Hi advice sought please? PLEASE????

CLAPTON

just a note about childrens' accounts:

because of the money laundering regulations you must open an account for each child if they receive cheques in their own names.

most building societies and banks do a/c for kids from 0 to 17 years. best to go to somewhere convenient to yourself but e.g Natiuonwide do kids account at 4.76% which is ok (probably not the best but consistently good). Make sure you fill in the form for GROSS interest rather than net.

and dont forget to post the SoA.

tirednurse_2

Hello Sassi,

I was in the position of not being able to keep up with Abbey bank's charges and overdrawn up to the max (1500 pounds). I didn't think I would be able to open another account due to my poor credit rating. I rang the Co-op bank and opened a cashminder account over the phone. They do a credit check but it is more to do with preventing money laundering than anything else. With a cashminder account you get internet banking and an electron card. This means that I can pay bills over the phone or internet if I need to.

I am a bit of a belt and braces kind of girl so I also opened a Natwest step account. You don't get an electron card with this, just a card to use at the cashpoint. Neither of these accounts offers an overdraft facility. Which is good.

I use the Co-op account for all my direct debits and the Natwest account to squirrel some pennies away in case of emergencies.