Uswitch

uk1

I’ve never used Uswitch.  Searched here and on Uswitch and still not clear and confident ……

If I use the automated 7 bank change to change bank accounts does the system also contact all pension providers ie DWP and old employer and inform them of the changes and does it work … or do you have to change them directly. 

Thanks

Jeff

Daliah

The switch is for individual current accounts, not for banks. You specify the sort code and account number of the account you want to have switched. Any second current account, savings accounts and/or credit cards you might have with the bank will not be switched. 

A switch is normally carried out by the Current Account Switch Service (CASS). Worth reading up about it. As long as you use CASS, your incoming payments get redirected to the new account, and whoever pays you will get informed of your new current account details. So you don't need to tell them but it doesn't do any harm if you do tell them. However, if you have savings accounts which use your old current account as the nominated account, you will have to update these manually yourself.

You don't need to use uSwitch, you can just use a bank's switching service. MSE has a list of the currently available switch offers but you can also switch without an offer.

Note that a CASS switch consists of two entirely separate processes:

1. an application for a new current account at a different bank (unless you already have a current account you can switch into). This is usually quick (a week to 10 days), or it might take several weeks, depending on the bank
   
   
2. the actual switch into the above account. This is the bit that normally takes 7 days from start to finish, and which is covered by the CASS guarantee

You should make sure that your new current account is fully operational before you request the switch, i.e. you have your debit card, and full online and/or app access. Otherwise you might find yourself without access to money. Overall, the processes are normally quite painless.

Lastly, many people who are after a switch bonus don't actually switch their main current account but set up a donor account specifically for switching. Search the forum for 'donor account'.

uk1

Many thanks for the speedy reply.  

My wife and I have a collection of pension schemes through several different insurance providers.  When I try and register us for each individual  provider  in order to see whether I can make changes to bank details online many present problems with registering and I cannot face the phone calls so I wondered whether using uswitch will spare me the hassle.  

I’m also wondering about state pensions.  My heart sank when I realised you couldn’t go into the online pension system to make bank changes online and need to call.  Will uswitch handle DWP payments?

Thanks

Jeff

PRAISETHESUN

As above you don't need to use uswitch - as long as you use the official Current Account Switch Service (CASS) to switch the nominated account you receive your pension into you'll be fine. Any payments into your old account will be automatically forwarded to your account with your new bank. If you have multiple accounts that you receive money into, you need to use the CASS to switch each account individually to your new bank as the system only switches 1 account at a time.

The CASS is also meant to notify any senders about your new account details and update them for you, but I don't know how well that works in practice since I usually tend to update those things manually myself independently of the switch process.

uk1

Thanks,

It’s now just one Santander account and I’m looking at a few alternatives some of which also seem to have switching incentive and regular savings accounts.  Another incentive to me is that I want the process to handle all these pension sources for me, so hopefully someone who has used the switching service can say either  yes or no as to whether it handles DWP or not.

Jeff 

Daliah

uk1 said:

 .  Will uswitch handle DWP payments?

USwitch has nothing to do with the switch of your account. It‘s all done by the bank who your new current account is with. Did you read the CASS web pages?