Loyal or a rate slut?

I always change - not sure I’d call myself a ‘rate slut’ , I’d say I’m financially savvy.

It does take time to find the best deals but there are plenty of online tools to help. Switching has generally been easy , some providers even provide Switch Teams to make things easy.

I think you need to ask yourself is investing a little time to keep more money in your bank a good swap ?

I can give you one example - my husband called Sky to discuss our TV package. He came away having saved us £24 a month with one phone call. By not bothering you really could be giving away your cash .

I do change sometimes but not as much as I should. I changed gas/electricity supplier twice and ended up paying more so now keep the same supplier but go for their cheapest tariff, which is much less time consuming than changing suppliers.
I change insurance company every couple of years. I got rid of Sky but it was a huge effort to do so. I'm somewhat confused about costs for broadband/phones and don't change as often as I should.
I'm envious of women who have husbands who deal with these things!

Twice I changed gas/electricity supplier and was assured the bills would be less. Each time there were huge problems with the supplier and the bills increased. Eventually I went back to the original supplier and stayed with them.

As we never incur credit card charges it doesn’t matter about the rates and our one does not charge for foreign currency use so we just stick with it.

I made a huge effort (for me!) and changed from virgin media to talktalk last year. I was really frightened that it would be terrible, and I would need to spend hours online trying to 'live chat' with someone whose first language wasn't English. Nope! Its all been plain sailing, I'm paying half the price, literally, and getting a lot of extras for my money.
The only time virgin listened to me was on the day before the change, when they suddenly found that they could match the talktalk price. I was on my high horse by then, and told them I wasn't interested. I'm glad I changed. Next on the list is changing banks.

I am like N&G and consider myself to be financially savvy. A few weeks ago I changed from the bank I had been with since I was 18 years of age and moved to another that was offering so much more. It was a breeze, I did zilch. Admittedly I did have an account with another bank so I was not reliant on the money being switched. My previous bank made no effort to keep me so why not move when all they had to offer was a measly 0.01% interest for a savings account? It was marginally safer keeping it there than under my bed.

I checked my gas and electricity account and decided to stay with them- I had moved from another supplier a year ago. This one is not changing my d/d up and down monthly and treat me like a human being. Look around, it is well worth it.

I fall somewhere in the middle. We have found changing utility supplier such a hassle that we stay with the same supplier but make sure we do not stay on the same tariff and always choose the best value each year. We always run it through a comparison site and to check the difference is not to great, if it was we would then change

With credit cards, we clear them each month, so it doesn't really matter which one we are with, we are not paying any charges.

I have changed banks 3 times in my life, once after receiving very poor service and on the other occasion because RBS were going to sell its branches to Santander, which, at the time had a reputation for giving very poor service.

Generally, If there is a big saving to make I will do it but hours of work for a saving of under £100, sometimes a saving in single figures just isn't worth the effort.

I changed from the big energy suppliers a few years ago, when they were found to be overcharging. I use a small company now, and its problem free.

We change gas and electric supplier yearly and get a promotional rate every time. Switching is no problem but have had to nag for a refund of overpayments a couple of times.
Changed bank this year very easily as they have to do all the work for you in a week. We even got paid for switching.
The hardest nut to crack is Virgin media. We get through the forest of pressing numbers to disconnections as soon as our contract is up and say we are thinking of leaving. It always results in a drop in price so is worth it.
We never renew insurances etc without checking comparison sites. Our house insurance premium halved this year for the same cover.
We also use Quidco and get cashback when we swap or buy.

The Wonderful Man deals with general bill payments and we have recently changed utility suppliers, but to one with a better sustainability policy, not the cheapest.

Have never changed Banks.
And as we always pay off credit cards in full & dont pay a yearly fee, I dont feel the need to change.

Have changed building societies several times, follow the rates.

Always change car insurance (unless
ofcourse they are the cheapest).

Always change gas and electric (Ditto)

We are with BT
but every year I try and wrestle a better deal to stay with them

I hate the rigmarole,
But we can't afford not to spend the time doing the research (actually me doing the leg work).

I follow Martin Lewis and have a monthly email newsletter.

I would give it ago Mollie you maybe surprised or even shocked at how much over the odds you are paying!

We change everything, and yes, it is a bit of a pain, but if you get better rates ( and we certainly do) then it doesn’t pay to stay loyal.Tbh, it’s not loyalty is it, it’s more can’t be bothered to change it.

Many years ago the cheapest car insurance was with whichever company you were already with, there was a reward for loyal customers. This is no longer the case and I usually have to change each year. Last time my old insurance company gave me the spiel about being sorry to lose me so I told them that they need to show some loyalty to their customers if they want to retain them. Rate slut and proud of it!

We moved in 2016 so I’m pretty happy with our utility options. But I had a conversation with my son recently and discovered we pay twice as much as him for the same Sky package and that he’d got 5 months free prior to that! Got me thinking...

Always worth contacting Sky and asking what they will do for you, DH does this and we get all sorts of offers and cuts from them.

The plus side of so many people staying on the high tariffs is that utility companies can afford these cheaper deals for those of us who shop around. I imagine that if everyone went on the cheaper tariffs, companies would have to raise the price of them to maintain their profits. In effect, those who don't change are subsidising the rest of us. Is that good or bad? Take your pick!

I second the Martin Lewis website for help with money saving

I shop around with most things although I quite often stay with the original company but get a reduction when I tell them of the other deals I've been offered. What I still haven't done is change bank because I do worry about direct debits etc not transferring over, but it is something I shall do one day. What annoys me is the way that companies offer such amazing deals to new users and shove the price up for loyal customers.

It makes me mad how much contempt these big companies show towards their customers! And unfortunately it’s usually the less computer savvy that pay the price? many best tariffs are online only so that those who are not online (like my 98 year old neighbour) are likely to be over charged? also missing out are the very poorest who may have no option but to stay with the energy supplier because they are paying off a debt or are stuck on expensive prepayment meters!

We change gas and electric supplier to get the best possible rate - that's just good housekeeping.
We don't change banks as we have always been very well served by First Direct.

Every year I shop around for the best deal on home and car insurance. Like others have mentioned, I have changed gas/electric suppliers a couple of times but regretted it so have gone back. I am currently looking into broadband/tv/phone packages as these seem to be a big expense to me

The ball is in the consumers court and it is up to us to shop around for the best deals. So far so good where my home and car insurance are concerned. Now working on my electricity supplier.There is no such thing as loyalty these days.

Wouldn't dream of renewing an insurance policy or gas&electric without checking on both Martin Lewis & Compare the Meerkat. I had a really good deal with my utilities supplier, only to be told by Martin's site that I could cut my dd by a further £20 per month, still with the same company (one of the big 6) to one not even advertised. Sure enough, they were right. As for brand loyalty, they don't have any to you - why should you show any? At least check - you may not find a better deal, but I bet you will! And you can always start haggling with your current suppliers. Amazing how they can only offer over-the-odds prices until you are within 2 days of going elsewhere, when they suddenly find that they can at least match the new company's price.

I change utility suppliers often, but stayed with the same one for the last 2 years,
I am being pestered to get a smart meter, but i dont want one, i always pay over what they say i need to pay,and get a good rebate, £400 last time,also i am not hit with anything extra to pay if i use more than anticipated
I changed from Talktalk last year to Sky and got a good deal, only £17 a month for phone and internet,
Talktalk was usually a good deal, but they doubled the price when my contract ran out, but when they knew i changed to Sky, offered me another good deal, too late
Kept my bank as i am happy with it up to now

When you change gas/electricity companies do you check the meter readings the new companies use as the base line? We changed to a new company and they asked us to read the meters which we did and we kept a note of the readings. When the first bills arrived I thought them rather expensive and when I checked discovered they had put back our readings by a huge amount which meant that one bill was £500 too much and the other £300. They we charging me again for fuel we had already paid for.
I refused to pay the bill and insisted our readings were correct. Eventually after much arguing and telephone calls they reduced the bills to the correct level - this I managed with the help of our previous supplier which we returned to -and we paid the correct amount.
You may think this was an isolated case but they did exactly the same to our next door neighbour and she had problems with them for years.