How strict are banks on the cut off date for switch bonuses?

What_time_is_it

Asking in relation specifically to the Nationwide £200 switch offer launched today (21st September), which has a stated cut off of 21st August 2021. I switched to them and got a £125 bonus in September 2021. Will they check this?

And in general terms... how rigorous are banks at checking this? Do they meticulously check every applicant? Or do some slip through and get the bonus?

And, what does the date actually refer to? Date opened account? Date of switch? Date of payment of switching bonus?

Thanks!

WillPS

In my experience they all check within the same profile* - most banking organisations do a decent job of ensuring new applications are kept to the same customer profile, and I wouldn't recommend doing anything to try and "confuse" a bank system to treating you as a new customer. 

TSB is notably poor at this - indeed every account I've opened with them since their separation from LBG's systems has resulted in a whole new profile being created, with no special effort to cause that to happen on my part.

In other words, you can probably expect that Nationwide will check and you won't get another bonus.

*note that Natwest Group use different profiles for each brand, and LBG use different profiles for Lloyds and Halifax/Bank of Scotland

wmb194

What_time_is_it said:

Asking in relation specifically to the Nationwide £200 switch offer launched today (21st September), which has a stated cut off of 21st August 2021. I switched to them and got a £125 bonus in September 2021. Will they check this?

And in general terms... how rigorous are banks at checking this? Do they meticulously check every applicant? Or do some slip through and get the bonus?

And, what does the date actually refer to? Date opened account? Date of switch? Date of payment of switching bonus?

Thanks!

I suspect that 21/08/21 has been chosen for a reason. My records state that I switched for £125 on 24/08/21 so it could be a carefully picked date that will exclude many of the people who took up that offer.

PRAISETHESUN

Banks wouldn't put the cut off date in their T&Cs if they weren't able to verify it somehow, although in my experience some banks are definitely better at checking than others. I usually chance it myself if I'm close to the cut off, but I always expect to not qualify so it's a nice surprise when I do.

In practice the T&Cs of the offer will dictate what counts as the qualifying date. In my experience it's usually when the incentive payment lands in your bank account. This can be annoying for some offers (eg. TSB) where there's a second portion of an incentive paid out 12 months later, which I think would technically disqualify you for further incentives from that second date.

Alex9384

So? Is it worth chancing with TSB? I already have 2 current accounts with them and my last bonus was Dec 2022.

Alex9384

WillPS said:

In my experience they all check within the same profile* - most banking organisations do a decent job of ensuring new applications are kept to the same customer profile, and I wouldn't recommend doing anything to try and "confuse" a bank system to treating you as a new customer.

I'm wondering if you can ask bank to delete your profile once you close their account and don't hold any product with them anymore?

kaMelo

Alex9384 said:

WillPS said:

In my experience they all check within the same profile* - most banking organisations do a decent job of ensuring new applications are kept to the same customer profile, and I wouldn't recommend doing anything to try and "confuse" a bank system to treating you as a new customer.

I'm wondering if you can ask bank to delete your profile once you close their account and don't hold any product with them anymore?

You can ask them anything you want, whether they'll comply with your request is another matter.

WillPS

Alex9384 said:

So? Is it worth chancing with TSB? I already have 2 current accounts with them and my last bonus was Dec 2022.

No harm trying but you have no cause for complaint if it doesn't work out. If your new profile is merged in to the existing one you can safely assume it won't work (this has happened for me once in a total of a 7 or 8 times in the last few years!).

Alex9384

kaMelo said:

You can ask them anything you want, whether they'll comply with your request is another matter.

Thanks Captain Obvious.
What I meant is whether there is some law or regulation they have to follow when asked by a customer to delete their personal details.