Any serial switchers?

REDDOG · 24 August 2022 at 10:48PM

Im interested to know if any of you switch your accounts just for the purpose of the switch incentive? Ive no intention of staying with that bank, just using a sacrificial account to keep it moving. I know ill eventually run out of options but between my and the wife ive made us about £1300 with the new Santander £175 offer.
What kind of totals are other people getting?

Daliah · 24 August 2022 at 11:14PM

REDDOG said:

Im interested to know if any of you switch your accounts just for the purpose of the switch incentive? Ive no intention of staying with that bank, just using a sacrificial account to keep it moving. I know ill eventually run out of options but between my and the wife ive made us about £1300 with the new Santander £175 offer.
What kind of totals are other people getting?

How did you make about £1,300 with the new Santander £175 offer which has only just been announced this week?

WillPS · 24 August 2022 at 11:17PM

Yep. Co-op Bank, Yorkshire Bank, First Direct, Triodos, Ulster Bank all switched in to with no intention other than taking the bonus and moving on. HSBC, Barclays, Nationwide (x3 bonuses) and TSB I kept while there was a reason to do so before eventually designating them as donor accounts as account benefits were eroded.

Lloyds (x2) and RBS were both opened for switching bonuses but have perks that continue to justify them being used.

Halifax (x3, hopefully will be eligible again next time around too), Santander and Natwest were all accounts I had open already before taking bonuses.

I can't be bothered to add it all up but I suspect I've had somewhere around £3000 worth of switching bonuses now.

There are probably some who have made 5 figures now. The original Yorkshire Bank offer didn't forbid you from switching multiple times and getting a payment each time, ISTR there was a user on here who did that 10 times or something daft. There was also a rinseable Santander offer which I missed out on a few years back.

grumiofoundation · 24 August 2022 at 11:21PM

Daliah said:

REDDOG said:

Im interested to know if any of you switch your accounts just for the purpose of the switch incentive? Ive no intention of staying with that bank, just using a sacrificial account to keep it moving. I know ill eventually run out of options but between my and the wife ive made us about £1300 with the new Santander £175 offer.
What kind of totals are other people getting?

How did you make about £1,300 with the new Santander £175 offer which has only just been announced this week?

Guess maybe means £1,300 in total including the new Santander offer

REDDOG · 24 August 2022 at 11:26PM

grumiofoundation said:

Daliah said:

REDDOG said:

Im interested to know if any of you switch your accounts just for the purpose of the switch incentive? Ive no intention of staying with that bank, just using a sacrificial account to keep it moving. I know ill eventually run out of options but between my and the wife ive made us about £1300 with the new Santander £175 offer.
What kind of totals are other people getting?

How did you make about £1,300 with the new Santander £175 offer which has only just been announced this week?

Guess maybe means £1,300 in total including the new Santander offer

Yeah typo. Total of 1300 via around 4 other offers Inc the new 175 offer.

REDDOG · 24 August 2022 at 11:30PM

I've tried getting my work colleagues and friends to do it but they all say it's too complicated a process. Just a bit of common sense for free money, what can go wrong 🤔

Daliah · 24 August 2022 at 11:42PM

REDDOG said:

grumiofoundation said:

Daliah said:

REDDOG said:

Im interested to know if any of you switch your accounts just for the purpose of the switch incentive? Ive no intention of staying with that bank, just using a sacrificial account to keep it moving. I know ill eventually run out of options but between my and the wife ive made us about £1300 with the new Santander £175 offer.
What kind of totals are other people getting?

How did you make about £1,300 with the new Santander £175 offer which has only just been announced this week?

Guess maybe means £1,300 in total including the new Santander offer

Yeah typo. Total of 1300 via around 4 other offers Inc the new 175 offer.

That'd still be counting chicken that haven't hatched.

PriesstesHN · 25 August 2022 at 12:23AM

Do you find it affects your credit scores having several accounts open and jumping around?

REDDOG · 25 August 2022 at 8:47AM

PriesstesHN said:

Do you find it affects your credit scores having several accounts open and jumping around?

No, have checked my credit score and it's just shy of the top mark

I don't leave the accounts open anyway. Using the switch scheme closes the old one and then they drop off your history within a year Ive heard.

orcocan · 25 August 2022 at 9:11AM

definitely find a new account to switch to once a year or so to get some free cash. I have multiple accounts so i don't have to close my long standing accts. Also gives you the opportunity to compare different products and i've ended up keeping some of the accounts i thought i might switch out of

just switched to first direct for the first time and i really dont understand why they have all these positive reviews around, im really not impressed so far

Daliah · 25 August 2022 at 9:18AM

PriesstesHN said:

Do you find it affects your credit scores having several accounts open and jumping around?

The CRA credit scores - different from CRA to CRA - are largely meaningless numbers which no lender uses in their decision making. These numbers do go down if you make lots of applications in a short period of time but they remain largely meaningless. At best, they are just an indicator for yourself that something has changed on your credit file.

If you do not plan to apply for large credit (mortgage etc) within the next 6 - 12 months, you don’t have to have any concerns at all.

If you do intend to apply for large credit, you should keep your current account (and other credit account) applications to an absolute minimum, as most of them involve a hard search which will remain on your credit files for one year.

There are ways to limit the number of searches. Starling and Monzo don’t carry out hard searches, and neither does Halifax if you apply for an additional current account. Chase doesn’t do hard searches either but they are not participating in CASS so no use for switching.

The other way of miimising searches, over time, is to have one or two donor accounts in reserve at all times.

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