switching banks with fear of an set off bank grab

stu12345_2

myself and wife use a dmp debt management plan to repay debts 
we want to take advantage of the offers available if we switch 
I have an RBS reward current account.wife has an rbs basic account.i have direct debits .wife has none but she could arrange for some.

we requested CCA consumer credit agreement searches last week to our creditors.somr debts are RBS loans or credit cards 

we wrote £1 cheques with our letters to our creditors  .now my questions are can my wife take advantage of the offers if she only has a basic account not a current account.what will happen to the cheques.as creditors have days.weeks or even months to try find these CCA.
 
will they bounce after we do a switch  plus the current account switching service.does it cover switch from basic account to new current account 

and according to the debt forum.it says open new bank accounts not connected to current one eg nationwide isn't connected to RBS. but the forum says do manual switch only not automated don't know why they advise that but the offers require auto switch 

and if the switch happens.will our  RBS bank use the set off clause and empty  our accounts to try recover the RBS loans and credit card debt even tho we make DMP monthly payments.

what about wages due in 25 days time.evrn if we try to empty accounts today.will bank try an offset grab then 

we are halfway through a nationwide application for a joint account cos I think only I will get the £200 offer will my wife be allowed in the application for joint even if she has basic account but no DDS at monent.we would like to share one account now for simplicity reasons 

I recently cancelled a DD.will only the DDs that I have kept to active be switched over.
my main questions are really about these important cheques being cashed by creditors they must go through.plus the set off bank grab question plus why must I make a manual switch as advised in the debt forum.
despite the fact to get the welcome offer it needs to be done via the automated switch service.

WillPS

If your credit history is chequered, you're unlikely to be eligible for switching offers (unless you already have the relevant account and existing customers are not excluded) - they sometimes appear for 'basic bank account' offers but usually they are excluded. It seems like this is perhaps already a complicated situation and I'd encourage you to consider keeping things as simple as possible while you work through it; switching offers will probably still be here when your credit picture improves.

Best of luck.

stu12345_2

i have a rewards current account, wife basic account, we dont require an overdraft with nationwide ( so we will never be in debt with nationwide, hence we are never asking for credit), just their bottom package, flex account, non overdraft, dont see why they would decline us, we have reasonable wages coming in, i  think i will get the £200 offer in the joint account application as i have the direct debits, but my real question is why does the debt forum say when you switch banks use the manual method not auto method!!
. our banks are happy with our dmp arrangement, what is all the confusion about a bank grab, can it happen if we are allowed to switch to a new bank. or will it not.

ODD thing was rbs let me keep my rewards current account when i went on a dmp, i owed rbs credit card and rbs bank loan debt, but they downgraded my wifes from rewards current account to basic account, even though she owed rbs  credit card and rbs overdraft.( my rbs credit card and rbs loan has been managed by a debt company for RBS,, my wifes rbs credit card is still showing as not sold on, not dealt via a debt company,not defaulted and still active, but her overdraft ids defaulted and collected via a debt company for RBS)
so in reality its only my wifes credit card debt that could be set off, or an i wrong, cos thats the only one still directly with RBS.

and a company owes me £180, they will deposit it into my bank on 28 nov by bank transfer, what will happen to it? if switch is allowed.

had a look at set off rules ( downloaded the nationwide rules, even tho RBS will of course be similar, we have been on a dmp for 18 months)--, but would it happen if we switched, even tho we do  dmp.( and whislt the bank looks for our cca''s, the debt repayments are put on "hold" until they either produce the cca or they dont produce them

Set Off 41. If you owe us money (for example on a loan, credit card, mortgage, or overdraft) and do not pay it on time, we can use any money you have in any of your accounts with us to repay or reduce the amount you owe us. This is called a right of ‘set-off’. 42. This right will apply to all sums you owe to us and to any other company in our group (including The Mortgage Works (UK) plc and UCB Home Loans Ltd) unless the Law or other restrictions prevents it (for example, we will not exercise our right of set-off to use any money that we think you need to meet essential living expenses or certain important debts to which we must give priority or use any money you have told us isn’t yours). 43. Where the account is in your sole name only, our right of set off allows us to take money in your account to pay a debt only you owe or to pay a debt that you and someone else owes us together. 44. Where the account is a joint account, our right of set off allows us to take money in your account to pay: a) a debt owed to us by one or more of the account holders; b) a debt owed to us by one or more of the account holders and someone else together. 45. We’ll tell you at least 14 days before we exercise our right of set-off.

friolento

Being on a DMP, you are likely to be offered a FlexBasic, if any account at all , by Nationwide. That account is not part of their switch offer. Basic accounts seem to be excluded from all switch offers.

Jami74

What a lot of people do is open a second current account (eg with RBS), set up a couple of small direct debits and switch that, leaving the important account in tact. If you did that you wouldn't need to worry about the cheques or the offset grab.

However, new current accounts often do a hard credit check. I agree with WillPS, unless that £200 is going to make a big dent in your debt it would probably be more sensible to wait until things have improved for you.

stu12345_2

flex account is included as one of their 3 choices, have a look on nationwide site or is flex basic different form flex account( the bottom of the range one in the choice of 3)

Rob5342

Try and keep it as simple as possible. Id get a new account set up to avoid the possibility of set up and manually transfer everything to that. Once that's done, the wages are transferred and the cheques are cashed (or not) then you can look at taking advantage of switching offers with your old accounts.or burner accounts if you can get them.

stu12345_2

Jami74 said:

What a lot of people do is open a second current account (eg with RBS), set up a couple of small direct debits and switch that, leaving the important account in tact. If you did that you wouldn't need to worry about the cheques or the offset grab.

However, new current accounts often do a hard credit check. I agree with WillPS, unless that £200 is going to make a big dent in your debt it would probably be more sensible to wait until things have improved for you.

I also have a santander account, the basic one, i opened it up year ago, incase i inherited  or won some money and rbs did a bank grab. its the bottom of the range basic account. that was all santander offered me

Rob5342

stu12345_2 said:

Jami74 said:

What a lot of people do is open a second current account (eg with RBS), set up a couple of small direct debits and switch that, leaving the important account in tact. If you did that you wouldn't need to worry about the cheques or the offset grab.

However, new current accounts often do a hard credit check. I agree with WillPS, unless that £200 is going to make a big dent in your debt it would probably be more sensible to wait until things have improved for you.

I also have a santander account, the basic one, i opened it up year ago, incase i inherited  or won some money and rbs did a bank grab. its the bottom of the range basic account. that was all santander offered me

Why not manually transfer a couple of direct debits to that and switch that one to Nationwide so you get the bonus?

stu12345_2

Rob5342 said:

Try and keep it as simple as possible. Id get a new account set up to avoid the possibility of set up and manually transfer everything to that. Once that's done, the wages are transferred and the cheques are cashed (or not) then you can look at taking advantage of switching offers with your old accounts.or burner accounts if you can get them.

if i manually open a natiowide account, i wont get any offer , nor will i get another one in the near future being an existing customer, my worry is santander only offered me a basic account due to credit history, so i reckon nobody will touch me with a new current account opening, hence i will  wont get any offers for at least 5 yrs till my credit history improves, as all the offers seem to be move your current account to a new current account, 
it seems i will be stuck with opening only basic accounts, in the same way my wife downgraded to a basic account ( mostly cos of the overdraft debt, which is technically payable on demand)

stu12345_2

Rob5342 said:

stu12345_2 said:

Jami74 said:

What a lot of people do is open a second current account (eg with RBS), set up a couple of small direct debits and switch that, leaving the important account in tact. If you did that you wouldn't need to worry about the cheques or the offset grab.

However, new current accounts often do a hard credit check. I agree with WillPS, unless that £200 is going to make a big dent in your debt it would probably be more sensible to wait until things have improved for you.

I also have a santander account, the basic one, i opened it up year ago, incase i inherited  or won some money and rbs did a bank grab. its the bottom of the range basic account. that was all santander offered me

Why not manually transfer a couple of direct debits to that and switch that one to Nationwide so you get the bonus?

ROB, even if i try that and get some dd set up, the problem is---nationwide state it must be via CURENT ACCOUNT auto switch service ,( I have a basic santander account) PLUS it seems it must be current account to current account, to get offer, not basic account to current account. hence its my rbs that is still in current account status, wifes is not, but we want joint account with nationwide, but we dont want any bank set off grabs, credit history is now below average
thus i get it why santander offered me a basic account only.