Latest / A Little Bit Richer / The Perks of Switching Bank Accounts
Transcript
- 0:01Kia Commodore: Hey, this is Kia, and today I'm asking, are all
- 0:04Kia Commodore: bank accounts equal? What benefits and features can you get?
- 0:08Kia Commodore: A lot of us sign up with a bank and stick with
- 0:09Kia Commodore: them for life, but what's the cost of loyalty, and
- 0:12Kia Commodore: more importantly, can we get a little bit richer by
- 0:15Kia Commodore: switching allegiance? Welcome to another episode of A Little Bit
- 0:18Kia Commodore: Richer, brought to you by my friends at Legal & General.
- 0:21Kia Commodore: To help us figure all this out is a friend
- 0:23Kia Commodore: of the show, Andy Webb, host of the Cash Chats
- 0:25Kia Commodore: podcast and the man behind the award- winning Be Clever
- 0:29Kia Commodore: With Your Cash blog. Welcome back, Andy.
- 0:32Andy Webb: Hey, Kia.
- 0:32Kia Commodore: A lot of people open a bank account and stay
- 0:34Kia Commodore: with the company forever after, but they may be missing
- 0:38Kia Commodore: out. Some banks offer a cash bonus to switch, and
- 0:41Kia Commodore: a new account could offer extra features, a free overdraft
- 0:43Kia Commodore: facility, and other rewards. When is it time to switch
- 0:47Kia Commodore: bank accounts, and how easy is this process?
- 0:49Andy Webb: I'd say now. Now's the time to switch. If you've
- 0:51Andy Webb: got a current account and it doesn't do anything for you, there's no perks,
- 0:55Andy Webb: there's no features, it's a frustrating online banking experience, there's
- 0:59Andy Webb: no reason why you should stick with them. We'll talk
- 1:02Andy Webb: about switching properly in a second, but I do want
- 1:04Andy Webb: to say first of all is you don't have to
- 1:05Andy Webb: switch to change bank. There's no limit to how many
- 1:08Andy Webb: current accounts you can have. I've lost count. It's my
- 1:12Andy Webb: job, right? So obviously I have to kind of look at different
- 1:15Andy Webb: account stuff. I've got like 14, 15 current accounts, and
- 1:18Andy Webb: that's fine. It's not a problem. So you can open
- 1:21Andy Webb: up extra accounts for some of these features, but there
- 1:23Andy Webb: are reasons to switch and if you do want to
- 1:25Andy Webb: switch, it is really, really, really simple. So effectively, you
- 1:28Andy Webb: open up that new current account that you want to
- 1:30Andy Webb: go to, and then during the application process, near the
- 1:33Andy Webb: end it says " Do you want to switch your bank?"
- 1:35Andy Webb: And if you do, it will... Basically this thing called the current account switch
- 1:39Andy Webb: in service, and this has a guarantee. So within seven
- 1:41Andy Webb: working days they will move all the money that's in
- 1:44Andy Webb: your existing current account over to the new account. They
- 1:47Andy Webb: will transfer the standing orders, the direct debits. They're going
- 1:50Andy Webb: to come out. You don't have to go to your
- 1:52Andy Webb: gas company or whoever it is and get them to change it. It's
- 1:54Andy Webb: all done for you, really nice and simple, and so it's
- 1:56Andy Webb: all done within seven working days. And if something goes
- 1:59Andy Webb: wrong, and I've done this so many times, nothing's ever
- 2:01Andy Webb: gone wrong, but sometimes it could go wrong. If it
- 2:03Andy Webb: does go wrong, then you would get compensation. It's important
- 2:06Andy Webb: to say, when you do this, this is known as
- 2:07Andy Webb: a full switch, that the old current account is closed
- 2:10Andy Webb: down. So that doesn't mean you have your new account
- 2:13Andy Webb: details, new sort code, new debit card. The only thing
- 2:16Andy Webb: that doesn't get transferred across basically is anything you've made
- 2:19Andy Webb: a payment with with that long card number on that
- 2:22Andy Webb: debit card. Those things you're going to have to go
- 2:23Andy Webb: into again and put new card details in. Everything else,
- 2:26Andy Webb: moved over in seven working days. And also, it doesn't
- 2:29Andy Webb: stop there, because the old bank will forward on any
- 2:32Andy Webb: extra payments effectively, forever. Let's say, in a year's time,
- 2:36Andy Webb: you've gone out for dinner with a mate, you've split
- 2:38Andy Webb: the bill, but they haven't got the cash, they need
- 2:39Andy Webb: to transfer it to you. They've got your old account
- 2:41Andy Webb: details, it's fine. That will just almost straight away appear
- 2:45Andy Webb: in your new account, so you don't have to worry
- 2:46Andy Webb: really about anything at all. That's a full switch. There
- 2:50Andy Webb: is something called a partial switch which doesn't have that
- 2:52Andy Webb: guarantee, but if you did want to keep the old
- 2:54Andy Webb: account open, but you wanted to move the direct debits
- 2:56Andy Webb: over or whatever it might be, you can do a
- 2:58Andy Webb: partial switch. Not all banks will let you do that,
- 3:01Andy Webb: but it's just worth knowing it does exist as well.
- 3:03Kia Commodore: I'm glad you mentioned how easy it is to switch, because sometimes it
- 3:07Kia Commodore: can feel overwhelming. You're like, " Okay, I need to move
- 3:09Kia Commodore: things over and I've got to manually do this, that, and
- 3:11Kia Commodore: a third." But there is, like I said, the current account
- 3:13Kia Commodore: switch service, or CAS, that is there to do it,
- 3:16Kia Commodore: and that guarantee gives you peace of mind to know
- 3:19Kia Commodore: that if anything goes wrong, you're completely covered. And a
- 3:21Kia Commodore: lot of people are under this idea that you can't
- 3:24Kia Commodore: have more than one or two, because maybe it's part
- 3:27Kia Commodore: of your credit score or... It doesn't really have an effect,
- 3:29Kia Commodore: does it?
- 3:30Andy Webb: I think we're talking in a moment about there is a
- 3:31Andy Webb: kind of an element you to be aware of your
- 3:33Andy Webb: credit score when you do this, but ultimately, if you
- 3:35Andy Webb: do it sensibly, I think there are advantages. And also
- 3:39Andy Webb: sometimes banks have problems with the apps, and they go down for a day.
- 3:43Andy Webb: We don't like it, but sometimes it happens. If you've
- 3:45Andy Webb: got more than one current account and you've got some
- 3:46Andy Webb: money in those other current accounts, at least you can kind of
- 3:49Andy Webb: get by, and you could still do stuff. So there
- 3:51Andy Webb: there's lots of really good reasons to have more than one.
- 3:54Kia Commodore: Exactly. I agree with you. So we won't get too specific because
- 3:57Kia Commodore: things can change very quickly, but there are some great
- 4:00Kia Commodore: rewards that you can get from switching, so let's go
- 4:02Kia Commodore: through a few of them together.
- 4:04Andy Webb: Yeah. The big one where you absolutely have to switch
- 4:07Andy Webb: and do a full switch to get it is the
- 4:08Andy Webb: cash bonus. I made thousands of pounds doing this, and
- 4:11Andy Webb: this is when the switching offers were around like a
- 4:13Andy Webb: hundred quid and stuff. Now, the last couple of years,
- 4:15Andy Webb: we've been seeing some of them going up to 200
- 4:17Andy Webb: quid if not beyond that, and that's basically a bribe.
- 4:21Andy Webb: The new bank saying, " Hey, look, come over to us,
- 4:24Andy Webb: and we'll give you cash." And that is a really
- 4:26Andy Webb: good reason. If you need some money, a really good
- 4:28Andy Webb: reason to go ahead with a switch. Other reasons you
- 4:32Andy Webb: might want to change your bank, and you might want
- 4:33Andy Webb: to switch this or open up an additional account to
- 4:35Andy Webb: get it. Again, there are so many. A lot of them
- 4:38Andy Webb: offer little perks, so maybe free cinema tickets or free
- 4:41Andy Webb: Disney plus, things like that. Some of them might have
- 4:44Andy Webb: linked savings accounts that you can only get if you have
- 4:46Andy Webb: their current account, and those rates that have on those
- 4:48Andy Webb: accounts often amongst the best ones out there. Oh, there's
- 4:52Andy Webb: so much. I mean, you mentioned about overdrafts before. There
- 4:54Andy Webb: aren't many of these, but some of them will give you
- 4:56Andy Webb: a naught percent overdraft over a small buffer or for
- 4:58Andy Webb: a year. Again, that could be a really big help
- 5:00Andy Webb: when it comes to debts. Another big reason to change
- 5:03Andy Webb: your bank again is that the online banking and the app,
- 5:07Andy Webb: some of these newer banks, and they're not even new
- 5:08Andy Webb: anymore, they've been going for such a long time, but
- 5:11Andy Webb: the day- to- day banking, so much easier. From the ground
- 5:14Andy Webb: up, they've been designed, these apps, to do that. So
- 5:16Andy Webb: again, a really good reason to change your bank. Again, there's
- 5:19Andy Webb: so many more, but they're the kind of headline ones.
- 5:20Kia Commodore: I think that's great. There's so many rewards out there that people just don't realize, but if you
- 5:26Kia Commodore: just made that switch, I mean obviously some people, they
- 5:28Kia Commodore: feel like they want stay one bank, fine, but if
- 5:31Kia Commodore: you do want to switch, like you said, you've made thousands.
- 5:34Kia Commodore: That's good. It sounds like a little side hustle. You've
- 5:36Kia Commodore: got us a little side hustle hack there. You can get free
- 5:38Kia Commodore: cinema tickets, all those kind of things. It's really good
- 5:39Kia Commodore: to have a look at. But for anyone who's considering
- 5:42Kia Commodore: it, how can they compare between different accounts and to
- 5:47Kia Commodore: make that decision a lot easier for them?
- 5:48Andy Webb: Yeah. I think you've really got to look at what's
- 5:50Andy Webb: on offer and look at the bank's own site. They'll
- 5:53Andy Webb: take you through those different features, those savings accounts, the
- 5:55Andy Webb: rewards, whatever it might be. There are loads of videos
- 5:59Andy Webb: and reviews that you can find online that will take
- 6:01Andy Webb: you through the pros and cons on becleverwithyourcash. com. Like
- 6:05Andy Webb: anytime there's one of those switching deals pops up, I'm
- 6:07Andy Webb: writing a full analysis of that and telling you what
- 6:08Andy Webb: you need to do. Because some of these will have
- 6:10Andy Webb: terms and conditions attached. It's not a simple case of
- 6:13Andy Webb: you just do this. If you want that free cash,
- 6:15Andy Webb: they might want you to deposit a certain amount of
- 6:17Andy Webb: money in a certain amount of time, or have a
- 6:18Andy Webb: couple of direct debits that come out every single month,
- 6:21Andy Webb: or you have to check the app once a month.
- 6:24Andy Webb: Although for the switching deal or some of those ongoing
- 6:26Andy Webb: offers, some of them might have fees. Now if you
- 6:29Andy Webb: do everything right, then the rewards you get will wipe
- 6:31Andy Webb: out the fee, but you've got to do it right,
- 6:33Andy Webb: otherwise you might end up costing you money. So be
- 6:35Andy Webb: really careful, all that stuff. Do check all those terms
- 6:37Andy Webb: and conditions. But you do all that, I think it's
- 6:39Andy Webb: going to be a nice and simple kind of process
- 6:42Andy Webb: for you.
- 6:42Kia Commodore: Absolutely. I think the last time I did it, I
- 6:44Kia Commodore: switched over but one of those caveats was that I
- 6:47Kia Commodore: had to deposit, I can't remember how much the money
- 6:49Kia Commodore: was, but a certain amount of money for six months
- 6:51Kia Commodore: before I could get that money into my account, and
- 6:54Kia Commodore: I had to make it a real process to remember
- 6:55Kia Commodore: to put that money in every month. I set an
- 6:57Kia Commodore: alarm, put it in there, and I finally got that
- 6:59Kia Commodore: reward. So it's just being aware. Reading that fine print,
- 7:01Kia Commodore: that's what you're getting into. It's not just you can
- 7:03Kia Commodore: get 200 pounds to switch in, but maybe you have
- 7:05Kia Commodore: two direct debits, put a certain amount like you said. It's
- 7:06Kia Commodore: just being aware of what there is.
- 7:08Andy Webb: Yeah. And weigh up whether it's worth your time. I
- 7:10Andy Webb: see some deals and I say to people that I
- 7:12Andy Webb: personally wouldn't bother with it. They want it, they might do
- 7:14Andy Webb: 20 transactions on your debit card every single month just
- 7:18Andy Webb: to get two pounds. I'm like, " Actually, is it really
- 7:21Andy Webb: worth your time?" And you might better off spending that time
- 7:24Andy Webb: with some other kind of side hustle or just enjoying
- 7:26Andy Webb: your life. So you weigh these things up. Is it
- 7:29Andy Webb: going to be worth the time you put into it?
- 7:30Andy Webb: But overall, yeah, I mean you can have anything from
- 7:33Andy Webb: just a couple of current accounts. We have a couple
- 7:35Andy Webb: of rewards and features through to like you and I
- 7:37Andy Webb: with quite a few.
- 7:38Kia Commodore: Quite a few.
- 7:39Andy Webb: There is admin with that.
- 7:39Kia Commodore: Yes, there is.
- 7:40Andy Webb: You've got to keep on top of it, but you can cycle
- 7:43Andy Webb: money throughout the different accounts, all that kind of stuff.
- 7:45Andy Webb: So it is definitely manageable, but maybe build up to that.
- 7:47Kia Commodore: Build up to that. So let's go back to banks then.
- 7:50Kia Commodore: There's this debate that's always going on, and it's traditional
- 7:55Kia Commodore: banks. So when we say that we're talking about your
- 7:57Kia Commodore: typical brick- and- mortar banks, maybe like HSBC or Nationwide
- 8:00Kia Commodore: versus digital banks, which is like Monzo and Starling. What
- 8:04Kia Commodore: should people look out for to decide what's actually better
- 8:08Kia Commodore: for them? So how can we know what's better, and
- 8:11Kia Commodore: what are the important things that we should look out for?
- 8:14Andy Webb: Yeah. There's no right or wrong answer here. The digital
- 8:17Andy Webb: banks have some of the best apps out there, and
- 8:20Andy Webb: they are obviously great ways to do your everyday banking,
- 8:23Andy Webb: but you don't have access to branches. A lot of
- 8:25Andy Webb: people go, "Does that really matter how often?" When did you last go
- 8:27Andy Webb: into your branch?
- 8:29Kia Commodore: A few years ago.
- 8:29Andy Webb: Yeah. And that's why we're seeing so many branches closing.
- 8:32Andy Webb: So it might well be that the other banks, there
- 8:34Andy Webb: isn't a branch on your high street anyway, but it's something
- 8:37Andy Webb: to be aware of. If you do want branch access,
- 8:40Andy Webb: then you want to prioritize a bank that does have
- 8:42Andy Webb: one near you, at least for the time being. So
- 8:45Andy Webb: that's a big thing there. And as I said before,
- 8:47Andy Webb: I would always have more than one account anyway. So
- 8:49Andy Webb: if you have got a digital bank, I like to
- 8:51Andy Webb: have a high street bank as well, one of the ones
- 8:53Andy Webb: that has some of those features that we spoke about,
- 8:55Andy Webb: just to kind of balance things out. There are a
- 8:57Andy Webb: handful of digital banks that you need to be aware
- 8:59Andy Webb: of because they're not fully licensed bank in the UK
- 9:03Andy Webb: yet. They are applying for this license. They haven't got
- 9:05Andy Webb: it yet. And the key ones here, the time we're
- 9:07Andy Webb: recording this, are Revolut and Monese. So they are ones
- 9:11Andy Webb: which don't have the financial services compensation scheme protections amongst
- 9:15Andy Webb: other things. Now, this is about where, if they were
- 9:17Andy Webb: to go bust, any money held would be protected up
- 9:20Andy Webb: to a massive 85,000 pounds. So just be aware of
- 9:24Andy Webb: that, that there is a risk there.
- 9:25Kia Commodore: Yeah, that is good to know. I think, like I said, having a hybrid, it is the best of
- 9:28Kia Commodore: both worlds. But it is hard. I don't think you
- 9:30Kia Commodore: can pick one that's better. I think that hybrid works
- 9:32Kia Commodore: nicely. So let me ask you then. We've spoken about
- 9:35Kia Commodore: the benefits of switching. There's a lot of rewards you
- 9:36Kia Commodore: can get, and it sounds great. So is it worth
- 9:40Kia Commodore: regularly switching accounts to get the latest offers, or are
- 9:44Kia Commodore: there any downsides that we need to be aware of
- 9:46Kia Commodore: apart from obviously the admin that comes with it?
- 9:49Andy Webb: Yeah, so a couple of things. Obviously, when you're doing
- 9:50Andy Webb: the full switch, as we mentioned before, this does close
- 9:53Andy Webb: your old current account, and sometimes you might have a
- 9:56Andy Webb: linked product, maybe a savings account, maybe a credit card,
- 9:59Andy Webb: you never know, that has all these great features and
- 10:01Andy Webb: benefits, but they're only available to you if you have
- 10:04Andy Webb: the current account. So just double check, if you haven't,
- 10:06Andy Webb: what's going to happen to that. It might be that
- 10:08Andy Webb: it's closed down or you lose the rate or you have
- 10:10Andy Webb: to start paying a fee or whatever it might be.
- 10:11Andy Webb: So check that stuff first of all. But other than that, I think
- 10:14Andy Webb: the big thing to think about here is the impact
- 10:16Andy Webb: on your credit score, particularly if you're doing repeat switching.
- 10:20Andy Webb: Because every time you open up a new current account,
- 10:23Andy Webb: the vast majority of the time, you're going to have
- 10:24Andy Webb: a hard search appear on your credit report that will
- 10:27Andy Webb: last for 12 months. It's going to stay on there.
- 10:30Andy Webb: The more of these that you do, the bigger the
- 10:32Andy Webb: impact that's going to have on your credit report. Now,
- 10:34Andy Webb: if you haven't got anything big coming up in the
- 10:37Andy Webb: next year, you don't need to get a 0% percent transfer
- 10:41Andy Webb: or purchase credit card, you don't have to do a
- 10:43Andy Webb: remortgage or a first mortgage application, things like that, there's
- 10:46Andy Webb: nothing major coming along and your credit score is relatively
- 10:48Andy Webb: healthy, then in a year's time, that will drop off,
- 10:51Andy Webb: it's not going to be an issue. You can do
- 10:53Andy Webb: a number of them, space it out every three months
- 10:56Andy Webb: is an ideal way, and this is all your credit applications,
- 10:58Andy Webb: not just bank accounts. But spread them out, just to
- 11:02Andy Webb: reduce that kind of impact. But I know, I've done
- 11:04Andy Webb: it myself, where I've done a number in a short
- 11:06Andy Webb: space of time. You need to make that decision for
- 11:08Andy Webb: your own personal situation. So that's important to know, just
- 11:11Andy Webb: spacing that out. But there is another impact that switching
- 11:14Andy Webb: explicitly will have on your credit report, and that's because
- 11:18Andy Webb: it's that closure again of that account, that existing account.
- 11:21Andy Webb: Because if you've had that for two years, five years,
- 11:24Andy Webb: 10 years, 20 years, whatever, we talked beginning about how
- 11:27Andy Webb: maybe you had opened it and then you've still got it,
- 11:29Andy Webb: you've never done anything about it. That longevity, that kind
- 11:34Andy Webb: of indication of loyalty, that is also a really good
- 11:37Andy Webb: signal in your credit report. And when that account closes,
- 11:41Andy Webb: you lose that, and the only way to build it
- 11:42Andy Webb: back up...
- 11:43Kia Commodore: Is to stay with another bank for a long time again.
- 11:46Andy Webb: (inaudible) time. Yeah. So what I generally say to people,
- 11:47Andy Webb: a little hack that I suggest to get around that,
- 11:50Andy Webb: is to not close. Never switch that main account. Because
- 11:53Andy Webb: you can open up what I call a dummy account.
- 11:55Andy Webb: So it's just a separate current account. You open it up, and the only
- 11:58Andy Webb: reason you're opening up this current account is you're going
- 12:00Andy Webb: to use it to switch, to get that free cash,
- 12:02Andy Webb: right? Open it up, credit check most of the time
- 12:05Andy Webb: for that, then open up the account you want to
- 12:07Andy Webb: switch to to another credit check. So that's two credit
- 12:08Andy Webb: checks in a short space of time, so just be
- 12:10Andy Webb: aware of that. But you do the switch, you get
- 12:12Andy Webb: your free money, and the old one's still there. That
- 12:14Andy Webb: loyalty is not gone. And then if you want to,
- 12:17Andy Webb: that account you've switched to for the cash, well that
- 12:19Andy Webb: could be another dummy account, and you can switch that one
- 12:21Andy Webb: again, and again, and again. If you decide you get
- 12:24Andy Webb: to an account you want to keep because of perks
- 12:25Andy Webb: and benefits, well open up a different dummy account. So
- 12:28Andy Webb: yeah, look into that little bit more. It's simple, but
- 12:30Andy Webb: some things you need to be aware of, but they're the big
- 12:32Andy Webb: things to think about.
- 12:33Kia Commodore: I love the fact that you mentioned dummy account, because
- 12:35Kia Commodore: that was something that my dad had told me a
- 12:37Kia Commodore: while back when I got into switching rewards and all of that. And like I
- 12:42Kia Commodore: said, I had my (inaudible) Bank that I'd been
- 12:43Kia Commodore: in for ages, and he said, " You know what, leave
- 12:45Kia Commodore: that." Like he said, " Leave it. The loyalty works in
- 12:47Kia Commodore: your favor, but open up a separate account you're not
- 12:49Kia Commodore: really that fussed about, and then you can use that." And that's
- 12:51Kia Commodore: what I've been doing and it is a really, really good tip there.
- 12:53Kia Commodore: Keep in mind, the application's a short space of time,
- 12:56Kia Commodore: but it is a really good tip that you put out
- 12:58Kia Commodore: there. So before we wrap up, Andy, what are your
- 13:00Kia Commodore: top tips for listeners when thinking about their choice of
- 13:03Kia Commodore: bank account?
- 13:04Andy Webb: So first of all, I would just remind everyone that
- 13:06Andy Webb: you can have more than one current account. So as much
- 13:08Andy Webb: as you feel you can manage, you can have all
- 13:10Andy Webb: the different perks and features from a number of different
- 13:12Andy Webb: accounts. If you're going to switch, set up that dummy
- 13:15Andy Webb: account at least for that first switch so you don't lose
- 13:17Andy Webb: that kind of loyalty that you've built up on your
- 13:19Andy Webb: credit report from that existing account. And then whether it's
- 13:22Andy Webb: open up a new account for a perk or whether
- 13:24Andy Webb: you're switching, just check those terms and conditions because you
- 13:27Andy Webb: want this to be making you money or giving you
- 13:29Andy Webb: a better banking experience. You don't want it to be
- 13:31Andy Webb: costing you cash.
- 13:32Kia Commodore: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Andy. As always, as a
- 13:36Kia Commodore: friend of the podcast, you come and grace us with
- 13:37Kia Commodore: so much knowledge and gems. Thank you so much. On
- 13:40Kia Commodore: the next episode of A Little Bit Richer, I'm going
- 13:42Kia Commodore: to be talking all about travel and how you can
- 13:45Kia Commodore: head on a holiday without breaking the bank. Don't forget,
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- 14:08Kia Commodore: Thank you for listening, and see you soon.