Is there a way to find out if you've had a switching bonus before?

bigpat

I'm thinking about the Santander Edge account for the £175 switching bonus. I did have a current account with them, probably 6-8 years ago and I still have a mortgage with them. But I can't remember whether there was a switching bonus back then.

Will they tell you, during the process, whether you'll definitely get the bonus i.e. so that if they say no, you can click Cancel? Or do you have to go through with it and then just hope for the best?

Nasqueron

There is a post on here with a list of all the offers each bank has done with dates, just search for it

They won't tell you if you had the bonus before because you might have another reason to switch to them, the system may not even check

Zanderman

bigpat said:

I'm thinking about the Santander Edge account for the £175 switching bonus. I did have a current account with them, probably 6-8 years ago and I still have a mortgage with them. But I can't remember whether there was a switching bonus back then.

Will they tell you, during the process, whether you'll definitely get the bonus i.e. so that if they say no, you can click Cancel? Or do you have to go through with it and then just hope for the best?

The only way to be definitely sure is to keep your own records, though you can search through old emails to look for clues, assuming you don't routinely delete everything.

They will not tell you during the switching process.  You just have to hope for the best.  And, if it works, record it somewhere for the future!

bigpat

Nasqueron said:

There is a post on here with a list of all the offers each bank has done with dates, just search for it

Thanks. I'll look for that.

bigpat

Zanderman said:

bigpat said:

I'm thinking about the Santander Edge account for the £175 switching bonus. I did have a current account with them, probably 6-8 years ago and I still have a mortgage with them. But I can't remember whether there was a switching bonus back then.

Will they tell you, during the process, whether you'll definitely get the bonus i.e. so that if they say no, you can click Cancel? Or do you have to go through with it and then just hope for the best?

The only way to be definitely sure is to keep your own records, though you can search through old emails to look for clues, assuming you don't routinely delete everything.

They will not tell you during the switching process.  You just have to hope for the best.  And, if it works, record it somewhere for the future!

Thanks. I've been doing that for the past few years, Barclays and Nationwide so far, but hadn't thought of it back then.

danny13579

Nasqueron said:

There is a post on here with a list of all the offers each bank has done with dates, just search for it

They won't tell you if you had the bonus before because you might have another reason to switch to them, the system may not even check

This is the post, an archive of past switching offers.

Can you remember when you opened the old Santander account? Have you emails going back that far? Check your credit history under closed accounts as that will list all old accounts you have opened and closed and when.

You can always just go for the switching offer, worst that can happen is that they don't pay it.

bigpat

danny13579 said:

This is the post, an archive of past switching offers.

Can you remember when you opened the old Santander account? Have you emails going back that far? Check your credit history under closed accounts as that will list all old accounts you have opened and closed and when.

You can always just go for the switching offer, worst that can happen is that they don't pay it.

Thanks, that's a great resource for future reference! I do have many old emails from Santander but because I have a mortgage with them anyway, there seem to be thousands of them, mostly marketing junk. I haven't found one referring to opening a current account, but I know it was WELL before the first entry for them in that post. It may have been 15 years or more since I opened it and I don't remember whether switching bonuses were a thing back then. 

The MSE Credit Club site doesn't seem to be working for me today, but I have ordered the free statutory report from Experian.

Is there any downside to frequent switching? This would be my third in about 3 years, having only switched to Nationwide 7 months ago. I'm not planning to apply for any new credit and my Experian score is 999.

powerful_Rogue

bigpat said:

danny13579 said:

This is the post, an archive of past switching offers.

Can you remember when you opened the old Santander account? Have you emails going back that far? Check your credit history under closed accounts as that will list all old accounts you have opened and closed and when.

You can always just go for the switching offer, worst that can happen is that they don't pay it.

Thanks, that's a great resource for future reference! I do have many old emails from Santander but because I have a mortgage with them anyway, there seem to be thousands of them, mostly marketing junk. I haven't found one referring to opening a current account, but I know it was WELL before the first entry for them in that post. It may have been 15 years or more since I opened it and I don't remember whether switching bonuses were a thing back then. 

The MSE Credit Club site doesn't seem to be working for me today, but I have ordered the free statutory report from Experian.

Is there any downside to frequent switching? This would be my third in about 3 years, having only switched to Nationwide 7 months ago. I'm not planning to apply for any new credit and my Experian score is 999.

Your credit score is a made up meaningless number, it's actually what's in your report that counts. Frequent switching could have an impact, as they will look at the age of your accounts.

danny13579

bigpat said:

Is there any downside to frequent switching? This would be my third in about 3 years, having only switched to Nationwide 7 months ago. I'm not planning to apply for any new credit and my Experian score is 999.

There can be a slight dent in your rating as a hard search will be conducted. But the number is really just there for your own reference and is fairly meaningless really. It's your credit history that they're looking at.
As you're not applying for credit I can't see any reason not go for it.

bigpat

powerful_Rogue said:

bigpat said:

danny13579 said:

This is the post, an archive of past switching offers.

Can you remember when you opened the old Santander account? Have you emails going back that far? Check your credit history under closed accounts as that will list all old accounts you have opened and closed and when.

You can always just go for the switching offer, worst that can happen is that they don't pay it.

Thanks, that's a great resource for future reference! I do have many old emails from Santander but because I have a mortgage with them anyway, there seem to be thousands of them, mostly marketing junk. I haven't found one referring to opening a current account, but I know it was WELL before the first entry for them in that post. It may have been 15 years or more since I opened it and I don't remember whether switching bonuses were a thing back then. 

The MSE Credit Club site doesn't seem to be working for me today, but I have ordered the free statutory report from Experian.

Is there any downside to frequent switching? This would be my third in about 3 years, having only switched to Nationwide 7 months ago. I'm not planning to apply for any new credit and my Experian score is 999.

Your credit score is a made up meaningless number, it's actually what's in your report that counts. Frequent switching could have an impact, as they will look at the age of your accounts.

I agree it's probably meaningless, which is why I'm wondering whether it would make any difference. Given that I'm not applying for any new loans/overdrafts/HPs etc any time soon, would it even matter if my number was a meaningless 500 (let's say) as opposed to  a meaningless 999?

powerful_Rogue

bigpat said:

powerful_Rogue said:

bigpat said:

danny13579 said:

This is the post, an archive of past switching offers.

Can you remember when you opened the old Santander account? Have you emails going back that far? Check your credit history under closed accounts as that will list all old accounts you have opened and closed and when.

You can always just go for the switching offer, worst that can happen is that they don't pay it.

Thanks, that's a great resource for future reference! I do have many old emails from Santander but because I have a mortgage with them anyway, there seem to be thousands of them, mostly marketing junk. I haven't found one referring to opening a current account, but I know it was WELL before the first entry for them in that post. It may have been 15 years or more since I opened it and I don't remember whether switching bonuses were a thing back then. 

The MSE Credit Club site doesn't seem to be working for me today, but I have ordered the free statutory report from Experian.

Is there any downside to frequent switching? This would be my third in about 3 years, having only switched to Nationwide 7 months ago. I'm not planning to apply for any new credit and my Experian score is 999.

Your credit score is a made up meaningless number, it's actually what's in your report that counts. Frequent switching could have an impact, as they will look at the age of your accounts.

I agree it's probably meaningless, which is why I'm wondering whether it would make any difference. Given that I'm not applying for any new loans/overdrafts/HPs etc any time soon, would it even matter if my number was a meaningless 500 (let's say) as opposed to  a meaningless 999?

The number means nothing at all. No-one will see it apart from you and the credit reference agency. Places which do checks have their own formula and criteria which is totally unrelated to the score which sadly too many people believe.

What's in your history is important, so if you're not going to be applying for any more credit soon, it would be no issue at all.