Your 'have you switched current account' survey is fudamentally flawed... Of the two 'Yes' options you have, one is...

'Yes it was easy'

The other is...

'Yes, but it was a nightmare, I won't be doing it again'

Do you really think no other 'yes' (and I would do it again) options exist other than 'it was easy'??

We switched from Alliance & Leicester to Barclays, partly because A&L has no local branches and partly because of other accounts at Barclays - cut down the variety.

Several warnings before anybody considers this:

1. Barclays dealt with all SO & DD movement from A&L, but not all payees (acknowledged that they) had been sent the notification from Barclays. Several said that they had had no notification. Sun Life not only denied any correspondence from Barclays, they wrote to say that the DD had been rejected and a policy payment was overdue. After some discussion they then took the next 2 payments but said that they could not take the first one and that we had to pay by cheque. Eventually they lapsed the policy due to non-payment.

2. Some payees accepted information over the phone, others would not. Department for Work and Pensions (for National Insurance payments) insist on a new signed form.

3. After a couple of months of smooth-ish running, Barclays wanted to tidy up the unused DDs. We had 2 for TV Licensing, 3 for Council Tax (new reference number every year), 2 for Electricity etc etc. "How about we cancel some of these unused ones," said the Barclays' Personal Banker. So we went through the list, in the branch, tidied things up. Then everything went pear-shaped.

When Barclays (and all banks?) cancels a DD authority their system automatically notifies the payee. The payee then cancels all DD details - and sends a letter to the customer asking for new payment arrangements, even though in the case of TV Licensing, council tax, National Insurance, there was still one DD authority extant and valid. Some payees accepted reinstatement, some wanted the details again - and DWP wanted a new form, of course.

And of course several of the payees operate 0845 or 0870 phone numbers. The whole process was time-consuming and not without cost. I'm still pleased to be able to go into a branch where they greet me by name, even though most of my banking is online.

But transfers are not without hassle.

civron:

Several warnings before anybody considers this

I held back from criticising the Moneysupermarket inept questions until someone else was brave enough...

You are quite right. I have switched accounts 4 times. Twice I allowed the bank to "manage" the process and both times I have experienced exactly the same problems you describe, additionally not getting a copy of the salary letters sent to my employer.

The other two occasions I managed the process myself. With 100% of the organisations which use AUDDIS (most) there was no problem except that credit card companies seem to have a problem changing anything either after a statement or within 10 days of a collection. That just about covers 365 days of the year. It's clearly a systemic problem that BACS and the banks must know about.

Bank "stupidity" is nothing new to members here.

I would never again allow the bank to manage the process.

Fair points, all. Well made. Thanks for the feedback. I'll put it to Clare and the team for future polls.

I think polls, by their very nature, are limited and it would be impossible to provide an essay of background information and research every time. Their real purpose is to gain a snapshot of the general feeling towards a particular topic. In this case it's to do with how many of our readers have switched their current accounts and their feelings towards something which can help you save more money.

Despite the obvious limitations of polls, they can still give valuable insight. And that's why we host them on the forums - to encourage debate and discussion. We've had some excellent discussions on recent polls and throughout the year. One of our most popular polls was on the Bank of England's decision to reduce interest rates at the start of this year: 'Do you welcome today's interest rate cut?'. The answers were limited, but the depth of feeling was certainly heard and over 17,000 people took the time to vote with 105 forum posts in the discussion that followed.

It's early days for our latest poll and some, inevitably, create more discussion than others. But if early indications are anything to go by, the fact that over 50% of respondents have never changed their current account provider means there is a valuable discussion to be had around the pros and cons of switching.

Thanks again for the feedback. We'll keep it in mind for future polls.

Hope that helps,
g

Don't be under the misapprehension that I was criticising the poll :-)

I was delighted that it gave me the opportunity to rant over the issue of switching. I get more than a little fed up with media reports that "due to customer apathy nn% of people have never switched their current account."

Well, this will make that 50% think again about whether it is worth the effort. In fact, given the almost zero rate of return on almost all accounts, or the requirement to pay £1000 per month into accounts to get more, or a monthly subscription for benefits of dubious worth and value, account holders might be best of staying where they are.

The questions I would ask would be:

1. Does your bank have a convenient branch for paying in cheques and cash? (Paying in at POs takes 1-2 days longer)

2. Does your bank have internet banking, and are you satisfied with the security and ease of use (Barclays' PinSentry is one of the best)?

3. Does the bank always pay your standing orders and direct debits when they should, causing you no hassle?

4. Assuming that you keep as little as possible spare cash in your current account are you satisfied with the rate of interest and/or charges made. (For those who do keep a balance in the account and do not use an overdraft facility there should be no charges, even though there is almost no interest at present either).

5. Are you dissatisfied in any way with your current banking arrangements?

If you answer YES to 1-4, and NO to 5 (assuming all are relevant to you) then in my view the short term gain of any sweetener is barely worth the trouble that you will encounter if you switch and have more than a couple of DDs and SOs.

Appreciate the limitations in amount of questions you can ask but just...

'Yes it was easy' or

Yes, it was difficult'

Without adding 'and I wouldn't do it again' which means anyone who would answer, Yes, found it difficult but WOULD still do it again... These people are unable to answer your poll

Keep up the good work tho... Cheers

civron:

I pretty much agree with you but I would would put a more positive slant on the possibility. I would advise anybody who has any disatisfaction with their current bank service to give it a go. Some bank's service and systems are better than others, which is not saying you will find good service.

Anybody who uses online banking to manage their account will do a better switching job themselves than the bank will achieve, for the reasons explained in earlier posts. It's also confidence building to try. Having succeeded once you will better deal with bank problems in future.