Ever been left fuming by your bank and threatened to take your custom elsewhere?

Chances are, as soon as you realised how complicated it would be to move accounts, you ended up not bothering.

Well, from next month, we customers will be laughing all the way to (and out of) the bank.. Thanks to The Payment Council, which oversees all bank payments in the UK, we’ll be able to switch accounts hassle-free.

At the moment the admin and paperwork can drag on for up to a month but from September 16, it’ll take just seven days.

The good news is that 33 banks and building societies have signed up to the new scheme, which is more or less every brand in the current account marketplace.

Hopefully, this will mean banks will have to become more customer-friendly and competitive to hang on to their share of the 46 million current account holders out there.

The jostling for position has already started, with First Direct offering £125 to anyone who switches in its favour and many others are offering incentives, such as free travel insurance and cash-back on bills.

Looking through the detail of the new system, it seems a win-win situation for us, the customer. For starters, switching banks will be free and backed by a guarantee from the Payments Council.

Any arrangements already in place, such as direct debits and standing orders or salary, will be transferred automatically from the old to new account.

At the moment, if you move accounts, a request for payment to your old bank will be rejected, leaving you embarrassed and possibly out of pocket. But after September 16, if payments are accidentally sent to your old account, they will be automatically re-directed for up to 13 months after you have left. You’ll also be able to access the funds in your old account up to and until the day you switch, when they will be transferred to your new one.

This has all come about as a result of research by the Independent Commission on Banking and The Payments Council.

They found that most of us are put off moving current accounts because we think it will be hassle and something will go wrong.

As a result, the big banks – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland – have the lion’s share of accounts. The government wants to shake things up and create a more competitive market, by making it easy for customers to vote with their feet.

Look out for the advertisements on telly next month, which will introduce the changes and explain how the new system will work. There will also be leaflets and posters in banks and building societies and plenty more offers, as they try to tempt us. No one knows how many people will switch but at least it should keep the big banks on their toes.