Switching bank accounts- cash incentives

[Thismummyrunstheshow]

On my credit report, I noticed an offer for a Santander Everyday Account switch offer that was £185. I've never paid attention before but this caught my eye.

I've been with HSBC since I was old enough to have an account so at least 25 years and this made me wonder- do people switch current accounts for deals like this often?
What are the pros and cons as clearly I'm behind on the times!

I do this frequently. I think over about 3 years I’ve made approximately £1k by using switch offers. The current account switch guarantee means there is 0 hassle- they move my payees, direct debits, my wage payment, everything. The card arrives, set up the app, away we go. Now my iphone remembers all my details, once I’ve set that up, I don’t even have to re-input the numbers.

I've just switched HSBC to NatWest (also had my hsbc account for 20 years )

The easiest thing ever and £200 was in my account within 2 days once all criteria met

Do it!

Yes many people do it. It isn't much of a hassle, if any. If I remember correctly, you might need to do any Standing Orders yourself (Not DD's), manually, and notify your work for your wages to be paid in ( although they will still forward incoming payments from any source for up to 12 months, I think,) but they transfer everything else, issue you with new cards etc. It's a few years since I did it the last time, so my memory is a bit hazy on exactly what I had to do and what they did for me - but I don't remember it being at all difficult

I happen to really like who I am with now, so currently staying put. Each Bank does have different ways of how things appear on their website etc - but that's just window dressing IMO. That's for the Current Account

Savings accounts, of course, I change frequently depending where the best rates are. You don't have to have a savings account with the bank you have your current account with ( I presume you know this, but just in case, someone reading this doesn't know that)

ive done it twice and it was easy money.
Need to notify any company you have a recurring debit card payment with (they usually send an email saying tried to take payment and failed).
You should download statements from your old account online first, as they always close the old account as part of the changeover. Top tip open a savings account with old bank and then you can usually still access all statements for all accounts online / on app as long as you still have one account with the bank.

Any payments into your old closed account get automatically transferred to your new account.

Yes I’m also behind the times and haven’t done any switching to date!

worth noting that Santander have a super attractive saver account offer for customers only.

I’ve done this lots of times. I have an account set up specifically for moving around. My main account is with First Direct and I want to stay with them. Just moved my Barclays account to Santander during the week while sitting in the car waiting for my son to finish an activity. Easiest money you’ll ever make.
Set up an account which doesn’t offer any financial reward for opening eg starling or monzo and move two of your direct debits to it.

In the last couple of years I’ve moved to Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays and now Santander

I've earned over £1000 doing it over about 18 months, my credit rating has taken a small dip this month for the first time as I think I've done too many in too short a time lol, but not getting any credit this year so not too worried. I don't touch my main account, I created an additional account to move around. I've nearly exhausted them all now so will stop, close and get my credit rating healthy again! Good way of testing which bank app I like best!

I do it this way. My "main" account is with Nationwide, but I have a TSB account with two small DDs going out each month and I will use that as the "switch" account if I see a good offer for a bank I've not used before (I've pretty much run out now though).

Sometimes they have other conditions like "must pay in £xxx per month" and I just transfer from my main account on pay day and then back again.
Sometimes that condition is "must pay in wages" which I'm less likely to do as I'm not keen on the hassle of that (though as well as being employed I do have my own business so I could fact do something from that bank account).

Keep that account until the next "switch" and check the terms of the new account before you switch and make sure it's got the right set up before switching.

I've made a good few k over the years doing this.

It's actually sometimes handy to have a "spare" account (though I do currently have about six, I must tidy that up).

Yes, I do this and have made over £1K in the past 18 months. I use a dummy account and dummy direct debits, as I don't want to switch my main account or disrupt my regular direct debits.
I invest all the switch bonuses, and its growing into quite a tidy sum.

@SnoozySuzie what's a dummy account and dds?

I had a look at the Santander one earlier and thought 'blast' as you need to put in £1500 initially. I keep £1k balance in my current so would need to transfer over from savings. Suppose I could transfer it back afterwards.

I always thought you had to do it with your wages! I’m going to have to try this now I know 😁

How often do you switch then? I’m guessing every 3-4 months, if you’ve made £1k in 18 months

Dummy account is one set up purely for taking advantage of switching offers, and it's separate from my main current account. As one old account is closed the new account becomes the dummy account ready for the next switch.

RE: Santander switch - Pay into the account at least £1,500 in the first 60 days. It can be in multiple deposits and the money doesn’t have to stay in the account. You can spend it or transfer it out to a different account.

https://becleverwithyourcash.com/santanders-bank-switch-offer-get-130/

Applying through cashback websites Topcashback or Quidco could bag you another £20-25 on top of the bank bonus.

No set time frame - I switch whenever a new offer comes along that I'm eligible for, and as soon as I have fulfilled the T&C's of the previous switch and received the bonus. With the last switch I received the bonus just 4 days after the switch completed, and initiated the next switch three days later.

I'm just thinking about the Santander one - the criteria is £1500 and 2 direct debits. I don't have any DD set up.

I guess I could set up my phone bill and monthly storage container bill to DD. And take money out of savings temporarily.

Oops I'm being dense I have PayPal and ebay dd

And credit card dd. Plenty!!!

But why do Santander take 60 days to set this up? Seems like a long time

Some you do, some you don't. You need to read the conditions.

As soon as one is done, look for a new deal you've not used before. You can do more than one at a time but you'd need more spare accounts.

I have two charity payments, £2 each. That way they don't matter too much if they get buggered up. And I get tax relief on charity payments.

They don't. Why do you think they do?

Because they stated that when you click on the offer T&C

They check eligibility for the bonus sixty days after you've set it up, then pay you the £185 thirty days later.
Setting up the actual account doesn't take sixty days. They give you sixty days to pay in the £1,500, so do that near the end of the sixty days.

Doesn't seem unreasonable. You only have to do about three things and then wait ninety days. £185 for about twenty minutes work.