When Gemma Fisher* was told that her current account with Intelligent Finance was shutting, she took comfort in the belief that switching to another provider would take only a week. But even with two months’ notice before closure, this was a mistake.
“I took my foot off the pedal – that was my big mistake. Because, of course, it doesn’t just take seven days to switch. It is actually a significantly complicated process if you don’t have an exact matching account to switch to,” she says.
Fisher’s attempts to move her account to another bank resulted in hours of frustrating admin, which ultimately led to her account being switched just before the deadline.
Intelligent Finance’s parent company, Lloyds Banking Group, announced a few months ago that it was to shut the division’s current accounts by the end of the year. One of the pioneers of internet banking, Intelligent Finance went live in 2000. Savings and mortgage accounts are unaffected.
Account holders were given two months’ notice of the closures, with the first tranche happening at the beginning of August.
Fisher returned from a holiday in June to find a letter that said her joint account, which she shares with her husband, would be shut.
The urgency of finding another account to pay the mortgage and utility bills was calmed when an automated message on Intelligent Finance’s helpline said an account could be switched within seven days.
With the Current Account Switch Service, consumers can move their bank accounts elsewhere along with all direct debits, standing orders and incoming payments, and the process normally takes seven days.
But when Fisher tried to source another current account she wanted to switch to, she also found she would have to set up an individual account first, before adding her husband to make it a joint account. After a digital document system failed when it came to adding her husband, she eventually set up the corresponding account by mid-July.
After her new bank asked for more details, it was not until a week before the planned account closure that the actual switch process could start.
“I realised it’s not easy at all. You have to do all sorts of identity checks and credit checks. Even with banks that you’re already in, you can’t just set up a joint account – it’s not so straightforward. And that’s where we fell down. When I got that message to take my foot off the pedal, that was my mistake, because that lost me valuable time.”
An appeal for an extension before the account was closed was refused by Intelligent Finance, she says.
In the end, the switch went through “at the 11th hour” before the account closure, but Fisher says it was a “white-knuckle ride”.
A spokesperson for Intelligent Finance said: “Our Intelligent Finance current account hasn’t been available since 2009, and we’re letting existing customers know that we won’t be offering it any more.
“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’ve contacted customers to let them know their options and next steps.”
Lloyds Banking Group has not released details of how many people are affected by the closures, claiming commercial sensitivity.
If Intelligent Finance customers take no action by the time their account is closed, the balance will be sent by cheque to their home or to a savings account.
* Name has been changed