Too soon?

sgthammer

Are there any pitfalls to switching accounts too frequently?

I swapped my old Nationwide account to First Direct back in February and pocketed £175. I then swapped the FD account to Barclays a few weeks ago and got another £175 from them (less £5 monthly fee for Rewards which I've since cancelled). Kaching!

But I've now seen the Co-Op's new switching offer and I'm thinking about jumping again. I don't see anything in the T&Cs that says "you must have held the account you're switching from for at least X months", but it feels cheeky and I'm wondering if there's any possible downside to too many moves in a short period.

Isthisforreal99

Too many hard credit searches can be bad if you are looking for other credit or you were applying for a mortgage.

But plenty do it in a regular basis but some don't switch their 'regular' current account but set up a new separate account purely for the purposes of recycling through all the various switch offers. You would need some direct debits attached ti the newly set up account though to meet the switching conditions.

ButterCheese

Downside is it's a PITA unless you dedicate some time to it, i.e. changing all of your DD etc as said above, you often need a minimum number of DDs to qualify.  Potentially means informing your employer each time that they need to alter the account they pay your wages into.  Same goes for any other payments you receive such as benefits etc.  For me it would be a nightmare, hence I've had the same current account for 25 years

Isthisforreal99

ButterCheese said:

Downside is it's a PITA unless you dedicate some time to it, i.e. changing all of your DD etc as said above, you often need a minimum number of DDs to qualify.  Potentially means informing your employer each time that they need to alter the account they pay your wages into.  Same goes for any other payments you receive such as benefits etc.  For me it would be a nightmare, hence I've had the same current account for 25 years

That's why I suggested the creation of a new account. Think I've exhausted every available switch offer for now. Was it a PITA? Absolutely not and over £1000 tax free received from various banks.

clairec666

One downside is that you won't be eligible for switching bonuses from the same banks again, for at least a few years. So you could make £1000+ this year, but might not have many opportunities for bonuses next year. Up to you whether you want the money now or to spread it over a few years.

PRAISETHESUN

clairec666 said:

One downside is that you won't be eligible for switching bonuses from the same banks again, for at least a few years. So you could make £1000+ this year, but might not have many opportunities for bonuses next year. Up to you whether you want the money now or to spread it over a few years.

By that logic, you're better off doing all the switches now so you can potentially re-qualify for future offers sooner.

I also recommend switching a secondary account, not your main account. Very quick and easy to move around a few DDs and then switch that one instead, leaving your main account unaffected.

money4sb

I did about 10 switches a couple of years ago all within about 4 months.  Started with a 'burner' account and basically hopped from one to the other after collecting each bonus.   I just have 2DDs with Plum and Moneybox.  It was just like shelling peas.  I don't care about any credit rating since I have no need to borrow money. However, my rating has now gone back to what it was before I did the first switch.    My advice is to do every switch that you can.   It's Free money.

sgthammer

What I'm hearing is "Fill your boots, sarge".

Thanks all.

lr1277

You could keep a note of when you switched to each bank. This is because some offers have become date dependent like saying you can't switch to us if you have had a switch to us since dd/mm/yyyy.

But a few people have found they can switch anyway despite a date restriction, admittedly with only a few banks. Depends on how lucky you are feeling.

Eco_Miser

lr1277 said:

You could keep a note of when you switched to each bank. This is because some offers have become date dependent like saying you can't switch to us if you have had a switch to us since dd/mm/yyyy.

But a few people have found they can switch anyway despite a date restriction, admittedly with only a few banks. Depends on how lucky you are feeling.

You can switch banks as often as you like (unless you have actually been banned), but you won't get any switching bonuses if you have already had one since a specified date.

drphila

Serial switching may get you de-banked