Thinking of switching, what's stopping you? 🙂

Katiehound

RG2015 said:

MikeJXE said:

RG2015 said:

I am fascinated that a thread about switching bank accounts is all about getting a load of free money.

The switch service was intended to encourage customers to move to a better bank account.

It is a sad indictment of our society that we have come to this.

When you get on to a site like this that is rife with rich people who move money about daily chasing the best interest rates

This is the norm 

A old saying by the not so rich Much wants More

 

Rich people do not chase interest rates. They are for more canny with their money.

 

Lets put it like this: rich people like the prime minister & the ex-chancellor of the exchequer are so out of touch that they wouldn't know if they earned £2000 let alone £200. They do not need to chase interest rates. They can afford to be more canny: so much so that one of them has been fined- more money than most of us would recognise. If you have enough money then the odd little blip in the economy is meaningless.

If folk are canny enough to make a fast legal buck then let them. It must be a very small percentage of the population.

Yes, I have been 'guilty' of such an offence over the years but I tend to keep the new account for at least a year, or even longer! because sometimes there are perks that are worth having. However I have discovered exactly which banks I do not want to have as my 'main' bank and I have moved on....

fwor

Richard1212 said:

I am surprised the banks have let this fiasco go on for so long when they must know what is happening in reality ( and they are not attracting genuine customers for the long term but merely passing strangers who grab a bit of cash on the way past to other pastures).

I have no doubt that the banks will stop this ridiculous practice soon----they are not known as the brightest spanners in the toolbox but even they will put an end to a scheme that is losing them and their loyal customers money.

I suspect that if you look at it from the bank's point of view, it is not a "fiasco". I very much doubt that they care if "tarts" use the promotion.

At the very simplest level, it's likely to generate a measure of goodwill among those that get paid. And the "tarts" cannot avoid using the service (if only as long as is needed to get their reward) and as a result ~some~ of those may like what they see and stay.

And looking at the other side of the equation, the cost - both in straight monetary terms and the loss of goodwill - of policing the offer more tightly is almost certainly greater than they would recover by stopping those that are considered to be "tarts".

In summary: I don't think you should spend too much time worrying that bankers are too stupid to know how to run their own promotional campaigns...

RG2015

Richard1212 said:

RG2015 said:

Band7 said:

RG2015 said:

Band7 said:

RG2015 said:

I am fascinated that a thread about switching bank accounts is all about getting a load of free money.

The switch service was intended to encourage customers to move to a better bank account.

It is a sad indictment of our society that we have come to this.

Not sure whether your post is sarcasm or real. Assuming it's the latter:

I don't think there is anything wrong with people going after the switch incentives for no other reason than picking up the switch bonus. Particularly during a cost of living crisis, people would be silly if they didn't avail themselves of any extra money they can legally get. 

Banks are in full control of their switch offer terms and if they don't like people who exploit the switch offers, they can make these terms so strict that switch tarting is effectively impossible. I don't think they need moral support from a consumer-oriented website.

Have you seen the adverts for bank switching?

They talk about switching bank to get a better banking service. They say it is easy to switch in a matter of days. They encourage you not to be scared that it may go wrong as it is guaranteed.

They say all of your direct debits and standing orders will be transferred over automatically.

They even guarantee that for many months even years after the switch, transactions to and from the old account will be forwarded to the new account.

And yet all we get on a thread about not being scared to switch is the massive switching incentives.

Then to cap it all you don't even need to switch your main bank account. Just set up a dummy bank account opened for the sole intention of switching.

And I never said there was anything wrong with it, just that it was a sad reflection of our society. 

Not sure what's sad about people making use of switching offers, and I wouldn't draw conclusions about the society we live in from the way people go about using switch offers. Different people, different value systems, clearly.

May be you should make MSE Towers aware that you are saddened to find yourself on a website that extols the virtues of multiple account switching?

You genuinely have no concept of what I am saying. Whereas I understand exactly what you are saying.

As to your second paragraph, that is a rather disrespectful and gratuitous comment.

I fully agree with every word RG2015 has said in his posts on this thread.

Just like racing round like a headless chicken every time the Easy/Fixed Interest Savings Accounts change ( which is every 5 minutes), it is the same with running around different banks as some sort of obsessive hobby which probably costs as much in valuable time ( for people who are busy and whose hourly "worth" is higher than the bank transfers).

I am surprised the banks have let this fiasco go on for so long when they must know what is happening in reality ( and they are not attracting genuine customers for the long term but merely passing strangers who grab a bit of cash on the way past to other pastures).

I have no doubt that the banks will stop this ridiculous practice soon----they are not known as the brightest spanners in the toolbox but even they will put an end to a scheme that is losing them and their loyal customers money.

While it is gratifying to be agreed with I would like to set the record straight.

First, I do not disagree with switching incentives per se. I myself have switched bank accounts and pocketed the switching incentive. Always though from an account I have previously used and no longer needed.

I have always switched to an account for a particular benefit, such as a high interest savings account requiring a current account to qualify.

I guess you would regard me too as a headless chicken for me chasing high interest rates.

Second, to open a bank account purely to be a switching dummy is as contrived as tax avoidance. Both are completely legal but appear to me to be money grabbing. I know that many disagree, but this is my opinion. People can criticise and mock me but it is how I feel.

And finally this thread, while appearing to be about the reluctance to switch, is solely about the incentive. 

RG2015

Katiehound said:

RG2015 said:

MikeJXE said:

RG2015 said:

I am fascinated that a thread about switching bank accounts is all about getting a load of free money.

The switch service was intended to encourage customers to move to a better bank account.

It is a sad indictment of our society that we have come to this.

When you get on to a site like this that is rife with rich people who move money about daily chasing the best interest rates

This is the norm 

A old saying by the not so rich Much wants More

 

Rich people do not chase interest rates. They are for more canny with their money.

 

Lets put it like this: rich people like the prime minister & the ex-chancellor of the exchequer are so out of touch that they wouldn't know if they earned £2000 let alone £200. They do not need to chase interest rates. They can afford to be more canny: so much so that one of them has been fined- more money than most of us would recognise. If you have enough money then the odd little blip in the economy is meaningless.

If folk are canny enough to make a fast legal buck then let them. It must be a very small percentage of the population.

Yes, I have been 'guilty' of such an offence over the years but I tend to keep the new account for at least a year, or even longer! because sometimes there are perks that are worth having. However I have discovered exactly which banks I do not want to have as my 'main' bank and I have moved on....

It is not just the mega rich like the PM and CoE  but many at a more modest level of "richness"

Moderately rich folk are more likely to invest rather than "move money about daily chasing the best interest rates"

This was the point I was making.

enthusiasticsaver

To go back to the OP I have to say I have not switched for a few years as I am happy with our current bank and don't want the hassle of switching all our  direct debits and pensions etc. We regularly transfer money between family for various reasons as well and I don't want to give people the hassle of having to  change our bank details on their payee details especially my 87 year old mum. 

All the banks who are offering switching bonuses currently we have had bank accounts with in the past and left them for one reason or another - Santander, FD, Halifax, Nationwide and TSB.  Only one we have never banked with is HSBC.   I don't think I want to go back to any of them and will stick with Starling. 

  Setting up dummy accounts and direct debits etc would make our  finances more complicated. Our monthly budgeting is simple and takes a few minutes and in the past when I opened lots of current accounts it involved shuffling money in and out and having all our bills spread over various accounts.   The older we get the easier we want things to be so that is why we don't switch.  I don't have a problem with others doing it though and if we were unhappy with Starling I would do  it. 

Band7

RG2015 said:

Second, to open a bank account purely to be a switching dummy is as contrived as tax avoidance. Both are completely legal but appear to me to be money grabbing 

Next you will be attacking the millions who are avoiding tax by saving/investing in ISAs for being 'money grabbers'. Or the millions of 'money grabbers' who are avoiding tax by investing in works and/or personal pensions. Though presumably you have availed yourself of these, so presumably that sort of 'money grabbing' is fine?

RG2015

Band7 said:

RG2015 said:

Second, to open a bank account purely to be a switching dummy is as contrived as tax avoidance. Both are completely legal but appear to me to be money grabbing 

Next you will be attacking the millions who are avoiding tax by saving/investing in ISAs for being 'money grabbers'. Or the millions of 'money grabbers' who are avoiding tax by investing in works and/or personal pensions. Though presumably you have availed yourself of these, so presumably that sort of 'money grabbing' is fine?

You appear to be hell bent on arguing with me. I don't know why. I am just expressing my point of view, but you appear to be making it personal.

In hindsight, I do accept that my use of the term tax avoidance was ambiguous. I did mean aggressive and contrived tax avoidance schemes. However, I didn't say that so you are well within your rights to pick me up on this bit of careless posting .

I have to say though that suggesting I will start attacking ISAs and pension tax concessions is rather petty. 

I hope we can keep any future conversations civil.

Band7

RG2015 said:

I hope we can keep any future conversations civil.

I'll offer you a deal: you stop criticising people for bagging switching offers, and I won't criticise you for criticising the motives of switchers.

RG2015

Band7 said:

RG2015 said:

I hope we can keep any future conversations civil.

I'll offer you a deal: you stop criticising people for bagging switching offers, and I won't criticise you for criticising the motives of switchers.

Agreed.

Today has been a funny old day.

MikeJXE

Strange how I have to type more than 3 letters to post 

LOL