Asides

Bank Switch Kits

A Local Company Bank Switch Notification Form helps a customer notify a company of their updated banking information for Automatic Payments.

I am writing this post to help define and discuss the difference between a Local Company Bank Switch Notification Form and a Generic Bank Switch Notification Form.

Take an example company, Big State Power.   Many customers of Big State use Automatic Payments to pay their monthly payment.   Big State automatically deducts their

Idaho Power – Example Local Company Bank Switch Notification Form

payment from their bank account as it becomes due.  When a customer needs to change their bank account,  they have to notify Big State Power of the change.

Big State creates a Bank Switch Notification Form so a customer can notify them of the change.  Big State is the Local Company in Local Company Bank Switch Notification Form

For Big State, the form has several places to fill out information that is required in order to change the Bank Account automatic payments are deducted from:

• Customer Account Identity (Customer Name,  Customer Account)
• New Bank Account Information (Bank Name, Routing Number, Account Number)
• Customer Authorization (Signature , Date)

The document has to be sent to the Big State Power billing offices to process,  so the form also has sending instructions and contact information to help with questions.

Benefits of a Local Company Form vs a Generic Bank Switch Notification Form

Many banks also provide forms which can be filled out and sent to Big State Power to notify then of the Automatic Payments change.

Both forms include places to enter:

• Customer Information
• New Bank Account Information
• Customer Authorization

Finding the sending process for a Local Company

However A Generic Bank Switch Notification form does NOT have  details about the Company that the form will be mailed to.  Some generic forms do have fields where the customer could enter this information once they have found it. Others do not prompt the customer to fill out the name of the company or address that the form is being send to, the form is generic enough to apply to which ever company receives it.

If a customer uses a Generic Bank Switch Notification forms,  they will have to research how they will need to deliver the notification form to the company.   Typically this would be done by researching on the company website,  or calling the company and getting an address.       This is the biggest problem with using a Generic Bank Switch Notification Form,  the difficulty with finding addresses and processes and noting them,   especially when dealing with multiple companies.

To be fair,  if the Bank does not provide the user with any Switch Notification form,  the user is likely going to have to go to the website or make a phone call in order to find the Local Company Bank Notification Form that has the address on it.

Filling out the same information multiple times

Generic forms often have lots of information about the customer to make sure that the Local Company has enough information to switch the account,  that means that the Customer has to fill out lots of information on each of these Generic forms.  They have to fill out this information even if the Local Company may not have required it.  With a Local Company form,  the customer would only have to fill out the information required.   This situation is compounded when the customer has to fill out multiple forms,  they have to write in MORE information than necessary several times.

In some cases Generic Bank Notification Forms,   have the user write in the details of the OLD bank account.    For purposes of being complete,  this seems like a good idea,  however most Local Companies simply don’t require it.  When the customer has to fill out this information multiple times,   there is even more frustration.

Best of Both Worlds: Generic and Local Company Bank Switch Notification Form

Two different solutions can overcome the frustration that Customers switching banks go through when having to lookup Company switching details.

1. The bank can provide the Local Company Bank Switch Notification form at the time the new account is open instead of a Generic Form
2. The bank can print the sending instructions for each account on the Generic Bank Switch Notification Form

Bank Prints Local Company Bank Switch Notification Form

In this scenario,  when a new customer is switching to the new bank,  the New Account Rep’s job is to make it easy. So they would ask the customer which companies they have automatic payments with that they would need to switch.  In the case of utilities like Big State Power,  this would be simple to have the forms available.   There is likely only one or two power companies close to the branch that most customers would be switching to.   However it would be very difficult to be able to track down all of the forms for all of the different mobile phone providers, cable and satellite TV providers, mortgage companies, etc.

This is the reason that Banks have created Generic Bank Switch Kits,  so they do not have to provide this service.

Bank Prints Local Company Information on Generic Bank Switch Notification

The bank does already have their Generic Form which they could provide to the customer,   so if they could fill in the instructions for how the customer should send this information to the Local Company that would save the customer time.  The bank does deal with many customers, and is in a prime position to collect this information and save the Customer time and frustration from having to look the information up.

The same issue applies here though,  there are simply too many companies out there and the time that it would take to organize all of these companies, quickly identify the companies that the Customer is using and print out the forms,  is not feasible using paper.

Examples of Local Company Bank Switch Notification Forms

To help describe what these forms look like,   We have included a couple links to some Local Company Bank Switch Notification Forms.   Companies do change these occasionally,  so please let us know if you find that some of these have changed.

If you have any suggestions of good examples,  please let us know and we will add them:

• Idaho Power – idahopower-bankswitch-notification.pdf
• Mirimar, Florida Water & Sewer – ACH Authorization – ACHauthorization.pdf

Matraex writes about Bank Switch Kits as it researches the Switch Kit industry to improve our Auto Switch Kit product

Bank Switch Kits

A Bank Switch Kit is a form or set of forms that helps a customer switch their bank account from one bank to a new bank account.  Generally this is focused around transferring automatic payments from the old bank to the new bank.

We have identified several types of Bank Switch Kits and we discuss each of them in this series

• Simple –  contains a Notification Form to send to each company
• Organized – contains a Notification Form to send to each company and a Worksheet to help coordinate the transfers

Within the Switch Kits we have identified two types of Notification Forms

• Generic – A form created by the bank,  which can be used to send to each company
• Specific – A form specific to each vendor company to assist their customer with switching banks

Organized Bank Switch Kit

Washington Federal Switch Organizer Company Type List

Organized Bank Switch Kits have a form or a worksheet to help the bank customer keep track of transferring automatic payments for the multiple companies they use.

Identifying and Listing the Companies

The Organizer Worksheet is typically made up of a way to check a box next to a list the companies that will need to have automatic payments transferred over.    They are typically made up of one or more of the following:

• Blank Lines – The customer has blank fields where they can write down each of the companies that they need to notify
• Common Company Types – Lists the common types of companies that each customer may have.  (Mortgage, Power, Gas, Phone, Cable, HOA)
• Specific Company List – Smaller Community Banks have fewer utilities their customers might be working with and they might be  able to list the company names for Power, Gas or other utilities.

Each of these methods prompts the customer to identify each of the companies that they have automatic payments with.  These worksheets simplify a task that could seem overwhelming to identify each of the companies they work with on auto payment.

Tracking Notification of Bank Account Switch

Notifying a company that you would like them to switch automatic payments to a new bank accounts takes time.  Bank Switch Kit Organizer Worksheets are designed to simply the process.

Not all worksheets are designed the same but they attempt to help collect some amount of information so that the customer has a single place they have to refer to.   Then they organize the process of notifying and tracking the progress of notifying the companies.

Bremer Bank Organized Switch Kit with places to track company name and contact info, account and payment information and whether the switch is complete

• Collect the company names and account numbers of all accounts
• Track the notification instructions for notifying each specific company (mailing address, phone number, etc)
• Track dates and methods that notification was sent or started
• Track dates of when the switch was successful ans confirmed

This will typcially be done by listing out a number of fields next to each of the companies that were identified or listed on the Organizer Worksheet.   The most common types of fields are:

• Company Name – A place to write the actual name of the company,  this is the only way that a company name is listed on a Blank Lines style of worksheet,   some Common Company Types worksheets do not make room for this,  since the customer often already knows exactly who their power, gas and cable provider is.
• Date – A date to track the process of when transfer is started,   often room for more than one date can be made so that  the form can track the date the switch was confirmed.
• Notification Instructions – a place to note how the company should be notified when a bank account switch needs to occur
• Account #- a convenient place to write the number of the account the customer holds with that company
• Amount – you can write the amount of the automatic payment that is made
• Notified – a place to mark a check or a date when you sent a notice to the company requesting a switch to the new account
• Switched – a place to mark a check or a date after you have confirmed that the company has official switched over to your new bank.

When a bank includes an Organizer worksheet in their Bank Switch Kit,  they give a tool for the customer  to keep track of the process and know where the next step is.

Examples of Organizer Worksheets for Switch Kits

In researching the different Organizer Worksheets,  we found many different styles and we have linked to several of them below

• Washington Federal [link] –  Has an overview page for their switch kit which lists several steps for switching,  Step 2 is to download their Switch Organizer which lists several Common Company Types.   The form helps the customers collect their account numbers and mark whether the company has been ‘Notified’ and whether the automatic payment has been ‘Switched’. The form does not have any place to list the name of the company next to the company type,  and it does not attempt to help collect Notifications Instructions for any of the companies.   The form does provide blanks and lines for a great number of possible companies and company types that might need to be switched.
• Bremer [link] – A community bank in Ohio,  has single pdf file Switch Kit  which has all of the instructions for how to fill out the switch kit.  On page 5 they have a list of less than 10 Common Company Types that may need to have automatic payments transferred from.   The Table has a grid with columns to enter the phone number, account number, amount , payment date,  and a check box for when the switch was completed.   Better the Washington Federal option,  the Kit has a place to list the phone number,  which could be useful help coordinate the and verify that the transfer went through.   Many companies require that you mail them a form though,  and this form falls short of providing a place to track the address to send the form.   One unique item on this table is the payment date.  While this is often a bit more complex,  sometimes the date that transfers have to be made,  must be carefully timed with the date the date that automatic payments will be withdrawn to make sure funds are available and not split between two banks.

 

Examples of Switch Kits which fall short of Organizer Worksheets

 

• Central Bank [link] – Has an overview page similar to Washington Federal,  where they describe the process of switching accounts starts with opening an account and then “Gather your account information and enter it on the Easy Switch Kit Account Information Worksheet-Form A (below) designed specifically for this purpose.” Later on the page they provide the link to the PDF Switch Kit Organizer Worksheet file named ‘SwitchKit_formA-LexWin.pdf’.  Oddly,  when opening this file,  it has a title that shows ‘Microsoft Word – Switch Kit Acct_Form-A.doc’.  If you look at the document,  there is very little information that you would actually need as part of a switch kit.  Typcially you simply need the NEW routing number and account number that you need to send to each company to let them know where they need to go.  In this form,  they prompt you to enter a plethora of information about the account owner,   joint account owner and the new account information.   In most cases you already have this information in your other documentation on the bank,  which seems to make this form unnecessary.  It does not help the customer switch their automatic payments and direct deposits over to the new bank,  it actually just helps the new account owner collect information about them selves which will help them to open their account more quickly,  saving the New Accounts banker time.  We actually call this type of Kit a New Account Information Organization Kit as it helps a customer setup a new account,  without any assistance related to moving money,  automatic payments or direct deposits from a previous bank.

 

Matraex studies and produces articles related to Bank Switch kits as part of our research to release upgraded features in our Auto Switch Kit product.