I have an hsbc basic account which I manage online and have all of my wages paid into it and all my direct debits etc come out, on two occasions direct debits went out on the same day that the money cleared in and they wrote to me telling me off - now it has happened again to the tune of £12.50 (this time because the letter telling me that a direct debit was due out on that date was delayed thanks to the strikes!!!!) and they are closing me down in 30 days (well 24 actually as again the strikes mean my letter has only just arrived!) so I called them and they say there is nothing they can do, it will be closed - such a nightmare - I have another cash card account with the halifax however how on earth do I go about changing all the bits and pieces over? do i really have to contact each and every one of the people and get them to change their details on their accounts? is there an easier way? i also have a savings account and an isa with hsbc tied into this account so i guess i have to close them too as i won't have any access to them which means then i no longer have any savings- i am so upset about this, they would not budge on the decision. i have things that are meant to be starting up as direct debits soon but aren't yet finished applying for - how do i go about making sure everything is captured and sent over to my new main account (with all those lovely extra charges going on!) Please help, i need some advice!!! Thanks all!!!

Some banks and building societies (I know Nationwide) will let you open an account and, once they have your authority, they will request that all direct debits and so on are transferred over. Whether this works does depend on the cooperation of the old bank (when I switched from Abbey to Nationwide, the old account stayed open, some standing orders were paid twice and some direct debits were not transferred over so it is not a foolproof operation).

helcat:

OK. Have a look here and you will see mention of the HSBC 3 strikes and out policy...

http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/pdfs/bank_accounts.pdf

Try to do what you want to do and don't be intimidated. Most Direct Debits are easy to transfer with a telephone call. You say "each and every one of the people" will need to be contacted. Is that really so difficult? Just how many Direct Debits have you got?

If in spite of being treated like sh*t by HSBC you'd still like to stay with them, instead of phoning a faceless person with no authority can you go into a branch and talk face to face. After all you want to talk about moving your savings and ISA, don't you?

Transferring most of your Direct Debits will be very easy. Most organisations use AUDDIS and its all done with a phone call. The hardest part is getting a new account open and funded either with savings or with your wages. For that reason I suggest doing the work yourself rather than letting the new bank do it for you (unless you can fund the new account first).

One suggestion, OK a little criticism, you say you "manage" you account online but you ended up with Direct Debits on the same day as the account was funded. I don't call that managing. When/if setting up new Direct Debits ask for a collection date a good few clear days after your wages date so that this doesn't happen again.

If your Halifax cash card account is an Easycash account that's a perfectly good basic bank account which handles direct debits and standing orders and unlike the HSBC account lets you get hold of your money in any Link ATM. (Though that might not be a good thing).

thanks for that, I am going to do it myself, looks like otherwise I may end up with things going wrong (even more so!) Its just a pain in the bum!