Bank accounts

Glaucus said:
It depends. No that it matters, can see where this is going, howabout the rest of the spreadhseet, or just going to ignore that as well.
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Your spreadsheet mainly consists of comparisons to foreign money charges.

Unless an overdraft has become an important factor now?

I wouldn't base your choice of bank on whether they use a card reader or not for log in, this could change for any bank.
 
rossk26 said:
Your spreadsheet mainly consists of comparisons to foreign money charges.

Unless an overdraft has become an important factor now?

I wouldn't base your choice of bank on whether they use a card reader or not for log in, this could change for any bank.
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No its not changed, again ai listed the main thngs in the OP, the things I was struggling to find information on. Overdrafts and the bonus are still considerations, why wouldnt they be, just lower down considerations.
Banks might change and if they do I'll have to move on, i cant see banks that allow phone security changing to card reader only.
I really cant have a card reader to log in, i spend a lot of time in hotels for work, i don't wont to carry a reader with me everywhere, i want to be able to access my account and send money. So that very much is an importnat criteria and will be staying as my number one filter. If I cant even log on without a reader, I dont care what elese they offer as its pointless.

Foreign money charges is the biggest pointless outlay. So it is important, especially seeing most accounts are comparable elsewhere.
That spreadsheet is ordered by prioroty. The only one that could be the otherway around is swift and cash withdrawl.
And I've only listed insurance/breakdown etc if it fits my needs, many of those accounts have far more "benefits" but if they're pointless theres no point and thus not included.

At the moment its looking like lloyds for main acocunt and use metro for DD, but cant seem to find out how much you need to put into metro, but syaing that the number of DD/Bills i have it would be enough anyway. It makes logistics hardare though, making sure with the switch over that all are paid on time. Would much rather one bank, but doesnt look like any one bank offer it all.
 
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Glaucus i do not understand why you dont simply open as per my post with the exception of the Natwest account (which i have purely as i prefer Natwest branches over other bank branches).

The 123 gives you the best credit balance rate of any savings account, plus cashback on direct debits, the linked mastercard gives you 3% redemption on fuel and 1% redemption on food.

The Reward Account gives you £5/mo for keeping it open, and an additional £5 for the Clarity mastercard which takes care of the 0% forex.

Both have online banking and neither have card readers of any type.
 
A)I missed that post
b) im warry about getting another CC, already have three, keep transferring to get zero interest, which I'm trying to pay off. One I really want to pay off by jan/feb time. The other two still got ~12months interest free on.
C) its halifax ive had nothing but issues with them. I did open up a current acocunt with them and left.they couldn't even get the opening right, and well that was as good as it got.
 
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I'm with Nationwide - and refuse to pay for their "premium" flex account. Once you read the small print on their attractive "free" offers with the account - there are way to many clauses if you ever (very rarely) needed to claim - they are just playing into peoples increasing paranoia and stupidity - and charging for things the vast majority of people will never use.

I stick with their standard Flexaccount - and as long as you withdraw / change enough foreign money rather than withdraw abroad - they seem to be OK with security and Internet access. But considering we have a few savings accounts and funds with them - their rates are pretty dismal still.

I'm amazed people are so willing to "pay" a monthly fee for a bank to hold onto their money (considering most of the big players make millions on the interest held in current accounts)
 
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Heliospherez said:
I'm amazed people are so willing to "pay" a monthly fee for a bank to hold onto their money (considering most of the big players make millions on the interest held in current accounts)
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It depends what you get and how much. I have to buy travel insurance, phone insurance, gadget insurance and breakdown cover for motorbike(usually thats through insurance though). Its usually cheaper to get it through the bank than other means. I pay £10 a month currently which covers phone and gadgets, gives me some travel insurance but pretty usuless now as it doesnt include scuba or high alltitude, which I plan on doing both next year and only covers breakdown for car, which is no longer needed. But still cheaper than buying phone/gadget insurance. Protect my bubble which i used before was £6.99 just for ipad and they didnt even pay out, where co-op seems to be very good for paying out. So it relay does depend on what you need, what it actually covers and how much it costs.
I dont kn ow why you would just dismiss paying, i would have to pay someone for these things.

Ive read the loyds small print on their world travel insurance and all looks good excpet the 2500m max altitude, where i need 6000m. Says you can buy upgrades online, so was hoping someone could have a look for me. If not will have to ask in store. As thats a very expensive insurance just for one trip looking at ~£125 just for that, so if they offer it as an upgrade i would almost certianly be better off with them.
 
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Glaucus said:
Ive read the loyds small print on their world travel insurance and all looks good excpet the 2500m max altitude, where i need 6000m. Says you can buy upgrades online, so was hoping someone could have a look for me. If not will have to ask in store. As thats a very expensive insurance just for one trip looking at ~£125 just for that, so if they offer it as an upgrade i would almost certianly be better off with them.
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Just tried to upgrade mine for you , says I need to call them :)
 
I'm with Lloyds and they're great. In the past I've been with HSBC (left because of the dongle), Natwest, Barclays and Halifax and Lloyds have been/are the best.

No dongle to login, good/quick/efficient online banking and decent app. Have you seen their Money Manager feature?

Oh and in terms of security it's a member number and password to login followed by 3 digits from another password. When setting up a new online payee they simply call you (automated) to either your mobile or home (or whatever other numbers you have) and you just have to enter a 4 digit number on your phone. Simples.
 
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I have both my personal account and business account with Lloyds and could not be happier.

I also have one HSBC one which has a grand sitting in it, with no use of the overdraft, and every month they charge me £20 for having an overdraft facility that I don't use and they won't let me cancel.
I don't carry tons of cards around but HSBC won't let me withdraw from my account at a branch unless it is an emergency that I can prove (Or i have to pay further charges). In general, they are rubbish.

I also have a grand in the same setup at Natwest and they keep charging me too.

I have about £500 in overdraft at SMILE and they keep charging ridiculous interest rates, but say they are paper only, so they don't send you a letter but an "online message" that never shows up when you log in. Going to close that soon.

I want to try Hoares when my account is a bit more well endowed.
 
I just switched over last Monday to Halifax from Santander so I could get the £100 reward + £5pm. I initially applied for a First Direct account, but then they wanted me to send them a certified copy of my passport, which I would have to pay a lawyer for, and a bill/tax return.

I asked the guy if I could print out the front page of my tax return and he said I have to send them the original from HMRC, but I told him they don't send one, you do it online, and he said then it's not acceptable. He said the same about bills, you have to send them a paper one from your supplier.

I said all of my bills are PDFs, and how would they even know whether I printed it out and posted it or if I sent the one from the post, but he said they have a special department to check that...

I just told him to cancel the whole application since it's way too much faff. Seems daft they are so bent on getting paper copies of everything when they are an online bank, and these days most stuff is paperless.

Halifax opened my account online immediately with no ID required. I think they might have some information about me since I opened a Lloyds account years ago, and I think they are connected. Hopefully I will still get the £100!
 
twoblacklines said:
I also have one HSBC one which has a grand sitting in it, with no use of the overdraft, and every month they charge me £20 for having an overdraft facility that I don't use and they won't let me cancel.
I don't carry tons of cards around but HSBC won't let me withdraw from my account at a branch unless it is an emergency that I can prove (Or i have to pay further charges). In general, they are rubbish.
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I'm with HSBC and don't have any charges for my account :confused:

the secure ID thing is annoying though when making a payment online, though I have DDs set up for most things so don't use it that often. Still its probably the safest UK banking group if you're worried about any more impending financial doom and gloom...

I want to try Hoares when my account is a bit more well endowed.
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you'll be paying even more charges then... or at least the whole point of those sorts of banks is to sell you lots of services/advice... they don't make much from people simply having a large account balance... in fact they'd probably be a bit miffed if all you did was make a large deposit and use them as your current account... they do have a well dressed person to open then door for you though if you need to visit the branch (not that I've ever been a customer - just used to walk past at lunch)
 
i looked at the 123 account
its not as good as the halifax one for me

2 per month charge and the cashback just isnt enough to make more than the 5 halifax offer
water bill is smalll
broadband is like 5 per month
gas and elec are about 60
dont pay for sky so nothing there

i might open a first direct and just send the money to halifax each month!
 
twoblacklines said:
I have both my personal account and business account with Lloyds and could not be happier.

I also have one HSBC one which has a grand sitting in it, with no use of the overdraft, and every month they charge me £20 for having an overdraft facility that I don't use and they won't let me cancel.
I don't carry tons of cards around but HSBC won't let me withdraw from my account at a branch unless it is an emergency that I can prove (Or i have to pay further charges). In general, they are rubbish.

I also have a grand in the same setup at Natwest and they keep charging me too.
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Why on earth do you have £2,000 in two accounts that probably pay next to no interest yet you can't access the money and are being charged at least £240 a year? At least your problem will go away in a few years time when the money runs out...
 
The_Abyss said:
Why on earth do you have £2,000 in two accounts that probably pay next to no interest yet you can't access the money and are being charged at least £240 a year? At least your problem will go away in a few years time when the money runs out...
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Because I don't believe in credit cards, but want to keep my credit rating high for when/if I need a mortgage.

The only thing I have on credit is my mobile phones because you have to use credit for them, as the monthly charge varies. Other than that I believe if you don't have the cash for it, don't buy it. None of this buy now pay in a years time twaddle...who knows what your financial situation will be in a year?

I do the same in business... I could be at a level 10x higher than I am now if I got a bank loan for a big warehouse instead of a small unit...but what if it doesn't work out? That's the way I think and I would rather be safe than sorry.
 
twoblacklines said:
Because I don't believe in credit cards, but want to keep my credit rating high for when/if I need a mortgage.

The only thing I have on credit is my mobile phones because you have to use credit for them, as the monthly charge varies. Other than that I believe if you don't have the cash for it, don't buy it. None of this buy now pay in a years time twaddle...who knows what your financial situation will be in a year?

I do the same in business... I could be at a level 10x higher than I am now if I got a bank loan for a big warehouse instead of a small unit...but what if it doesn't work out? That's the way I think and I would rather be safe than sorry.
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If you know you can be 10x bigger, then surely it's worth the risk.

There's being careful, then there's cutting off your nose to spite your face :confused:
 
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