Earlier this year I decided to switch my joint current account from HSBC to Halifax to take advantage of the £100 switching offer before it was cut to £75 on 1 March 2017.
Switching joint accounts is meant to be just as simple as switching a sole current account – but my experience with Halifax was a bit of a nightmare.
Here’s what went wrong – and how I got £175 out of the bank for my troubles.
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Paperwork problems
I decided to start the switch online at the end of January; long before the deadline for the £100 bonus.
This is where I ran into the first snag in my switching journey, as Halifax couldn’t finish opening the account without ID and proof of address documents.
I was fine with this. After all, these are the sort of documents you need to show to open any current or savings account, but I was told I had to submit them at a branch rather than through the post or online.
The extra legwork was pretty inconvenient for me and I only managed to pop into my local Halifax on 13 February.
Frustratingly, four days later I got a text to tell me that I would need to go back into a branch again as the advisor I had first seen hadn’t taken a good enough copy of my documents.
Once this paperwork problem was sorted I thought things would move along quickly so I could meet the 1 March deadline. I was wrong.
You have to jump through hoops
To set up a Halifax joint account online you first need to open a sole current account.
Thankfully, the delay with my documents didn’t stall the creation of my sole account; it was opened on 21 February. It was converting this to a joint account that proved difficult.
You should be able to do it online once you receive your online login details, but I was once again given a message that I would need to go into a branch, this time for an hour-long appointment with my partner.
The next available Saturday appointment was 11 March, long after the switching incentive offer expired.
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It wasn't clear what went wrong
Our advisor couldn't really say for sure why we needed to come into the branch to complete the joint account set up.
He told us it might have something to do with the fact we had an overdraft on our HSBC account (that we didn’t use) which meant there needed to be further checks.
During the hour-long appointment we ran over some of the details of the account and had to watch a video about the FSCS (which had out of date information anyway).
We didn’t even get the £100 bonus!
Since you can’t switch a joint account to a single account, I had to wait for the account to be turned into a joint account before the actual switch would start allowing me to qualify for the £100 incentive.
When I eventually managed to open a joint account, and complete the switch on 15 March the bonus we eventually got was the smaller £75 incentive .
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Why I complained
The £100 switching bonus was what prompted me to make a move so I was disappointed that, after six weeks, a lot of running around and an excruciatingly long appointment, I hadn’t even got that.
The Current Account Switch Service (CASS) guarantee covers joint accounts, so as my switch took longer than seven days and I didn’t get what I originally switched for I decided to complain.
I did it online and got a call a day later from someone at Halifax with the promise of a £25 credit to match the offer I applied for plus £75 for the stress and inconvenience of the entire process.
In the end switching my joint account to Halifax earned me and my partner £175, so it wasn’t a complete disaster.
In case you were wondering, at no point did I mention I was a journalist in the hopes of getting special treatment!
Would I do it again?
Our old HSBC current account was rubbish compared to what we get with Halifax now, so I don’t regret making the move in order to get a better deal.
In hindsight, having to set up a sole account and convert it to a joint account should have been a warning sign that things had the potential to go wrong.
I asked Halifax about this odd step and a spokesperson told me it was for security: "We do require an account to be opened as a sole account and then made a joint one for security purposes and to protect both parties."
Lloyds also has this requirement to open a joint bank account online. But First Direct, Santander and Barclays don’t, so if you’re looking for a simpler joint account switch you might want to see what they can offer.
Read: The best joint bank accounts in the UK for bills, earning interest and rewards for more.
Have you had any joint account switching issues? Email uknews@lovemoney.com with your story!