Switching Banks

Chaz46

Hello all,

I was listening, this morning, to Martin Lewis's podcast and his section about switching your bank to take advantage of a switching bonus. Feeling inspired and not wanting to switch from my existing bank (Santander) I decided to set up a new bank account with Chase, together with two direct debits, moved from Santander and then as soon as possible switch to one of what Martin calls the magnificent seven banks that are offering new customer bonuses.
My question is how soon can I switch without there being confusion around the direct debits being moved twice in quick succession? 

Thank you.

Charles

born_again

As it needs to be a active DD in most cases to switch, best to wait till it has been paid once.

SiliconChip

Not an insurance question, reported to be moved to the Banking board.

Chaz46

Thank you for that born_again

PRAISETHESUN

Once your incentive has been paid from the first bank you are free to move along to the next bank. The DDs will follow without issue.

Just make sure with Chase you open a second current account with them before you switch away. If you switch your one and only account with them they currently won't ever let you open new accounts with them again. Having at least one open at all times means you can continue to open new Chase accounts, which is a great option to have if several switch incentives all come at once!

oldladyjo

Hi all I’m with Lloyds but have just opened a basic account with Santander to get the switch money. Never tried this before  can I just switch 2 small DD’s over and leave all the rest with Lloyds. Also is it correct that I have to put £1700 in and do I have to leave it in for a certain length of time.  My pensions go into Lloyds and all my DD’s and standing orders come out of there. Any help would be very appreciated as I’m in my 70’s and just trying to make bit of extra money

danny13579

oldladyjo said:

Hi all I’m with Lloyds but have just opened a basic account with Santander to get the switch money. Never tried this before  can I just switch 2 small DD’s over and leave all the rest with Lloyds. 

No, you have to do a full switch using the Current Account Switch Service. This means everything in your Lloyds current account is moved over to your new Santander current account and your Lloyds account will be closed once the switch completes.

oldladyjo said:

Also is it correct that I have to put £1700 in and do I have to leave it in for a certain length of time.  

You need to pay in £1,500 within 60 days of requesting Santander to start your switch. It can be in bits and pieces if you want. It doesn't have to remain in the account for any particular length of time. In and out is fine.

Have you read through the Terms and Conditions, especially regarding the household direct debits?

PRAISETHESUN

oldladyjo said:

Hi all I’m with Lloyds but have just opened a basic account with Santander to get the switch money. Never tried this before  can I just switch 2 small DD’s over and leave all the rest with Lloyds. Also is it correct that I have to put £1700 in and do I have to leave it in for a certain length of time.  My pensions go into Lloyds and all my DD’s and standing orders come out of there. Any help would be very appreciated as I’m in my 70’s and just trying to make bit of extra money

You need to read the T&Cs of the offer as it is provided directly by Santander. I'm not sure where you've gotten £1700 from, so it makes we wonder if you fully understand what is required of the incentive offer.

When it comes to CASS switches, your Lloyds account will move to Santander. Payments into your Lloyds account will be forwarded onto your Santander account. Your existing standings orders and direct debits will be automatically moved and set up with Santander. In theory it should be seamless and you shouldn't encounter any issues.

If you're happy with Lloyds though, why move? It's a bit more effort but you're better off opening a second Lloyds current account (their Classic account is fee free and won't require an extra hard credit check) manually moving the 2x DDs you want to switch to that account and then switching only that new account to Santander.