without DDs and SOs.