Thousands of current account holders need to move money as accounts close | Personal Finance | Finance

Intelligent Finance is to close all its current accounts this year with thousands of Britons to be affected.

Customers are being notified of the change with the first current accounts to be closed on August 1.

Parent company Lloyds Banking Group said all those who are affected will get two months’ notice ahead of their current account closing.

Customers with a savings account or mortgage with Intelligent Finance will not be affected by the change.

If a person has a non-ISA savings account and their current account is closing, the money will be automatically moved into their savings account.

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Those who only have a current account, or who have an ISA account, will be sent their funds as a cheque in the post.

A person can also contact Intelligent Finance and ask the group to transfer a person’s funds into another bank account.

An Intelligent Finance spokesperson said: “Our Intelligent Finance current account hasn’t been available since 2009 and we’ve let existing customers know we won’t be offering it anymore.

“There’s been lots of innovation in the current account market over the past decade, with more choice than ever for day-to-day bank accounts, and we’re contacting customers to let them know their options and next steps.”

‌Another thing for customers to consider is they will need to update any regular payments they have going out of their current account.

In this case, the person will need to update their payments with their new bank details if they want them to continue.

Those who are interested in moving to a new current account can do so using the free Current Account Switch Service (CASS).

This will ensure a person’s direct debits, standing orders and incoming payments are all moved over to the new account.

People may want to consider this option as many providers have a switching offer when a customer switches from another provider to them.

Customers switching to NatWest can get £200 when they switch, and customers can earn £36 a year in cashback.

People switching to HSBC can also get a £200 one-off payment. First Direct offers £175 to those switching while Lloyds Bank is offering £150.

A person will need to meet other eligibility criteria to get the switching offer. This usually includes not having held a current account with the chosen bank for a certain period.

There may also be a requirement to pay in a certain amount each month or transfer over a certain number of direct debits.

Many savers have enjoyed higher interest rates over the past year as the Bank of England has continually increased the base rate.

The base rate is currently 4.5 percent with some predicting it could reach five percent as bank bosses work to tackle high levels of inflation.

Providers have increased rates on many accounts, including current accounts, ISAs, easy access savings accounts and fixed term savings accounts.

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