Switching current accounts too often?

Sdm90

Hi all,

Me and my wife have recently started switching current accounts to reap the switching bonuses. We both created a burner current account each with 2 small direct debits. We have been switching for about 3 months and have made around £500 each from 3-4 switches each.

- Are we doing this too much? Are there any negative consequences?

- Will this affect credit files much? My Experian score was 999 out of 999 before I started so I'm not really too worried about this but would be nice to know.

- Is it ok to swich to another bank as soon as the reward comes in?

- I have been switching my main current account along with the burner account, is there anything wrong with this?

- Anything else to consider, could this come back to bite us in the future?

Thanks in advance!

[Deleted User]

Your credit score is not seen by anyone but you and has no bearing on lending decisions. It may be the switching accounts happen to use Experian and/or TransUnion

If the switch terms do not say anything about staying for a time then do it as much as you want. I think the switch and stay bonus from TSB(?) is the only one at the moment that you can't just bounce out again and get the full reward. HSBC did one in September 2018, searching through my emails that was £150 + £50 staying for a year.

Switching your main account isn't a major issue but doing it regularly could cause issues with payroll at your firm or if people need to pay you money as you will have to keep getting it changed as the old bank only forwards money for so long. Personally I created 2 burners and had another old one I was using as a emergency fund store so I had 3 to move around while leaving my main one alone as it's easier.

eskbanker

Deleted_User said:

the old bank only forwards money for so long

Not really - payments are redirected for a minimum of 36 months and then thereafter until a period of 13 consecutive months passes without any redirections, so effectively indefinitely....

binao

All good Info above, especially re not using your main current account. You create the burner, (sacrificial) current account for the switch to the new "red carpet" account.

A recent forum poster used his main account and is worried about receiving a late payment marker on their CRA file., as a payment order was not  transferred to the new account. 

Sdm90

Thanks for the advice everyone, was just scared that I was doing it a bit too much. Seems to good to be true how easy it is to get money this way 

[Deleted User]

eskbanker said:

Deleted_User said:

the old bank only forwards money for so long

Not really - payments are redirected for a minimum of 36 months and then thereafter until a period of 13 consecutive months passes without any redirections, so effectively indefinitely....

Redirected from old bank 1 to old bank 2 to new bank 3, or new bank 4 or 5 etc? You're not seeing the potential problems there? Hence why I said to update your payroll when you change

hermante

My friend is banned from Lloyds (his former main bank) for life because he opened 3 "burner" accounts and once the DDs had been set up, he switched them away to other banks to get bonuses.

Better to just have your salary paid into a bank account that isn't involved with all the switching.