I’ve been with my current bank for 29 years, mainly through inertia.
I switch my utilities and insurance providers all the time but have never really looked into personal banking thinking they are all much of a muchness.
However, my branch which is in the North West (shows how long I’ve had the account) is closing and it has prompted a bit of a think.
I see HSBC are offering £200 to switch and the savings account associated with the current account offers 5% gross. The other bits and pieces look decent too.
How much pain is involved in switching accounts? Are Direct Debits and Standing Orders taken care of automatically? Any other considerations?
It was a no fuss switch from Lloyds to Halifax 3 or 4 years ago for us.
they did all the work - DD’s and SO’s all worked except one which they then fixed without fuss
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Very little hassle. No worse than gas, leccy etc.
Coutts make things simple.
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Behind the scenes it’s just the same old RBS group.
I used to sit next to their telephone support crew. It was quite funny hear them taking someone through the security questions, and then say “Thank you, your Excellency” (or Highness, Majesty etc.)
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I switched to Metro Bank about a year ago.
The switching process was dead easy - everything just moved across, and for some years afterwards any money paid into the old account just automatically goes into the new one.
The service is much better. They have a branch locally, and it’s a pleasure to visit. And the kids get fucking millions of free pencils. They’re even open late and weekends, so I can talk to them really easily.
Fuck all interest, but the amount of spare cash I have means there would never be much of that anyway. I’d rather pay off the mortgage.
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First Direct, switched to them recently and have found the service to be really good and no hiccups at all. Only downside is they will close your old account at the end of the switch so make sure there are no scheduled debit card payments setup as these don’t get switched over.
+1 for First Direct, proper 21c security
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For gods sake don’t go anywhere near Natwest or Cooperative = RUBBISH.
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I went from Coop to Natwest last year and the switch was really, really straight forward. Had I not intervened with the direct debit for my car insurance (I cancelled it thinking it’d already gone out of the old account when it hadn’t), we didn’t have to take any action other than the initial signing of paperwork to give permission.
I and my parents received £150 each as they had switched already and recommended us. No issues so far. I didn’t have any issues with Coop perse, but not having a local branch was a nightmare. I went with them in preparation for possible bankruptcy when I was made redundant a few years ago, it did us a turn.
We switched from Natwest to Co-op, they made a total bollocks of it, ending doing the donkey work myself…
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