Does anyone keep switching banks for the bonus?

Soldato
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It is easy to do if you're doing it by the book and just switching your main account.

However to make it really worthwhile, earning £500+ from it, needs a bit more organisation and monitoring.

Most profitable way is to switch burner accounts all at once so you get all 5 bonuses quickly. It's harder to find enough DDs to spread out across your accounts to do this though.
 
Soldato
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If you have just switched in to Nationwide to get the money, how quickly can you switch back out to take advantage of Lloyds or another deal? Can you literally do it as soon as the Nationwide switching reward payment arrives in your account or are there any restrictions?

Just check the T&Cs, I dont think theres anything specified for length of time, they are just relying on people legitimately swapping their main account and then not bothering to do it again.

I'm switching from a BoS account that I use for the interest on 5k. I've already opened a new BoS in preparation that as soon as I get the switching bonus from NW I'm moving the 5k and both D/Ds back to BoS.

The current Lloyd's offer doesn't even require any D/Ds for the switch, so I'm opening a new club Lloyd's a/c (I've got one anyway) and switch another a/c into it that I dont use anyway. Then I'll probably close the extra Lloyd's a/c when I've got the switching reward.
 
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Soldato
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I know a normal requirement is the movement of salary and 2 direct debits . Can you get round the salary transfer by just sending the money in yourself and moving it out ? Don’t want to move my main account but can see the benefit of doing a secondary account
Yes

It's not half hours work though. If it's your main account your swapping, you'd have to monitor it closely for some time to make sure all the SO, DD and salary was right. If it's a burner account, you have to manage the monthly pay in requirement and move some DDs to it.
It still isn't complicated for the reward available.

So all DDs and standing orders move automatically? You just apply for a new acc, get approved, and they all pop in?

Sounds like its come a long way from how it used to be
Yes, Switch Guarantee

It is easy to do if you're doing it by the book and just switching your main account.

However to make it really worthwhile, earning £500+ from it, needs a bit more organisation and monitoring.

Most profitable way is to switch burner accounts all at once so you get all 5 bonuses quickly. It's harder to find enough DDs to spread out across your accounts to do this though.
£500 now or £500 over the course of 8 months, it doesn't really matter? It is still £500. Not sure what your hourly wage is but clearly a top revenue earner to snub your nose at £120+ quid.
 
Soldato
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I know a normal requirement is the movement of salary and 2 direct debits . Can you get round the salary transfer by just sending the money in yourself and moving it out ? Don’t want to move my main account but can see the benefit of doing a secondary account

Yes, as long as the money has come from a different bank, it doesn't matter it's from you. I bounce my wages through about 7 a/cs each month to trigger the rewards.
 
Caporegime
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Every now and then I switch current accounts to a new bank for the new customer bonus.

Over the last few months several banks have £100-125 switch offers.

I used to dabble with matched betting, with the view that poor bookies don't exist. The same can be said for banks :).

It's easy money (obviously there are terms and conditions) and I'm not worried about any minor credit score impacts.

I wondered if anyone else switches current accounts like I do for the £?

Yep just done the Lloyds one, All you need to do is pay in £1500 to get your dosh. Once you have your money you can close the account.
 
Soldato
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£500 now or £500 over the course of 8 months, it doesn't really matter? It is still £500. Not sure what your hourly wage is but clearly a top revenue earner to snub your nose at £120+ quid.

It is a hassle though. I don't want to switch my main account so for me it has to be burner accounts, which means transferring money around each month and setting up new direct debits on each account.

So its worth doing for sure, but still a hassle. Got to be in the mood to faff about with it.
 
Associate
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Why does it negatively affect your credit rating? I was thinking of doing this but may potentially be buying a house in the next year or two so don't want to cause any unnecessary issues.

Switching a single account once and applying for a mortgage 6+ months down the line won't make any difference. When i had my mortgage offer, it was literally about to expire (covid delays for purchase), i asked about reapplying and if credit rating would come into it and the bank said it would be perfectly fine as it was a 6 month gap. If you applied for credit for a car, phone, tv, sofa, etc all in one before applying for a mortgage then yeah i'd be concerned, as i would be with using multiple dummy accounts to get the bank switching incentives. Best thing you can do is monitor each switch on a credit rating site early on, and not push it too hard.
 
Soldato
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Why does it negatively affect your credit rating? I was thinking of doing this but may potentially be buying a house in the next year or two so don't want to cause any unnecessary issues.
Any hard search 'impacts' your credit score for all of about 3 minutes (6 months). If you've no other anomolies it's absolutely nothing to worry about.
 
Soldato
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Why does it negatively affect your credit rating? I was thinking of doing this but may potentially be buying a house in the next year or two so don't want to cause any unnecessary issues.

It made no difference to mine. I was also doing matched betting at the time and they weren't bothered in the slightest.
 
Soldato
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Why does it negatively affect your credit rating? I was thinking of doing this but may potentially be buying a house in the next year or two so don't want to cause any unnecessary issues.

I think because they all came with overdrafts. So it looked liked I'd opened 5-6 new credit accounts in a short space of time. Not that it made a difference to anything. It went back to max after a few months of no activity.
 
Soldato
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Never for banks. Usually do this for car insurance. Though take account of the bonuses on top of the premium. No point in changing for £70 of bonuses when it costs £100 more

About 15 years ago, I had my renewal quote from Axa. Went online and the quote was £54 cheaper than quote and new customers got a Karscher pressure washer. Cancelled DD and two days later I rang Axa and said I’m a new customer. They did give me the insurance for the quote online and the Karscher. Which I sold to my ex FIL with a little discount.
 
Soldato
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21,947
Never for banks. Usually do this for car insurance. Though take account of the bonuses on top of the premium. No point in changing for £70 of bonuses when it costs £100 more

About 15 years ago, I had my renewal quote from Axa. Went online and the quote was £54 cheaper than quote and new customers got a Karscher pressure washer. Cancelled DD and two days later I rang Axa and said I’m a new customer. They did give me the insurance for the quote online and the Karscher. Which I sold to my ex FIL with a little discount.
:confused::confused:

What are you talking about? You cancelled your car insurance by cancelling the direct debit??
 
Soldato
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Has anyone done the HSBC switch yet?

Im just applying but using a burner account so don't want my salary to be affected. Their wording suggests they will tell my employer to change my account, and there seems to be no option to disable this. My salary however does not go into the account Im switching from (the burner account).

Has anyone else encountered this?
 
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