Basic Bank Account Thread

question_time_3

I'm not sure if this is on the right thread but just wanted to make people aware of the alliance and leicester premier current account which offers a £100 reward for using its switching service.
alliance and leicester premier current account charges £5per day up to a maximum of £100pcm for an unauthorised overdraft. Alliance and Leicester will inform you of the date these charges will be applied to the account. If there is no money in the account on this date alliance and leicester will apply the charges anyway and then charge you for being overdrawn. I have had an alliance and leicester premier current account since 26/2/10 and to date I have been charged £250 in overdraft fees and just been notified a further £130 is to be taken from my account on 20th August. The £100 reward for switching accounts just isnt worth it unless you are always in credit.

DizzleUK

question_time wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is on the right thread but just wanted to make people aware of the alliance and leicester premier current account which offers a £100 reward for using its switching service.
alliance and leicester premier current account charges £5per day up to a maximum of £100pcm for an unauthorised overdraft. Alliance and Leicester will inform you of the date these charges will be applied to the account. If there is no money in the account on this date alliance and leicester will apply the charges anyway and then charge you for being overdrawn. I have had an alliance and leicester premier current account since 26/2/10 and to date I have been charged £250 in overdraft fees and just been notified a further £130 is to be taken from my account on 20th August. The £100 reward for switching accounts just isnt worth it unless you are always in credit.

Do you expect a free UNauthorised overdraft then? The whole point in it being UNauthorised is that you're not meant to be overdrawn :wall:

danilou1910

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone could help or advice me what to do next.

Me and my hubby are currently trying to sort out a DMP with CCCS. But before we can go head with the agreement we need to find a safe joint basic account for wage payments and direct debits for our household bills.

We have credit with HSBC, Halifax and Natwest. So I decided to go with santander. I spent an hour yesterday filling out forms in the branch. The guy on the help desk checks over the application, takes copies of our id and said that it all looked fine, they would open the account in branch that day and we would receive confirmation in the post in 2-3 days. Big disappointment when santander rings my hubby today and tells him because we have a CCJ which we told them ends this month as the last payment is due on the 15th and then we have settled our CCJ.

CCCS have advised us not to go ahead with the DMP until we have the account sorted as our creditors may freeze our other accounts. So we are stuck as where to go to open an account that will accept us with my hubby's CCJ.

Has anyone been in the same situation or similar that has managed to get an account opened?

lucy2158

Hi All
My huuby and I are in the early stages of talking about an IVA and need to open an account. Wew were thinking a flex account with nationwide is this classed as a basic bank account does anyone know? If not are there any recomendations can use Lloyds, Barclays or natwest.
Thanks

cifpower

I would opt for Barclays

lucy2158

cifpower wrote: »

I would opt for Barclays

Think me spelling has lef me lol sorry I ment CANT use Barclays, Lloyds or natwest :embarasse

JR1984

JR1984 wrote: »

Having a right hassle trying to open a basic bank account. So far I have applied for Natwest & Co-Op. Been accepted provisionally for both subject to an ID check.

Natwest looks to be out of the question, as I do not currently hold any of the acceptable ID documentation ( a provisional drivers license is not accepted ), and the Co-Op have sent me a letter asking me to take my ID into store or send in the post. This is fine however when I applied in store I provided my ID which they said was fine. The letter states that I need to provide one form of ID, with a table of what is acceptable included.

Listed in that table is the ID which I used in branch when making the application! This ID was photocopied and signed at the time.

They have also asked me sign and complete the agreement and standing order forms, and return with the ID, however neither of these forms were enclosed! Will not having these documentations cause a problem when going in store and trying to finalise the application of the account?

Further to this, I went into the Co-Op branch on Tuesday with my documentation and the letter to complete the account opening, and was told that the account was actually already open. Result! Payed in my cheque and was given account details on the spot, as well as setting up security questions for the account.

Was advised that the card and pin number would be received within 7 days along with a welcome pack. All of these turned up this morning after only 48 hours, so so so so happy!

mania112

mania112 wrote: »

Evening all,

I wonder if you can help.

I currently have an A&L basic account. I've had this account for maybe 3 years and the whole time i've had to make do with only a cashcard. As you can imagine my credit rating is very poor, but (according to Experian) I am debt free.

is there another basic bank account from another provider that provides a Chip and Pin debit card. I'd like to be able to make online payments and card payments in supermarkets for example.

I don't want any credit, and i'm sure they wouldn't give it to me. After having a discussion with the manager at A&L about this, when I asked why I couldnt have a debit card he said "if you were in Tesco and you spent £50 more than you had in your account, we'd probably still pay it".

In my mind he's describing a card/account with 'credit' facilities, but surely there are banks who offer debit cards with zero credit facilites?

Many thanks

Just an update on this post i made (on page 70)

With advice from this forum I applied for a basic account with Lloyds TSB (I forget the name of the account, but it's the one where you get a Visa Electron but you have to take cash out from a Lloyds branch)

I was accepted and went into my local branch to show my id - a formality.

When the lady @ Lloyds was finishing off my application with my ID she asked why I was only applying for the basic account. I told the truth and said my credit rating was very poor.

She said i'd also been accepted for their Silver Account, did i want to go ahead with that instead?!

So that's what I ended up with, £250 od, chequebook, visa debit, online/telephone banking, mobile insurance, AA cover, travel insurance (i think) for £7.95 pcm.

While I was there she said she'd check my risk rating, and I was a 4 out of 9, which is fine for a Silver Account, and only an 8 or 9 would only be able to take the basic account.

I thought i'd share a) to say thanks to those who gave advice and b) for others to try this path....

Many thanks

lucy2158

Just applied for Nationwide Flex account online really easy and straight forward got excepted refused the overdraft offered :T.
Next step speak to payplan and cccs about an IVA starting to feel like I am getting my life back in order, a long way to go but the first step is always the biggest!! :eek:

brit76

Watalie wrote: »

Brit - How did you go on? Did you get the Barclays account?

I'm asking as my partner is going to be applying for one of these basic accounts shortly and we don't want him to be credit checked but I bank with Barclays and it makes sense for him to be with them too.

thanks

No, did'nt even hear back off them to be honest so just assumed it's a no go but they could'nt be bothered to tell me. Putting it down to the credit card I had with them some time ago