Interesting story on the beeb this morning:
After an 18 month inquiry, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has stopped short of recommending a break up of the banks.
But it said customers should be prompted to change providers if their branch closes or they are overcharged.
The CMA concluded that the current market is not working competitively.
It said that the majority of consumers - 57% - have stayed with their provider for more than 10 years.
And 37% have had their accounts for more than 20 years.
Source: BBC
So the analysis is we don't change banks often enough, and if we did the average customer could save £70 a year.
Is it just me that isn't blown away with that number? Anyone who has changed banks in the past will know it rarely goes smoothly and there is always a mopping up exercise to catch the things the automatic switching service has missed, unless things have drastically changed since the last time I did it about 8 years ago.
It seems a lot of hassle to save an average of £5.80 a month, unlike say changing energy providers. Then put a business spin on it, you'll need to change paperwork, invoice docs, quotations, update accounts packages etc etc.
Has anyone shopped around and changed banks recently either personal or business banking? Was it smooth and straightforward or was there any hassle factor? Most importantly, was it worth it, did you make a significant saving/gain benefits versus time/hassle factor?
