Switching bank accounts multiple times

millymollymandy73

Hi all,

I recently switched a burner account (I opened a second account with Nationwide) to Lloyds to get the £200 incentive which has now been paid. Is there any need to wait a certain amount of time before switching again from a legal/ bank perspective? I'd like to take advantage of the other offers available, most likely for Natwest this time. 

I know it can impact my credit rating, but that's not the bit I'm concerned about (I have no imminent need for credit and I'm hoping to buy a house in a year or more). I just want to check there aren't going to be any negative repercussions from the bank for having the account open so briefly.

Thanks! 

eskbanker

There's no legal issue, and if the bank wished to claim the right to penalise then it would need to be included within the switching offer terms....

PRAISETHESUN

From the perspective of banks trying to claw back the incentive money, if there's nothing in the T&Cs about it then once the money is paid you're free to do what you want with the account, including closing it or switching it away to another bank.

That said, I have seen reports from time to time where people encounter issues from repeatedly opening accounts with a single bank only to switch them away soon after. A single account will be fine, but probably best not to make a habit of it with the same bank, as you could find they close your other accounts with them and restrict you from opening new accounts in future.

Numpty1

With reference to MillyMollyMandy, I too would like to take advantage of one of the bank switching offers currently on offer. 

I am switching (today!) to Nationwide Flex in order to get the travel insurance which ceased on my Halifax account when I turned 71 this year - plus the financial bonus of course.
So, with some surplus ££s in this new account, is there any bank offering any sort of incentive just for opening an account, which I will subsequently switch in due course.
Now that sounds very avaricious of me, but it means I can legitimately gain some extra (tax free?) money to pass on to my children, for minimal effort and zero risk.
Any thoughts fellow Forum folk?

eskbanker

Numpty1 said:

With reference to MillyMollyMandy, I too would like to take advantage of one of the bank switching offers currently on offer. 

I am switching (today!) to Nationwide Flex in order to get the travel insurance which ceased on my Halifax account when I turned 71 this year - plus the financial bonus of course.
So, with some surplus ££s in this new account, is there any bank offering any sort of incentive just for opening an account, which I will subsequently switch in due course.
Now that sounds very avaricious of me, but it means I can legitimately gain some extra (tax free?) money to pass on to my children, for minimal effort and zero risk.
Any thoughts fellow Forum folk?

Incentives for simply opening an account are very rare, although you can sometimes benefit from offers from third party cashback sites, but you can always open donor accounts specifically to use for switching into banks that offer switching incentives.

Altruistic of you to want to do this in order to gain money to give to your children, but if you're 71 then chances are that they're adults, so should be able to play the switching incentive game for themselves?