NatWest/RBS/Ulster £200 Switching Offer 15/2/2024-2/4/2024

tg99

Anyone know if Ulster has ever offered the Reward account that Natwest and RBS do? Looks like just the Select.

WillPS

tg99 said:

Anyone aware of any downsides of switching both my no longer available TSB classic plus current accounts away? Not paid the original high interest rate for a few years now since reduced to zero so can’t ever see these accounts having any benefits. I still have the Spend & Save and Reg Saver.

Only that you'll lose out on the potential benefit of £5/month for 6 months after turning them in to a Spend & Save. The same as you'd get for opening a fresh one.

tg99

If going for the double or triple crown I don’t think there is a need to do them simultaneously as it sounds RBS / Natwest / Ulster are not set up to check if you’ve already received the bonus from one of the other two? Assuming they’ve not tightened things up since that is.

35har1old

WillPS said:

Notably, the terms have shifted from an October 2017 cut off to January 2020 - so I should be eligible again with Natwest. Didn't join RBS until 2020 though, unfortun⁶ately

Does the terms not state if you had a offer from any of the three banks since January 2020 you won't be eligible?

35har1old

HillStreetBlues said:

Can I open an new account with bank A  today then once account is opened  switch to bank B to get the award?

You usually require to have  received debit card
Plus you need active derict debits so they take time to become active

Brewer21

2catsandcounting said:

I think I’ve applied to open an Ulster account.  Went through all the questions, but in the switch details then it said it was running checks, and proceeded me to close the page. Haven’t had an email or anything with the account details, is this normal? If I don’t hear anything by early next week I’ll try again 

It said on my application 2 days to do the necessary checks and possibly further I'd/verification needed. That was on the closing page, not had any email/text since to confirm. Says further back in the thread they tend to be a little drawn out with the process.

Bridlington1

35har1old said:

WillPS said:

Notably, the terms have shifted from an October 2017 cut off to January 2020 - so I should be eligible again with Natwest. Didn't join RBS until 2020 though, unfortun⁶ately

Does the terms not state if you had a offer from any of the three banks since January 2020 you won't be eligible?

The terms do, but in practice the NatWest group haven't been very good at enforcing this term in the past. I received £150 from RBS in 2022 as part of their switching incentive and then accidentally received the £200 switching incentives from both NatWest and Ulster in 2023 after I switched accounts into them as a result of LBG giving me a lifetime ban. There's been quite a few reports of people getting £200 from all 3 banks last year despite this sort of term being included in these incentives.

Whether they'll enforce the term this time around remains to be seen though, but if their previous offers are anything to go by they probably won't.

35har1old said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Can I open an new account with bank A  today then once account is opened  switch to bank B to get the award?

You usually require to have  received debit card
Plus you need active direct debits so they take time to become active

No direct debits are required for this particular switching incentive though.

35har1old

Bridlington1 said:

35har1old said:

WillPS said:

Notably, the terms have shifted from an October 2017 cut off to January 2020 - so I should be eligible again with Natwest. Didn't join RBS until 2020 though, unfortun⁶ately

Does the terms not state if you had a offer from any of the three banks since January 2020 you won't be eligible?

The terms do, but in practice the NatWest group haven't been very good at enforcing this term in the past. I received £150 from RBS in 2022 as part of their switching incentive and then accidentally received the £200 switching incentives from both NatWest and Ulster in 2023 after I switched accounts into them as a result of LBG giving me a lifetime ban. There's been quite a few reports of people getting £200 from all 3 banks last year despite this sort of term being included in these incentives.

Whether they'll enforce the term this time around remains to be seen though, but if their previous offers are anything to go by they probably won't.

35har1old said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Can I open an new account with bank A  today then once account is opened  switch to bank B to get the award?

You usually require to have  received debit card
Plus you need active direct debits so they take time to become active

No direct debits are required for this particular switching incentive though.

If you are switching to a reward account you require 2 direct debits to qualify for the cashback of £5 Minus the account fee £2

35har1old

2catsandcounting said:

Apologies if this has been asked already, opening up an Ulster account (I’m in England) what are people doing for the branch? I’ve put my postcode in but says there is no results 

Belfast branch

35har1old

Rawrzy said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I applied and everything seemed to be going well and the account was reserved for. me. They then said they would need to carry out final checks and then declined my application. Not sure why as was accepted for the Co op bank and Barclays and nothing on my credit report to spook them.  Also I have a Natwest credit card and is no issues there. Also I do not remember being asked for my occupation or income and details of my previous address as only moved here about 1 year ago. 

I have heard from the applications team advising I passed all the checks and goes to the processing team for final checks and check previous history , Equifax and hunter. However I closed my NW account over 3 years ago with no issues and have a NW cc. They said I can appeal.

Never had a problem with Barclays or the Co op so not sure what this is all about. Never mind I have my £150 from the co op to look forward to.

If you appeal you'll likely be able to apply over the phone instead. I had something similar happen with RBS before. I applied, it said the account was ready, then instantly after I got a email saying they couldn't offer me an account. I appealed and they said to apply over the phone and it should work fine. Which I did do, and got the account opened that way, unfortunately it does mean you'll have a second hard check from them. From what I've seen of previous NW group switch threads, it's reasonably common. They seem to have some criteria they auto reject for, who knows what that is.

I'd recommend not bothering with Ulster also. They seem to also have the same criteria too, but unfortunately don't allow appeals. So you'll likely hit the same snag there, but there's no way to get over the road block.

Overall I found the scenario a bit odd, at the time my main account was with Natwest, and I didn't even have many hard checks on my record since it was one of my first switches, my record was otherwise clean. I've also done many switches since, with obviously way more checks on my history at that point, and no issues.

If you apply by phone will you qualify for the incentive?