Help! - Halifax EasyCash A/C or Barclays Cash Card A/C ?

armyoftwo

Hi guys,

I want to apply for a basic account as I want to use this account solely for bills (i.e. mobile contract, supermarket etc). I am just wondering which account would be better, the Halifax EasyCash account or Barclays Cash Card account?
Any advice appreciated
Thanks
:j:j:j:j:j:j

stclair

Barclays as you get a visa debit as apposed to halifax visa electon.

rb10

In general, people on here agree that Halifax's online banking is one of the best. Obviously this is subjective, but most people seem to find it very powerful and easy to use.

As was said above, Barclays would give you a (restricted) Visa Debit card, whereas from Halifax you'd get the slightly more inferior Visa Electron. (Note that the card from Barclays is not like a normal Visa Debit card, as it doesn't have quite such wide acceptance).

If you open a Halifax account, then you may be giving yourself a greater chance of being able to upgrade to a full current account with them. If you are planning on not using your overdraft, then Halifax's full current account is better than Barclays'.

sparrer

I agree with rb10. Like many here on MSE I was in a mess with money and approached 2 banks who wouldn't entertain me. I eventually approached Halifax and opened an EasyCash a/c with an Electron card, and ran the account satisfactorily for only 6 months before I was able to transfer to a standard current account and debit card.

Some 4 years on I'm still with them, primarily using on line banking but also find it a pleasure to go into branch where the staff know me by name and are always so polite and helpful.

I can't speak for Barclays as I've never dealt with them but Halifax has my vote 100%.

pmduk

I'm not keen on the restrictions that Halifax imposes on using their counter services.

book12

I would recommend Barclays. The card is better than an Electron, and can be accepted whenever Electron is not accepted.

When applying for the Barclays account, you get the account details on the same day, and only need one piece of ID. For Halifax, you will need to wait for a few days.

Anyway, any account will do really, since it's not your main account, and it's for bills. It's up to you.

rb10

pmduk wrote: »

I'm not keen on the restrictions that Halifax imposes on using their counter services.

I think this comes from a misunderstanding from people who don't know quite how much you can actually still do in branch.

You can still pay in as much as you like in cash or cheques, and it's credited to your account on the same day. You have to use the machine to do this.

For withdrawals, if it's <£300, you use the ATM, and for anything >£300, the counter.

It's not really that restrictive.

bristolflf

why not try the Co-operative Bank? They give you a debit card that you can use in ATMs, shops and online and you can set up DDs, SOs etc on-line. They don't have many branches but the big advantage is that you can pay money in and draw money out at any Post Office - worth looking into!

ps: they are also the High Street's only ethical bank for investments - a claim that still stands despite the apalling lack of ethics displayed by the others!

dizziblonde

I'm moving away from Halifax after many years - some of these with their current account, some with just their basic easycash account as they up/downgrade my account with monotonous regularity (my income can be very variable throughout the course of the year and it seems to depend on the balance on the one day of the year the computer's eye randomly descends upon my account). Card was generally a bit bleh to get accepted in places when I had the basic level account - but I think it's improving in how widely it's taken.

Reasons I'm moving are nothing to do with customer service, their telephone staff (always excellent), their branch staff (again, not enough of 'em as is typical with banks, but always decent) or their online banking - I'm moving TO Barclays as I'm going to a joint account, and in protest over some of the more moronic decisions coming down from management - like the massively punitive overdraft changes (we've worked out how much it'll cost and how often we'd be overdrawn as a joint and it's nowhere near as much) and their excruciatingly awful adverts that they persist in running.

Hate to see idiots in senior management managing to so effectively kill off a decent little bank in terms of customer service (I've been with 'em since the days of Leeds Perm!), but the only way they'll get the message is people voting with their feet (taken a few months to get set up to make the switch) - and from the woman in Barclays the other week when we went in to sort things out - they seem to be pulling a lot of business in from Halifax abandoments.

rb10

dizziblonde wrote: »

Hate to see idiots in senior management managing to so effectively kill off a decent little bank in terms of customer service (I've been with 'em since the days of Leeds Perm!), but the only way they'll get the message is people voting with their feet (taken a few months to get set up to make the switch) - and from the woman in Barclays the other week when we went in to sort things out - they seem to be pulling a lot of business in from Halifax abandoments.

I guess you'll be surprised to hear that Halifax opened more current accounts than any other bank - they opened about 1.2m during 2009, compared to just 400,000 at Barclays.

It doesn't really look as though they are 'killing off a decent bank'.

dizziblonde

And how many of those were people on here opening their three fiver-a-month jobbies to play "juggle the grand" for their free money?! Plus, the overdraft changes came in after the period you're quoting figures for anyway - I'd be willing to bet this year's are going to be nowhere near as good.