Opening a new bank account to help me budget - suggestions?

mippy

I currently have a current account with Abbey, which is a standard account - I have a Visa Debit card and a chequebook, and also have an overdraft of....£1750.

I want to open a new account to help me budget, eventually I would like to have my wages paid into this account and transfer money into Abbey each month to start paying off my overdraft. I don't want to switch accounts straight away as I am paying off two accounts through collections agencies and they take this money from my account using my debit card number held on file.

I applied for a HSBC current account in 2006 and a First Direct one this year, and have been turned down for both. Is it worth me trying again with HSBC? I was turned down by them before being given my overdraft and upgraded from a Visa Electron to a Visa Debit card (I hate electron!). Or should I get a basic account? At the moment, I want to leave my direct debits going out as usual but put my weekly spending/food/expenses money into a separate account so that I can budget week by week.

lxpeanut

Do you know why you were turned down for the current accounts? Have you checked your credit file and corrected any mistakes? Have you used all your overdraft or can you reduce it so that you have less available credit? Do what you can to increase your chances but if your being turned down because your credit history is bad then you will need to get a basic bank account. I'm with Coop it has an electron card but I've never had a problem with it.

Also I would ask the collection agencies for their details so you can pay by standing order instead of it comming off a card each month. That way you are in control of what goes out and when and you don't get any nasty suprises.

earplugs

http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/pdfs/bank_accounts.pdf

this is the FSA factsheet on basic bank accounts and who you can get them with - they are not allowed to turn you down for a basic bank account- if they do you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman - but they won't turn you down!!

mippy

lxpeanut wrote: »

Do you know why you were turned down for the current accounts? Have you checked your credit file and corrected any mistakes? Have you used all your overdraft or can you reduce it so that you have less available credit? Do what you can to increase your chances but if your being turned down because your credit history is bad then you will need to get a basic bank account. I'm with Coop it has an electron card but I've never had a problem with it.

Not sure, but I have had CCJs in the past, and am currently paying off my old student overdraft which Barclays passed onto a collections agency which didn't contact me for three years! So my credit rating isn't looking great. I want to try and pay off what I owe before I check my files (though it would be worth doing). I think a basic bank account is going to be my best option.

lxpeanut wrote: »

Also I would ask the collection agencies for their details so you can pay by standing order instead of it comming off a card each month. That way you are in control of what goes out and when and you don't get any nasty suprises.

Usually this works fine, but on one month they were supposed to debit it on the 28th as usual, and it ended up leaving my account on the 18th of the following month, which was a very nasty surprise!