How soon can i switch again?

col81

I switched to Santander June last year and got £200 and i have just switched to First Direct for £175. The £175 went in my bank today. Can they claw this back. i see Natwest are offering £200 i may switch to them now. My car insurance is due in 3 months and this would go towards it.

danny13579

Once you have the bonus you can switch again as soon as you want.

col81

Thanks Danny, is it a good idea to keep doing it i presume after 4 or 5 banks thats it then. I liked Santander can i re-open with them? seems like easy money to me 

danny13579

Most of the banks have time limits before which you can claim another reward. Some only allow you to claim one when you become a new customer and never again (e.g. First Direct). You can reopen with Santander, but check the T&Cs to see if you're entitled to a switching reward and what you have to do to qualify for the reward.

TheElectricCow

You can switch pretty much as many times as you like, although eventually you’ll run out of banks with incentives to switch accounts to as the same one typically won’t give the bonus to one person a second time at least for a few years. 

If you liked Santander you can always open a second account to keep one with them and have another for switching, no need to have to worry about choosing between banks as there’s not really a hard limit on the number of current accounts you can open.

col81

TheElectricCow said:

You can switch pretty much as many times as you like, although eventually you’ll run out of banks with incentives to switch accounts to as the same one typically won’t give the bonus to one person a second time at least for a few years. 

If you liked Santander you can always open a second account to keep one with them and have another for switching, no need to have to worry about choosing between banks as there’s not really a hard limit on the number of current accounts you can open.

ok so i want to go back to santander. It was closed last week. I still have a loan and savings with them and the app etc. I now have all my bills with First direct. I want to take advantage of the Natwest £200 how can i do this and get all my bills back with santanderr?

AmityNeon

col81 said:

ok so i want to go back to santander. It was closed last week. I still have a loan and savings with them and the app etc. I now have all my bills with First direct. I want to take advantage of the Natwest £200 how can i do this and get all my bills back with santanderr?

• Open a Santander Edge account (assuming it's the one you want) and manually transfer your bills over.
• Open a Metro Bank current account (soft search only) and when you receive the debit card (in the post or printed in-branch), apply for a NatWest (or RBS) Select account and switch the Metro Bank account into it.
• Keep the First Direct account for its associated perks (£250 interest-free overdraft and access to their 7% Regular Saver).

If you don't care about the First Direct account, you can switch that into the NatWest/RBS account instead.

It's best to leave your 'main' current account untouched when purely taking advantage of switch offers, so you don't have to worry about bills and incoming payments.

col81

AmityNeon said:

col81 said:

ok so i want to go back to santander. It was closed last week. I still have a loan and savings with them and the app etc. I now have all my bills with First direct. I want to take advantage of the Natwest £200 how can i do this and get all my bills back with santanderr?

• Open a Santander Edge account (assuming it's the one you want) and manually transfer your bills over.
• Open a Metro Bank current account (soft search only) and when you receive the debit card (in the post or printed in-branch), apply for a NatWest (or RBS) Select account and switch the Metro Bank account into it.
• Keep the First Direct account for its associated perks (£250 interest-free overdraft and access to their 7% Regular Saver).

If you don't care about the First Direct account, you can switch that into the NatWest/RBS account instead.

It's best to leave your 'main' current account untouched when purely taking advantage of switch offers, so you don't have to worry about bills and incoming payments.

Ok thank you! i was under the impression that the account transferred always had to be the one with all the bills and wages in etc. 

col81

It seems by doing this £1000 per year can be had why doesnt everyone do it. 

eskbanker

col81 said:

It seems by doing this £1000 per year can be had why doesnt everyone do it. 

It's finite, so most banks will have restrictions preventing repeated bonuses, plus it's more effort than many are prepared to exert, and many don't have sufficient credit status to keep opening new accounts, or choose not to accept the impact of doing so.

dealyboy

Hi @col81 ...

col81 said:

AmityNeon said:

col81 said:

ok so i want to go back to santander. It was closed last week. I still have a loan and savings with them and the app etc. I now have all my bills with First direct. I want to take advantage of the Natwest £200 how can i do this and get all my bills back with santanderr?

• Open a Santander Edge account (assuming it's the one you want) and manually transfer your bills over.
• Open a Metro Bank current account (soft search only) and when you receive the debit card (in the post or printed in-branch), apply for a NatWest (or RBS) Select account and switch the Metro Bank account into it.
• Keep the First Direct account for its associated perks (£250 interest-free overdraft and access to their 7% Regular Saver).

If you don't care about the First Direct account, you can switch that into the NatWest/RBS account instead.

It's best to leave your 'main' current account untouched when purely taking advantage of switch offers, so you don't have to worry about bills and incoming payments.

Ok thank you! i was under the impression that the account transferred always had to be the one with all the bills and wages in etc. 

Switch conditions differ by bank or banking group, it just so happens the latest batch of offers have not required any direct debits for example, but previously 2 DDs was the rule.

Actually switch offers have been around for a few years now but at the moment it appears that the banks are frantic. Who knows where it will end.

Generally the banks' switch terms have precluded getting incentives if they have previously been received since a certain date, but this appears to be loosening.

But the good guidance you have received is to set up a dummy or donor account, specifically for switching, setting up payments or DDs when required to satisfy the terms. Indeed although there are limitations to the number of accounts you can have with each bank, e.g. Nationwide four, Santander six, it might make sense to have a couple of these accounts 'ready to go'. Experienced switchers recommend Starling and Monzo banks. A word of caution though, credit checks are usually performed when opening or switching accounts, soft and hard, especially when the account being opened has an authorised overdraft facility. It is generally recommended to decline these overdraft facilities on donor accounts.

Don't disregard the regular saver accounts you can open at the new bank, seasoned savers take advantage of these.

I think you have got yourself a new part-time job.