Basic Bank Account Thread

appleblossom

I have had a basic account with natwest for 9 yrs and am unable to get a current account with them, I have just updated to a silver account thinking that would give me the cheque book that I need only to be told it won't as the upgrade was from basic not current account.

Does anyone know of a basic account where you can have a cheque book? Did a search online and there is a company that offers you the info if you pay £29.95!!! I'm no mug!!

Thanks

Chrisblue1962

Hi all

This is a post which may prove useful for people looking for a basic bank account.

I currently have a Co-op cashminder account (personal spending), a Lloyds TSB basic account (bills) and a prepaid AA Spend and Earn card to cover petrol spending and places where my Co-op debit card cannot be used, such as my local train station.

I have become slightly disillusioned with Lloyds TSB as they restrict cashpoint access but still make huge profits from your money, plus the recent LIBOR scandal to me proves the "big banks" simply cannot be trusted anymore.

So, it's "back to basics" for me. Today, after some thought and research, I have spoken to the Yorkshire Building Society with a view to opening a Cash Transactor account.

The account will be used for monthly bills only so not having a debit card attached will actually be a bonus and not a hinderance - no temptation to spend "Bills" money on something else .

In the unlikely event of needing to withdraw cash, it comes with a LINK atm card, whose cashpoints are more numerous than Lloyds TSB. The lady who dealt with my query confirmed that I can pay my salary into it too.

Hope this helps.

Chrisblue1962

As an update to my previous post, please note that if you wish to open the Cash Transactor in branch then the minimum opening deposit is £100.00 - this is not mentioned on the Yorkshire Building Society website but I found this out when trying to open this account in branch today.

The minimum operating balance, once opened, is £1.00, which is mentioned on the website.

Oh well, back to the branch tomorrow with £100.00...

Goscar

My wife and I applied to Nationwide last October for a FlexAccount. To be frank, we thought it a pretty basic account in itself, however, despite having written to confirm that the appropriate cards and cheque book would follow, they failed to send the latter and subsequently sent us Cash Plus cards.

All pretty irritating, especially when the society keeps telling us (and anyone else who'll listen) that it is "On your side". To add insult to injury, we spend quite a lot of time in France - up to 90 days at a time - and find ourselves unable to withdraw cash from ATMs to pay for the basics - things like car park charges, entry fees, tolls, etc.

Frankly, we are astonished that an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution is allowed to prevent its customers from having access to their own funds, especially when travelling within the EU.:mad:

System

They are not required to give access to any machines other than their own, be they LINK or Visa.

Try N&P Building Society which has free ATM access or Barclays which have a reduced rate with BNP Paribas.

Goscar wrote: »

Frankly, we are astonished that an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution is allowed to prevent its customers from having access to their own funds, especially when travelling within the EU.:mad:

gregor123

Hi everyone, i may be able to offer some advice tobasic bank accounts, being one that is in an IVA. I was told to look at 3 accounts by my advisor. Coop cashminder, Natwest Step, and an account called flexicash but cant remember which bank this was.

As I had debt with variety of banks this was quite hard so i went down another route of a prepaid card, one with more or less banking facilities. It has certain things you cant do but one thing is it does work abroad. Goscar - this may be of some help to you?

I load mine by salary and also post office and it works well for me and has helped with money management, which i was rather rubbish at!

as it is with mastercard, it works in quite a few places nit just in england.. i go to France too sometimes if i can find the money, easy to get to! - and my card works well there.

when i finish my IVA, i may try open a new account but to be honest, dont see the reason in it!

taraG

Hi everyone im new here but though this might be the best place to ask...

I am currently getting paid by cheque which will stop as of next week and so i need a bank account and quick..!

I can only apply for a basic bank account and have heard that barclays or co-op would be the best for this..

So my question is.....

Does anyon know how long it takes from start to finish to open an account with one of these banks?

I am able to go into one of the branches tomorrow and so need an answer pretty quick..!!

Thanks in advance

gregor123

a bank account can be opened in a matter of minutes really. Look at coop cashminder and also the Natwest Step account too. Good luck!

cheapmp.player

Edinburghlass wrote: »

Done and thanks for this, saved me a good deal of time today

3641322]Done and thanks for this, saved me a good deal of time today

suthy

In case this helps anyone in the right direction, today i took over a 10 mile trip to my nearest barclays branch (as you can only apply in branch) with my relevent IDs in hand under the impression that opening a basic account with them would be a fairly straightforward there and then event. It isn`t. They insisted i would have to return for an appointment in 2 weeks time to go through the process?! I confirmed again that all i required was their basicest of basic account but apparently this is their policy! And no, it wasn`t because the branch was too busy at that particular time - i was the only (potential) customer in there :-(
So this evening i have just applied with the nat west on-line and just have to nip my IDs up to my local branch of that tomorrow which is about a mile away and that`ll complete my application!! :-)