Please recommend a current account with a live/fast balance

Treguard

Hi everyone

Well after being with Alliance & Leicester for 7 months, I've had enough. The available balance is never PROPERLY uptodate and I find the transfers between accounts too slow. I've even noticed the available balance changing by a couple of quid from one day to the next. The other day the account showed £38 being available, I made a £21.12 debit card transaction and then a cheque cleared later that day (but didn't show up in themorning which is bizarre). I then view it the next day and it shows 5p available. I then receive a letter a couple days later saying the account was past the overdraft limit for 2 days. The girl on the phone couldn't match with what I saw on the screen at the time.

Although you could suggest keeping a ledger, I don't think that you should HAVE to do this and previously using Halifax I was quite happy. Unfortunately I can't use halifax now due to a debt with them which is going through Payplan so I was hoping some peeps on here could suggest a good bank to move to but that isn't related to Halifax (can't open a current account with one of my creditors). Btw, I'm not interested in Interest rates. I just literally want an account with good solid online banking which shows a LIVE available balance and e.g. when i make a transaction it comes off straight away. The Halifax could do it so there must be others!

Thanks in advance!

Dickieburd

We are with The Royal Bank Of Scotland and we used to be with A&L like you the delays in showing the correct balance at anytime made us leave.

We can recommend either the Key account which comes with Cashline Plus (Solo debit card, subject to status) or a Cashline cashcard both with max £300 ATM withdrawl a day. The Key account has no overdraft facility. It does have instant up to date balance on either online banking, ATM or phonebanking. The phonebank also has an 0131 number as well as 0845 access number.
If you think your credit rating is good then you could apply for the Interest Paying Current Account which has overdraft facility and Maestro debit card (both subject to status).
You can apply for both accounts online and if you are on the electoral roll then you do not need to send any identification and you will get a provisional decision at the end of the application. http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/g1/standard-accounts.ashx

Lokolo

I have found HSBC to be the best out of Lloyds, Halifax and themselves. But it is a matter of person taste/opinion.

blueberrypie

Treguard wrote: »

Well after being with Alliance & Leicester for 7 months, I've had enough. The available balance is never PROPERLY uptodate and I find the transfers between accounts too slow. I've even noticed the available balance changing by a couple of quid from one day to the next.

I agree that A&L's on-line banking is often slow to update, and balances are unreliable.

The other day the account showed £38 being available, I made a £21.12 debit card transaction and then a cheque cleared later that day (but didn't show up in themorning which is bizarre).

Why do you think it's bizarre?

Although you could suggest keeping a ledger, I don't think that you should HAVE to do this

Why not? It's your money, and it's your responsibility to run your bank account in a responsible way. How is the bank supposed to know that you've written a cheque which hasn't gone through their system yet? How is the bank supposed to know which direct debits might be taken tomorrow or the day after?

I just literally want an account with good solid online banking which shows a LIVE available balance and e.g. when i make a transaction it comes off straight away. The Halifax could do it so there must be others!

No bank can possibly keep track of everything you have done. My current account balance right now does not, for example, reflect the cheque that I wrote yesterday, nor the cheque that I deposited through the post office this morning. In fact it doesn't reflect the cheque that I wrote four months ago - which might never be presented, but if it is presented on Monday, it's my responsibility to ensure there's enough money in my account to cover it.

ShelfStacker_3

blueberrypie wrote: »

Why not? It's your money, and it's your responsibility to run your bank account in a responsible way. How is the bank supposed to know that you've written a cheque which hasn't gone through their system yet? How is the bank supposed to know which direct debits might be taken tomorrow or the day after?

The OP isn't asking A&L to do any of those things though. The OP is asking for A&L to tell him whether cheques which HAVE gone through their system have gone through their systems, which direct debits have already been taken, and how much is available for him to withdraw at this precise moment - a task virtually every other bank finds quite simple.

blueberrypie

ShelfStacker wrote: »

The OP isn't asking A&L to do any of those things though. The OP is asking for A&L to tell him whether cheques which HAVE gone through their system have gone through their systems, which direct debits have already been taken, and how much is available for him to withdraw at this precise moment - a task virtually every other bank finds quite simple.

Regardless of whether a cheque or a direct debit has gone through ten minutes before I check the balance or ten minutes after, it's still a commitment I've made - so relying on the available balance isn't a good idea. It's still up to me, not my bank, to know how much I can spend without going overdrawn.

ShelfStacker_3

blueberrypie wrote: »

Regardless of whether a cheque or a direct debit has gone through ten minutes before I check the balance or ten minutes after, it's still a commitment I've made - so relying on the available balance isn't a good idea. It's still up to me, not my bank, to know how much I can spend without going overdrawn.

What the hell is the point of an available balance which doesn't accurately display what funds are available to withdraw on an account at that point in time? Again, nobody's asking for A&L to do the financial planning for the OP, they're asking for A&L to do their job correctly and give an accurate balance.

Really, my available balances (with RBS, HSBC and First Direct) all are quite simple - account balance, minus uncleared effects and debit card authorisations. The OP wants something like that, not one that bears no relation to anything.

Breezy85

When I make payments with my Natwest Maestro card my balance goes wierd. Sometimes it takes it off, sometimes it takes it off then its available again, sometimes I buy petrol and only £1 comes off my balance. The only time I've ever had a true available balance has been when I had my Natwest account with a Solo card.

I'd say go for a basic account with Natwest or Halifax

Extant

Breezy85 wrote: »

When I make payments with my Natwest Maestro card my balance goes wierd. Sometimes it takes it off, sometimes it takes it off then its available again, sometimes I buy petrol and only £1 comes off my balance.

When you buy something in the "normal" fashion - such as a lamp from a shop - the item is in a fixed form with a fixed price. So the shop just asks for the exact amount from your bank.

When you use a petrol pump, you have to authorize your payment before you start pumping - to prevent you from pumping the petrol and then having your card declined. So they authorize the nominal amount of £1 to ensure the card is valid, and then debit the correct amount later.

7sefton

Stay away from Co-op/Smile, because their system is absolutely terrible. Debit card transactions never show up for about 3 days, meaning even the 'available balance' isn't correct. They also have very poor faster payments.

Halifax is my thumbs up.