Is switching bank/s for the cash bonus/es worth the effort?

Nasqueron

Currently on £1970.73 (Virgin switch bonus last year with the 10% current account offer makes the numbers weird) since December 2019, though bulk is the 11 since Feb 22, I may qualify for a couple this year in theory   

Brewer21

I remember getting a few cases of wine from Virgin money for switching. Only got a couple of saver accounts with them ATM with pence in, still waiting for anything to come up with them as a switch bonus is, been years.

Nasqueron

Brewer21 said:

I remember getting a few cases of wine from Virgin money for switching. Only got a couple of saver accounts with them ATM with pence in, still waiting for anything to come up with them as a switch bonus is, been years.

They were infrequent and now owned by Nationwide, perhaps it'll be just the latter now. 

The switch bonus they did was middle of last year, paying 10% interest on £1000 rather than a flat fee - meaning you'd get basically £120 if you stuck it out. They offered a regular saver soon after for anyone who hadn't switched out again, think it's 12% on £300 a month

Middle_of_the_Road

Nasqueron said:

Brewer21 said:

I remember getting a few cases of wine from Virgin money for switching. Only got a couple of saver accounts with them ATM with pence in, still waiting for anything to come up with them as a switch bonus is, been years.

They were infrequent and now owned by Nationwide, perhaps it'll be just the latter now. 

The switch bonus they did was middle of last year, paying 10% interest on £1000 rather than a flat fee - meaning you'd get basically £120 if you stuck it out. They offered a regular saver soon after for anyone who hadn't switched out again, think it's 12% on £300 a month

10% on 250pcm
The current account offered 12% on the first £1k

mp203

Zanderman said:

mp203 said:

I see there are still a few inducements to switch banks (up to £175, with a few other perks). Could you sign up for it, jump through the hoops for however long (a month or two?) then move onto the next one. Then go back to your original bank when you've used up all the offers, if you wanted to.
I wonder what the 'hourly rate' might be for the work involved.
(Provided you weren't concerned about your credit rating at the moment, for a mortgage or whatever).
Would there be any penalty/comeback for signing up only to leave asap? Or are they used to people doing this and therefore expect a percentage of those signing up to do this?

No need to ever leave your original bank. 

Just open a second current account at your original bank and switch that.

PS, yes it is worth it

Thanks, Zanderman.

I didn't know you could open a second current account, until you told me. I just started signing up for a second current account with Virgin Money but paused at the following questions;

What will I be paying in?
How much each month?
Main reason for account?
How much do intend to save each year?

I want to proceed with minimum disruption to my first and primary current account with Virgin (money in each month, money out). Any thoughts?

mp203

Rob5342 said:

It's money for old rope. I've done it loads of times and it's no more than half an hours work, so easily £300 per hour. No bank is obliged to give you an account, so I'd say choose a bank you want to stay with long term for yout main banking, and then have secondary accounts to switch for the bonuses. They'll know that some people will switch just for the bonus but I'd imagine that they are. In the minority. For me switching to a new bank is a trivial 10 minute task, but most people I know treat it as a massive change they only do very rarely

Thanks, Rob.
You said choose a bank you want to stay with long term for your main banking, but I'm happy with Virgin Money. I've been advised, in this thread, and by the MSE article, to open a second current account with my bank (Virgin) and use that for the switch. So my criteria for choosing a bank to switch to is simply which one is making a switch bonus offer, with no plans to stick with them for longer than is necessary to get the bonus. Any thoughts?

mp203

PRAISETHESUN said:

I think it's worth it. Once you understand how these offers typically work, it's fairly straightforward to comply with the terms and set yourself up for the next one. I have spare accounts in the wings ready to go each time an offer releases that I'm eligible for.

And as above, there's no need to actually switch your main bank account. Open a secondary account, set that up with a few token DDs and switch that account around instead.

Thanks.
I was about to open a second Virgin Money account, soley for the purposes of a switch; but they are asking (online form) what I'll be paying in etc; I paused it there, thinking if I say I'm not paying in anything of significance they will turn me down (they obviously know I have my primary account with them and all my income (and outgoings) go throught that account.

Middle_of_the_Road

mp203 said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

I think it's worth it. Once you understand how these offers typically work, it's fairly straightforward to comply with the terms and set yourself up for the next one. I have spare accounts in the wings ready to go each time an offer releases that I'm eligible for.

And as above, there's no need to actually switch your main bank account. Open a secondary account, set that up with a few token DDs and switch that account around instead.

Thanks.
I was about to open a second Virgin Money account, soley for the purposes of a switch; but they are asking (online form) what I'll be paying in etc; I paused it there, thinking if I say I'm not paying in anything of significance they will turn me down (they obviously know I have my primary account with them and all my income (and outgoings) go throught that account.

You're really overthinking this. Opening an additional account is a very common practice, often done to make budgeting easier. They always ask these type of questions, but whatever your answers, it won't cause them to refuse you an account.

Nasqueron

Middle_of_the_Road said:

Nasqueron said:

Brewer21 said:

I remember getting a few cases of wine from Virgin money for switching. Only got a couple of saver accounts with them ATM with pence in, still waiting for anything to come up with them as a switch bonus is, been years.

They were infrequent and now owned by Nationwide, perhaps it'll be just the latter now. 

The switch bonus they did was middle of last year, paying 10% interest on £1000 rather than a flat fee - meaning you'd get basically £120 if you stuck it out. They offered a regular saver soon after for anyone who hadn't switched out again, think it's 12% on £300 a month

10% on 250pcm
The current account offered 12% on the first £1k

Thanks, I should have looked them up in the app really, but that's what I do - £250 a month in the saver and £1000 in the account until the 12% period ends. I basically get £10.xx a month interest from the current account and interest every 3 months on the regular saver

PRAISETHESUN

mp203 said:

Zanderman said:

mp203 said:

I see there are still a few inducements to switch banks (up to £175, with a few other perks). Could you sign up for it, jump through the hoops for however long (a month or two?) then move onto the next one. Then go back to your original bank when you've used up all the offers, if you wanted to.
I wonder what the 'hourly rate' might be for the work involved.
(Provided you weren't concerned about your credit rating at the moment, for a mortgage or whatever).
Would there be any penalty/comeback for signing up only to leave asap? Or are they used to people doing this and therefore expect a percentage of those signing up to do this?

No need to ever leave your original bank. 

Just open a second current account at your original bank and switch that.

PS, yes it is worth it

Thanks, Zanderman.

I didn't know you could open a second current account, until you told me. I just started signing up for a second current account with Virgin Money but paused at the following questions;

What will I be paying in?
How much each month?
Main reason for account?
How much do intend to save each year?

I want to proceed with minimum disruption to my first and primary current account with Virgin (money in each month, money out). Any thoughts?

Just be truthful. If they decline you they decline you, but IMO it's very unlikely they will do so, especially given you're using them for your main bank account.

£0
£0
Additional account
£0

Your primary account will be completely unaffected by having and operating a second current account.