Nationwide > Santander Switch

EssexHebridean

Planning on the above since Nationwide have now removed the Travel Insurance benefit from our existing current account, and Santander will offer me a cash incentive to the value of several years travel insurance premiums to switch to them... 

Couple of questions though:
- we currently use our joint FlexAccount with a number of the e-savings accounts running off it - these get fed via automated internal transfer each month to work as "pots" for budgeting for various spends. Some get topped up and then emptied again monthly, others get fed over the course of a year then the contents get used. I understand that obviously neither the savings accounts themselves nor the transfers that feed them will go with the switch, but does anyone have any experience of how Nationwide treat these accounts once the joint account that they originally lived off the back of is closed? 
- Secondly - does anyone have experience of whether there are similar accounts that can be used in the same way available from Santander? The account we're looking at is the 123 Lite in case that is relevant.
- third - I gather you select the day of the switch - does there need to be a couple of days gap either side of the chosen date with no DD's to come out to avoid the risk of anything bouncing, or do the banks sort that side of things out between them? 
- Fourthly - do standing orders switch with the account in the same way as DD's or will I need to factor in sorting the details to set those up again once the switch has happened?
- finally, my everyday spending (and cleared in full each month!) CC is also with Nationwide - will the DD for the monthly payment (almost never used as I do it manually) transfer to Santander along with everything else or will Nationwide want to retain this and have it linked to my sole account instead?

Apologies if any of the above appear to be silly questions to anyone - I've been with Nationwide for 30 years plus and this is literally the first bank account switch I've ever done! Until very recently we've always been delighted with Nationwide and so have had no need or wish to switch - that's begun to change however, and the time has come to remove some of our eggs from that basket, I think. 

TIA for help! 

Daliah

EssexHebridean said:

- we currently use our joint FlexAccount with a number of the e-savings accounts running off it - these get fed via automated internal transfer each month to work as "pots" for budgeting for various spends. Some get topped up and then emptied again monthly, others get fed over the course of a year then the contents get used. I understand that obviously neither the savings accounts themselves nor the transfers that feed them will go with the switch, but does anyone have any experience of how Nationwide treat these accounts once the joint account that they originally lived off the back of is closed? 

Depending on the savings account, you might need the current account to withdraw any money from it. 

This might be a good opportunity to review whether you want to keep your savings with Nationwide, as they don't pay very good interest rates. Full list of savings accounts: https://moneyfacts.co.uk/savings-accounts/

EssexHebridean said:

- Secondly - does anyone have experience of whether there are similar accounts that can be used in the same way available from Santander? The account we're looking at is the 123 Lite in case that is relevant.
-

Similar to Nationwide, the Santander savings rates are terrible. But technically, internal transfers are supported, and you can set up Santander savings accounts. No idea whether you could set up more than one of a given type.

EssexHebridean said:

- third - I gather you select the day of the switch - does there need to be a couple of days gap either side of the chosen date with no DD's to come out to avoid the risk of anything bouncing, or do the banks sort that side of things out between them? 

It should not matter but if you'd rather have a a gap, you can choose your switch date accordingly.

EssexHebridean said:

- finally, my everyday spending (and cleared in full each month!) CC is also with Nationwide - will the DD for the monthly payment (almost never used as I do it manually) transfer to Santander along with everything else or will Nationwide want to retain this and have it linked to my sole account instead?

The DD, like all DDs, should transfer automatically to Santander as your entire Nationwide account will get closed. Obviously, it is a good idea to check that this actually happened. If not, then you have a justified complaint with Santander.


BUT - do you really want to switch your 30 year-old account? It may not matter to you, but it removes a big positive factor (longevity) from your credit file, and also cuts you off from any "loyalty" offers Nationwide may come up with in the future. Your alternative could be to set up a brand new account somewhere else - for example, at Metro Bank, add two DDs to it, and switch that account to Santander. You can leave your Nationwide account untouched, or you can move some or all of your DDs manually (just give the payee your new sort code and account number), and you can transfer any money from Nationwide to Santander by Faster Payment.

tempus_fugit

1) It depends on the terms of the savings accounts. For example, some of Nationwide's savings accounts require you to be a current account holder, so if they are one of these then the accounts may be closed. You'd have to check the terms and conditions of those accounts.
2) I'm not aware of any, but a check of their website should inform you of the accounts available with Santander.
3) It's probably best to keep some days either side of the switch date free, but I think it doesn't matter overly if there are payments either side of the switch date, CASS is supposed to sort it all out. As I say though, I usually pick a blank period to be on the safe side.
4) The CASS process will transfer all scheduled payments, so S/Os and DDs to the new account.
5) As per 4). the DD for the CC will transfer to the new account.

EssexHebridean

Thanks for the reply!

Trust me - the bulk of our savings are VERY not with Nationwide - the e-savings accounts have never been great on interest but they are really useful where you want instant access sums available for budgeting, set aside from your current account and not squirreled away into longer term savings, We use them for the money that needs access regularly, for the most part - so budgeting for food spends, car expenses, holidays, and other routine bits of spending. The trade-off of almost no interest is well worth it for the simple ease of just being able to shovel the relevant sum across when the credit card bill is payable, and any surplus gets creamed off every so often into the long-term pots which are elsewhere and earning us at least something! (And get switched about fairly often as better deals happen along)

My sole account is still with Nationwide and is staying there for the time being - and that has actually been open slightly longer than the joint account has so the boxes are ticked for both history AND loyalty offers. MrEH also has a slightly younger sole account, and again will be keeping that - not least as it will then be our only account with a cheque book! 

As much as anything else choosing to switch now is a "vote with our feet" - we're not impressed with the way Nationwide is doing things currently, the removal of account benefits from long term customers for example, in favour of "pie in the sky" possibilities of winning a prize draw. Happy to keep the far less used sole accounts with them, but the more lucrative (to them) of the three is away to serve us better elsewhere. 

Looks like the key questions still then are whether it's possible to have multiple linked savings accounts - that's a deal breaker if not. And the Standing order thing, although I imagine their own FAQ's may well tell me that if I dig a little more. 

Daliah

If you want multiple linked savings accounts, Virgin Money M Plus could fit the bill better than Santander - who I don't think they have that same concept of savings 'pots'. Others with 'pots' are TSB, Starling Bank and Monzo.

Sorry I overlooked your SO question - yes, nothing to worry about, these will also be transferred automatically, like DDs. And if they aren't, you can complain to the bank you switched to.

EssexHebridean

Thanks for that - I'd been thinking about Monzo for my own finances for a while as I know others who manage things in that way and like them. Won't work for MrEH though who has no means of doing anything which is primarily app based! 

Excellent news on the SO side of things as well - I only have two and both are to the council for service charge and garage rent - they'd get VERY excited if those bounced, I know! 

Just had another slightly more in depth look at the Santander site - they do have a standard account that they call an "eSaver" which appears to be broadly similar to the Nationwide equivalent - just trying to fathom if you can have more than one of them now! 

EssexHebridean

tempus_fugit said:

1) It depends on the terms of the savings accounts. For example, some of Nationwide's savings accounts require you to be a current account holder, so if they are one of these then the accounts may be closed. You'd have to check the terms and conditions of those accounts. This is one of the reasons I'm unsure - we'll both still be Current Account holders - it just won't be the same account they currently run from. My gut feeling is that they may just stay put though.
2) I'm not aware of any, but a check of their website should inform you of the accounts available with Santander. Yes - I've dug a bit more and I'm hopeful! 
3) It's probably best to keep some days either side of the switch date free, but I think it doesn't matter overly if there are payments either side of the switch date, CASS is supposed to sort it all out. As I say though, I usually pick a blank period to be on the safe side. Thank you - again, that confirms my own suspicions - we'll probably go for a "lull period" on payments just to keep things as easy as possible
4) The CASS process will transfer all scheduled payments, so S/Os and DDs to the new account. Superb!
5) As per 4). the DD for the CC will transfer to the new account. And again - thank you, I'd hoped it would, was just slightly unsure whether N/W would want to hold onto that one as the CC is theirs too. 

Thank you - and apologies for missing your reply earlier, I think it crossed with my typing a reply to Daliah.

Really appreciate the assistance on this one guys, thank you! 

Catplan

EssexHebridean said:

Thanks for that - I'd been thinking about Monzo for my own finances for a while as I know others who manage things in that way and like them. Won't work for MrEH though who has no means of doing anything which is primarily app based! 

Excellent news on the SO side of things as well - I only have two and both are to the council for service charge and garage rent - they'd get VERY excited if those bounced, I know! 

Just had another slightly more in depth look at the Santander site - they do have a standard account that they call an "eSaver" which appears to be broadly similar to the Nationwide equivalent - just trying to fathom if you can have more than one of them now! 

In addition to the eSaver they do a regular saver that you can save up to 200 a month I think the rate is pretty poor now at 0.5 but do check it might be lower than this, you can only have 1 as well but may work for the yearly stuff

you can also get an everyday current account if you want for the monthly stuff, I’ve got 123lite and 2 everyday accounts. Everyday is the free current account offering.

EssexHebridean

@Catplan that's great info - thank you! It hadn't occurred to me that I could simply use additional current accounts to work as savings pots either so thanks for that - that could work really well!

EssexHebridean

An update to this - the switch has now completed, and went seamlessly. Upon looking at the new accounts, not only the "standard" DD's and SO's to outside organisations have been transferred across, but also all those that previously were simply regular internal transfers within Nationwide accounts - most impressive and slightly unexpected! All existing payees also transferred, so that saves me some work too. 

So far, so good - I'm impressed with how much easier the Santander app is to do things on - I might start with transferring one at a time of the "savings pot" accounts over once I've had a proper chance to look and see what the options are there. 

Thanks to all who helped with the information-finding on this one. much appreciated!