MoneySupermarket.com Comments on the Launch of the Current Account 7 Day Switch Guarantee

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Jun 11, 2013, 08:51 ET

CHESTER, England, June 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Kevin Mountford, head of banking at MoneySupermarket, comments on the launch of the Current Account Switch Guarantee: "Today's launch of the Current Account Switch Guarantee heralds a major milestone ahead of the 'seven day' switching process being introduced in September. The Guarantee and Trustmark will help instil confidence in consumers that they can switch current accounts safely, securely, with the minimum of hassle, and provides reassurance and redress should things go wrong. Although in reality switching is usually relatively straight forward, this move could be a real turning point in improving switching rates in the current account market.

"Many people are put off switching current accounts by the perception that it can be a complex process. Although banks do have dedicated switching services currently, the experience does differ depending on the bank or building society. As well as switching bank accounts within seven working days, the scheme also provides a redirection service that will track payments into and out of the out of the old current account for 13 months following account closure. Control will be placed in the hands of customers, as they can choose the move date and have the reassurance that if anything were to go wrong for any reason, any charges as a result of any errors will be refunded, providing peace of mind.

"Although this scheme tackles some of the barriers which currently prevent consumers from switching and will perhaps, for the first time, challenge the notion that people rarely switch current accounts, there is still little innovation from providers in the accounts they provide. I would hope that the arrival of new challenger brands such as M&S Bank and the Post Office alongside the new switching scheme will help address this problem and that consumers are given true incentives to change their bank. Although the new scheme provides reassurance, people must remember that you can still switch ahead of the implementation and many banks have a number of switching incentives already in place."

MoneySupermarket.com compares (at 22^nd March 2013)

140 car insurance brands and 98 home insurance brands
15 broadband providers and 20 energy providers
31 unsecured loan and 5 secured loan providers
60 mortgage lenders and 28 credit card providers
62 savings providers and 37 current account providers
Over 640,000 mobile phone deals

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