Current Accounts
- Thread starter ZeroG
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Oct 2005
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- 8,706
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- Nottingham
I've had ~£5 from Natwest rewards .. in total but that's because I don't tend to shop at the places they are operating with.
I wouldn't switch to Santander personally ... know several people who have had all sorts of issues with them with fraudulent activities on their accounts being poorly handled whereas when my debit card was cloned I could barely fault Natwests handling of it.
I wouldn't switch to Santander personally ... know several people who have had all sorts of issues with them with fraudulent activities on their accounts being poorly handled whereas when my debit card was cloned I could barely fault Natwests handling of it.
Funny you should say that, i've still got a Santander CC and noticed a dodgy Chinese fraudster had put a charge on my account. Rang them up and the advisor I spoke to couldn't have been any more of a ****.
The whole experience has made me cancel that card, and just use another for monthly expenses.
I've been with them for a fair few years now, If I get a problem with them, I write a snotty letter to their customer service office threatening to go elsewhere & that's what gets the old alarm bells ringing over there. They almost fall over themselves to apologise.
I cancelled my CC with them last month, I wasn't prepared to pay for the increase in the annual fee as the increase negated the benefits I was getting. I ended up taking out a JL partnership card as I do a bit of Shopping in JL/Waitrose anyway.
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The thing I do Mrk is use old dormant second accounts (open one if you don't have any!) then just use the switch service for the £100+ incentive, you don't actually have to use the new account
When I cba to get around to it I'm going to do the same with 1st Direct, and then leave after a few months just to get both amounts
Doesn't this mess with your credit rating? Does opening new accounts go on your credit rating even if you don't use them?
I was looking through the list on MSE and First Direct did stand out along with Halifax, but to get their £5/month I would need a 2nd DD, atm I just have a DD for my mobile.
Is there such a thing as switching too much? can a bank black list you?
Actually, that depends.
Halifax charge an astronomical daily fee for being overdrawn.
Clydesdale charge a £6 a month fee plus a traditional rate of interest.
If you are overdrawn for lets say half the month, then you could end up paying about three times more with Halifax than Clydesdale.
If you are only overdrawn a few days then Halifax would be cheaper.
It depends what you need and want from a bank, there is no one answer fits all in my experience. For me it isn't about joining bonuses, interest on current accounts, overdraft limits, free insurances or the fact I get some nice people in a call centre and a once a year 'free' banking review with a 25 year old.
What is important to you, surely it's more than a £125 'windfall'?
What is important to you, surely it's more than a £125 'windfall'?
Worth considering what perks there are based on the services you have with them too in regards to overdrafts. With Barclays I have the phone and gadget insurance for £7.50 a month, which automatically enables the first £200 of my overdraft facility to be fee free.
The main things would be decent support if it's ever needed and a decent online system as I tend to do things pretty much online. I currently have a Mastercard Debit card which is very useful. So either Mastercard of perhaps Visa equivalennt would be nice.
when you do the move does it close your old current account.
I want to do this for the cash but i need to keep my HSBC, current account as its a acquirement of thier investment account.
or can i switch and then just leave my old account empty
I want to do this for the cash but i need to keep my HSBC, current account as its a acquirement of thier investment account.
or can i switch and then just leave my old account empty
I like the sound of this easy money, but will switching to a new account affect my credit rating?
My credit is bad, but it is slowly getting better. I'm pretty sure Experian marked me down because one of my accounts was less than 24 months old.
The last thing I want to do is make it go down hill again
My credit is bad, but it is slowly getting better. I'm pretty sure Experian marked me down because one of my accounts was less than 24 months old.
The last thing I want to do is make it go down hill again
Can get all that plus breakdown cover and 3% interest on £2.5k for £10pm with Nationwide Flexplus.
When I cba to get around to it I'm going to do the same with 1st Direct, and then leave after a few months just to get both amounts
Why? The 6% regular saver they offer is worth more. Besides which you need a genuine reason to leave.
There's no such thing as a credit rating each institution/lender assesses your credit worthiness using their own standards.
The issue with many of the big banks is they remove much of the decisioning from the branch and put their faith into 'models' and that makes the support bit you reference very hit and miss, certainly in my experience. I am about to move to Handelsbanken as I like their approach and their perspective on risk as well as their focus on local 'church spire' coverage and there is a branch 15 minutes from me. I am tired of sitting down with branch managers who in reality have little ability to influence things, even when you used to be in the same class at school and have known them since you were 10!!
The challenger banks are going to shake things up, I spend most of my life inside the big banks and I know well how they are running to make sure they don't get their lunches eaten by the new upstarts. Some really interesting stuff going on in personal banking, which will make it better for us all in the long run I think. The challenge the big banks have is moving quickly because of their decades of investment in stuff that makes an overnight change hard. The new banks are starting with a clean sheet of paper, no legacy and lots of new ideas.