changing your bank

[Yellow Fang]

How easy is it to change your bank? I've been contemplating doing it for ages, but changing all my direct debits, standing orders, and telling everyone who needs to know my new bank details seems like a massive pain in the arse. Has anyone done it? Did you regret it?

 

[peteoc]

most banks now a days offer a service to move all your direct debits, standing orders to your new account. they tend to give you a bigger overdraft for the first couple of months incase the new direct debits come out before your salary go in etc.

 

[summerdays]

Done it (well the other half did it), and it wasn't too bad .. but you do need to check up on them as we discovered that not all direct debits had been transferred. A couple of the yearly ones took quite some time to surface.

 

[BrumJim]

Yes, did it. No regrets.
The trickiest part is not the direct debits, but those organisations that credit money directly into your account, e.g. share dividends.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Cheers for the replies.

 

[Beardie]

I managed it, despite a cock-up from my old bank, who transferred my balance to the wrong bank entirely, and the amazing amount of time the new bank took to issue an account number so I could use their services at all.

 

[biggs682]

always used natwest since i left school and never had a reason to change , but can imagine all those standing orders being fun

 

[Spinney]

Did it, not much hassle.
As someone above said, keep the old one open for a while to catch any companies you forgot to tell (or who lost the message when you did tell them!).

I moved to the Co-op because of their ethical banking policies. No probs with them so far.

 

[2Loose]

I did it.
Ask your current bank for a list of all DD's, not just active ones, on your account, then phone those companies with your new bank details.

Took me about 2 hours to shift the DD's over to the new account once I had the list.

 

[Over The Hill]

Point on the subject - where from and where to?

I left Lloyds in a huff 20 years ago and went to Midland. Left them about a year ago as they are annoying.
NatWest seem OK on current account but useless for business banking. Business with Santander who offer a free business account (ongoing not just an opening offer).
Tried Coop for business account but they said they were not taking new accounts on!

 

[Yellow Fang]

Did it, not much hassle.
As someone above said, keep the old one open for a while to catch any companies you forgot to tell (or who lost the message when you did tell them!).

I moved to the Co-op because of their ethical banking policies. No probs with them so far.

I am thinking of moving to the co-op for the same reason. I was with the Abbey National since I was six years old, but now it's Santander, I don't feel the same loyalty. I'm not sure how Santander's coping with economic conditions at the moment, it being Spanish.

 

[slowmotion]

I moved from Barclays to First Direct in 1990, and I really rate them. I just gradually left less money in the Barclays account in order to cope with unexpected hits and then closed it.

My wife was driving to Cornwall a year later for a holiday, and phoned me from a service station on the M5 to say that she had left her wallet behind and could only put £10 of fuel in the motor. After that she would be totally and utterly skint, and without any cards or cash at all.

I phoned First Direct and explained the problem. They came up with a password solution so that she could visit her bank (nothing to do with the First Direct/HSBC group) and transfer money for her to withdraw from my account, over the counter, to a bank in Taunton half an hour later. I asked what the charges might be for arranging that. Nothing at all. That bought my loyalty, and I'm still happy with their service.

 

[longers]

I'd recommend the Co-op or Smile to be precise as being easy to move to and use.

We originally swapped to Zurich but they stopped their banking operations not long after and we got £100 for each of the four accounts we had with them when we had to move again. Money for nothing!

 

[Black Sheep]

I did it because the bank were charging me interest on my interest free overdraft.

the only problem I had was that O2, despite being told to change the direct debit tried to take it from the canceled one and cut me off.

a phone call and next day was sorted.