Switching Account - general question on frequency 24 January at 10:13PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 18 replies 847 views

Calpol4life

Hi guys,

quick question - I have NEVER done a switch and have banked with the same bank for the last 30 odd years. (I know right!)

so - jump into action, what pitfalls to I face, if any, if I want to;

switch from my current to first direct (£175), get bonus, switch to Lloyds (£200) then, to Santander (£200) provided I hit all of the switching criteria (I.e deposits, minimum direct debits etc) 

like - is there anything legally wrong here? 

I am already accepting of the moral wrong doing….

side question, in order to facilitate this, I have already created a ‘burner’ current account with my current provider to accommodate all of this…. Will one of the providers (say Lloyds) see that I have created a current account, switched it, then switched it again? 

Like, whilst I have met all of the criteria - can they withhold bonus based on a suspicion that I may be switching again?

Especially as I have no history of switching… 

cheers you helpful and unjudgemental community.

Calpol4life

Note - it did start out as a quick question…. Seems I driveled on a little. Soz

MikeJXE

You can't switch as quick as you think 

When you do your first switch you can't switch again till you get your account numbers and probably your debit card plus the reward 

Some banks take longer you need to read the terms and conditions in every case

Santander can take up to 9 months to give you the £200 I believe 

Calpol4life

Aye - I have, First direct say within 28 days, Lloyds say within 10 days, and as you correctly mention, Santander say longer (though I think 3 months)

the question I really want answering is if I meet all criteria - are they bound to pay me, even if I do decide to move on very quickly after?

im aware that this will take weeks - in my head, 1 switch a month 

MikeJXE

Iv'e been with Santander for 10 years and did my first switch 6th December, when I get the Santander switch that will be £750 thanks 

MikeJXE

Also switched the money out as soon as it landed 

Jami74

Calpol4life said:

Will one of the providers (say Lloyds) see that I have created a current account, switched it, then switched it again? 

Like, whilst I have met all of the criteria - can they withhold bonus based on a suspicion that I may be switching again?

I have been switching accounts for a little while and haven't encountered any problems. Although I do try not to bounce too quickly. You haven't said who your current account is with, but it might be worth doing the first switch and then once it is all set up and running, open another burner account with your current account and switch that somewhere else. Or open a burner account with another bank. There's not really any need to rush, many of them exclude you for a period of time from receiving another switch incentive so once you've gone through them all there's a bit of a wait until you're eligible again. I did have a friend who switched to Nationwide, opened a second account straight away and switched that to Halifax. Halifax opened the account and paid the switch bonus and about a month later closed the account. No idea why, nothing bad happened and they did not ask for any money back.

35har1old

MikeJXE said:

You can't switch as quick as you think 

When you do your first switch you can't switch again till you get your account numbers and probably your debit card plus the reward 

Some banks take longer you need to read the terms and conditions in every case

Santander can take up to 9 months to give you the £200 I believe 

I think at the moment its 90 Days

Lily78_2

Hi all, 
I am interested by the discussion as I was wondering myself about the whole switch to get bonus thing. Especially seeing as I don't want to close my two current accounts because of the 'perks' I (now, again) get. 

I read above about creating 'burner account' with your current provider. What does that mean? How do you do that? Pro/con compared to opening a new account in a new bank you are not really interested in just for the purpose of switching it to get a bonus elsewhere? 

Thanks

Katiehound

Lily78_2 said:

Hi all, 
I am interested by the discussion as I was wondering myself about the whole switch to get bonus thing. Especially seeing as I don't want to close my two current accounts because of the 'perks' I (now, again) get. 

I read above about creating 'burner account' with your current provider. What does that mean? How do you do that? Pro/con compared to opening a new account in a new bank you are not really interested in just for the purpose of switching it to get a bonus elsewhere? 

Thanks

You keep asking the same question!

you just open a new account.
using an existing provider probably means you don't need to prove your identity

Then you use the new donor account, having groomed it carefully to meet whatever t&cs are required to meet switch deal. Check those carefully- sometimes you need DDs.

pridehappy

I wouldn't say continually switching the same current account is a good idea, as it can take some time for some banks to set you up fully before they pay the reward and you are able to switch again.

It can also have an impact on your everyday life, with periods without access to banking facilities, late paid bills and no access to a debit card. Even with a separate account, you'd have to change all your direct debits manually for them to be reliable. 

Plus, during the process, some of the banks may finish the offer so you have made a lot of effort for nothing.

Also, if you switch too often and really quickly, especially with an overdraft, it could have a huge impact on your credit score and could mean you find it hard to find credit in the future or you are suspected of fraud etc, or simply declined some of your prior services because of this.

In summary, it's kind of technically possible but I wouldn't recommend it for the problems it can cause in the process.