Bank Account Switching Questions

worriednoob

Hiya.  I have a  question with regards to switching to Natwest for the £200.

I am currently with First Direct (Solo).  I know I can switch this and I can get the £200.

However, assuming I did the above, what I want to know is that if myself and my partner have another JOINT bank account (With Virgin Money), would we still be able to get an additional £200 for the switch that or would Natwest decline it because I already have moved my solo account to them?

Thanks for your help

cymruchris

Natwest, RBS and Ulster are all the same group, use the same app layout, website layout and have pretty much identical products.

My understanding is that if you've gone to Natwest for your switch, your wife with your joint account could go to RBS - so that if your name could have caused an issue - it wouldn't as it's not the same brand, so I'd switch to RBS on the joint account, and as long as your original switch took place after Feb '23 you'll qualify for the £200 again. 

There's a thread here somewhere (which will now be difficult to find in this new layout) which details people that have applied for more than one £200 cashback over each of the brands within the group.

I had the Natwest one a few weeks ago - and have just applied for the RBS one today. 

worriednoob

cymruchris said:

Natwest, RBS and Ulster are all the same group, use the same app layout, website layout and have pretty much identical products.

My understanding is that if you've gone to Natwest for your switch, your wife with your joint account could go to RBS - so that if your name could have caused an issue - it wouldn't as it's not the same brand, so I'd switch to RBS on the joint account, and as long as your original switch took place after Feb '23 you'll qualify for the £200 again. 

There's a thread here somewhere (which will now be difficult to find in this new layout) which details people that have applied for more than one £200 cashback over each of the brands within the group.

I had the Natwest one a few weeks ago - and have just applied for the RBS one today. 

Thanks so much for your help cymruchris.  I hope someone can confirm what you've said.  I'd be willing to try that, but can RBS customers use Natwest branches and vice-versa?  Only asking because there's not many RBS branches around where U live.

Also just to avoid confusion, Myself nor my wife have not made any switch at all, so I guess the Feb 2023 date won't apply to us, right?

MikeJXE

I switched 3 burner accounts  to NatWest RBS and Ulster and receive £200 from each

You and your parter could both do that as single accounts making you £1200

Why bother with joint accounts at all for switching 

You don't have to leave the money in once you have it

cymruchris

https://www.natwestgroup.com/news-and-insights/feature-content/our-updates/2011-2020/rbs-announces-changes-to-the-royal-bank-of-scotland-branch-netwo.html

Yes you can use RBS as Natwest and Natwest as RBS - that's a huge page of guff on the link above - but this paragraph is in it:



This was from some time ago - but it's even more aligned these days. 

If neither of you have switched yet - then yes - apply for a sole account via switch via Natwest for yours - and then the next joint account via RBS and get 2 x £200 rewards. (Assuming you follow the guidelines to get it - reference depositing £1250)

worriednoob

Thanks so much for the great info guys and wow amazing Mike.  We don't have a problem depositing money, although it would be a simply transfer in and transfer out.

Not sure if this is important, but I just want to add that my wife and I made a switch to First Direct (seperate accounts) in Jan 2023 and got £175, so does this make any difference?

Also just in case you're wondering why my wife can't switch her First Direct, it's because it's linked to her Chip account and she is worried unlinking might mess it up.

MikeJXE

worriednoob said:

Thanks so much for the great info guys and wow amazing Mike.  We don't have a problem depositing money, although it would be a simply transfer in and transfer out.

Not sure if this is important, but I just want to add that my wife and I made a switch to First Direct (seperate accounts) in Jan 2023 and got £175, so does this make any difference?

Also just in case you're wondering why my wife can't switch her First Direct, it's because it's linked to her Chip account and she is worried unlinking might mess it up.

I got the First Direct to and the Lloyds and the TSB and the Santander and the Co-op and all the others that have been going since early December 

boingy

The best way of playing the "switching circuit" is to do it with a new account set up for the purpose. That way you get to keep your main account and First Direct are a pretty good choice for your main account. You can open new accounts on apps within minutes with banks like Metro, Starling and Monzo, although you usually have to wait for the debit card to arrive in the post before you switch. 

Myself and several others have successfully had switching bonuses from all three of the banks in the Natwest group (NW, RBS, Ulster) despite what their eligibility blurb says. Astonishingly they don't bother to check! There is a large thread about it somewhere.

worriednoob

Thanks Mike and Boingy.

In that case, are any of the following current accounts switchable?

Monese
Chase
Zopa
Revolut (although we do use this account often)

I'm worried about how switching so many accounts will impact on our credit score. But we don't plan to apply for anything in the next 6 months or so.

Also is it worth applying for other current accounts and then do further switching? If so, which ones are easy to open?

Bridlington1

worriednoob said:

Thanks Mike and Boingy.

In that case, are any of the following current accounts switchable?

Monese
Chase
Revolut (although we do use this account often)

Also I'm worried about how switching so many accounts will impact on our credit score. But we don't plan to apply for anything in the next 6 months or so.

You can switch any that are part of the CASS. For a full list see:
https://www.currentaccountswitch.co.uk/banks-building-societies/

So Monese no, Chase yes, Revolut no.

worriednoob

Hi everyone.  Thanks so much for your help. 

Okay, after following your helpful advice, here's the good news::-

We've individually opened accounts, so we now each have a Chase, Monzo and Santander account and the Debit cards are on their way

So a few more questions:-

1. Do we need to wait for the Debit cards for each account to come through or can we go ahead and apply immediately? 

2. Can the Natwest, RBS and Ulster banks find out that we've applied within their group of banks and can this affect anything?

3. Won't applying for Natwest, RBS and Ulster separately have a massive impact on our credit score and risk us being declined?