Although it seems like a hassle to switch car insurance or savings account, I think I’m better off for it. That’s why I’m marching at the head of a band of consumers who are all voting with their feet! Will you join us?
I opened my first bank account when I went to university. That was years ago, as you can tell from my mugshot, and I’m still with the same bank today. I only chose them because my dad was with me at the time and banked with them too. Not a great reason, I know…
Are they the best bank on the high street? Not according to our research, but then they aren’t the worst either – and if they’d ever done anything awful to me I would probably have moved. The truth is that, right now, my fear of them messing up my mortgage payments and losing all my direct debits if I tried to switch to another bank outweighs my desire to get a better deal elsewhere.
I’m a savings rate tart
Talk to me about savings accounts, on the other hand, and I would freely acknowledge that I’m a rate tart. I have savings accounts with half a dozen banks and building societies and expect to move money every six to 12 months to make sure I’m getting the best deals.
The difference here, of course, is that there really is a difference between the best and worst accounts – and I can measure it down to the last penny. Since I do virtually all of my saving online, customer service is really not an issue – if the website works and the interest rate is good, I’m there.
The same is true of car insurance – I switch every year without fail because I know I will save £100+ for 10 minutes work online – I’d be a fool not to (though god knows I was a fool for years following the “advice” of an insurance broker who claimed to be able to find me the best deals).
What have you switched?
I trust that if you’re a regular visitor to Which? Convo, you vote with your feet too and don’t let companies that offer duff rates get away with it.
So, we’re urging you not just to vote with your feet but also to let us know if you have, that way, we can see where our help is most needed and whether we need to improve our advice on switching certain products.
You can share your switching experiences in the comments below, or use our widget to quickly tell us what services you have switched.
Are you a serial switcher, or are there things that are stopping you from voting with your feet?
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