As spring moves closer, this is traditionally a time of year when love blossoms – but for those whose feelings towards their bank or building society are less than warm and fuzzy, giving them the elbow has become much easier.

A new consumer guarantee to take the hassle out of changing your current account provider was launched in September, and figures released by the Payments Council, which is overseeing the initiative, show the number of people ditching and switching has surged.

A total of 306,240 switches were made in the last three months of 2013, marking an increase of nearly one-fifth (17 per cent) on the same period a year earlier.

A central redirection service has already swapped more than 900,000 payments over to new accounts since it was launched.

Under the guarantee, a customer’s new bank or building society arranges for all existing incoming and outgoing payments, such as direct debits and wages, to be transferred over, and their old accounts automatically closed.

It’s also cut the length of time it takes to switch, from up to 30 working days previously to seven – and 99.6 per cent of switches are being completed in this timescale, the Payments Council says.

After the switch has taken place, payments accidentally made to or requested from the old account will automatically be redirected to your shiny, new one.

If anything goes wrong, you are entitled to be refunded interest and charges on your old and new accounts.

The figures also reveal that while many people were busy wrapping their presents during the festive season, others were busy seeking out a new current account. In December 2013 alone, 83,729 people changed current accounts, showing a 54 per cent increase on the same month a year earlier.

The success of the scheme’s not being measured on sheer numbers of ‘switchers’ but against three criteria – customer awareness of the service, customer confidence in using it and how smoothly the service performs.

So if you’re perfectly happy with your current account, that’s fine, but you should know that it’s quick and easy to switch if you want to.