£100 Ulster Bank NI switch offer - ends 19 November 2020

TheMightySwordfish

It costs the average bank £150-170 to have you use their account. It's basically part of their running costs. I'm sure they can manage paying me to switch when they are making real money on Mortgages and the like. 

colsten

TheMightySwordfish said:

It costs the average bank £150-170 to have you use their account. 

In what timescale? What does "use" entail?

ischris85

colsten said:

TheMightySwordfish said:

It costs the average bank £150-170 to have you use their account. 

In what timescale? What does "use" entail?

I assume the poster is apportioning the average UK bank direct and indirect costs into an approximate total of customers/accounts(?).

colsten

The Q over the length of time remains, even if "use" is ignored. Over a month, a year, an account lifetime (if so, what is the assumed account lifetime)? 

TheMightySwordfish

That will teach me to say something without proof. Okay, Midland Bank in an attempt to grab more of a share of customers decided not to charge for Current Accounts in the 80's. The rest of the Banks had to follow as the people left in droves.

In the rest of the Wiki page it states the charges in the US amount to around $160 per year. So as a rough guesstimate, I said what I said. The cost to the bank for you to use a Current Account is about £150-170 per year. 

crumpet_man

In America, where they have completely different financial regulations/legislation.

veryintrigued

gsmh said:

funkycredit said:

colsten said:

I am amazed how little apparent interest there seems to be in this offer.

Indeed. It's a painless process and free £100 is still free money. 👏

I think that's the problem. Free money. I'd feel decidedly uncomfortable if I had no intention of using the account as my daily account. Arguing that the banks are immoral, that the T&Cs allow it, that you need the money, that NatWest/RBS is already owned by us, that I'm stupid for having a moral compass, that my moral compass is defective or that morality doesn't come into it just doesn't help. 

I more than see this perspective and my OH is definitely of this persuasion.

However being as hypocritical and broken as most I do tend to pursue any number of these offers.

Please don't be bullied into not posting. It's genuinely refreshing seeing a different point of view on here.

colsten

veryintrigued said:

gsmh said:

funkycredit said:

colsten said:

I am amazed how little apparent interest there seems to be in this offer.

Indeed. It's a painless process and free £100 is still free money. 👏

I think that's the problem. Free money. I'd feel decidedly uncomfortable if I had no intention of using the account as my daily account. Arguing that the banks are immoral, that the T&Cs allow it, that you need the money, that NatWest/RBS is already owned by us, that I'm stupid for having a moral compass, that my moral compass is defective or that morality doesn't come into it just doesn't help. 

I more than see this perspective and my OH is definitely of this persuasion.

However being as hypocritical and broken as most I do tend to pursue any number of these offers.

Please don't be bullied into not posting. It's genuinely refreshing seeing a different point of view on here.

The only potential bullying that I can see in this thread are attempts from people who want to dissuade others from switching accounts. I trust people won’t feel intimidated and will do what is right for their personal circumstances.

gsmh

veryintrigued said:

Please don't be bullied into not posting. It's genuinely refreshing seeing a different point of view on here.

Thank you so much for your support. It is much appreciated!

gsmh

colsten said:

The only potential bullying that I can see in this thread are attempts from people who want to dissuade others from switching accounts. I trust people won’t feel intimidated and will do what is right for their personal circumstances.

I sincerely hope you're not referring to me @colsten! I have switched many times and over the years have had current accounts with pretty much every bank going, both mainstream and slightly more esoteric.  I've received two or three rewards along the way. Each time, however, my intention was to use the account as my daily account, into which my income is deposited and from which my direct debits and daily expenditure are made. I have often eschewed rewards even when available should that account not be desirable to me - like I would no longer move to an RBS/NatWest account. I switch energy companies and insurance on a regular basis too. Switching is good, inertia is not. Jumping through hoops and switching JUST to acquire a bonus or reward with no intention of using the account in a way for which it was designed is my bugbear.