Basic Bank Account Thread

Daisy_Duck

sillygirl24 wrote: »

Hi all

This is my first post so be kind please!!!

Ive been following this thread with interest and decided to apply for a citi bank account as a 'parachute' account so I can start my claim against Halifax for charges on my account.

I have a relitively bad credit rating and have recently been refused for a First direct account although I can obtain car finance, morgage, credit cards albeit at a higher rate. As ive recently been refused will this affect my application?

Also do they provide joint accounts as this is what me and hubby have just now and it would be a complete nightmare to sort out all my dd's again?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Great thread and fab site guys:T

Hello! :wave:

Thought I would mention that the original post in this thread has not been updated since January and things with Citi have changed since then.
It seems there was a time at the start of the year when their account opening criteria was slackened but this is no longer the case.
Citi do not offer a 'basic' account, their current accounts are full accounts and will be credit checked/scored as such. You say you have a relatively bad credit rating so don't be too disappointed if they turn you down...

I would imagine that they offer joint accounts.

It will show on your report that First Direct have checked you but can't imagine that one search will have a great deal of impact... only concerning if you've also applied for several other things over the past year.
It will not show on your report that you were declined, only that a search took place.

DD

Daisy_Duck

lyndsay23 wrote: »

Hi, im after a little advice, i got into a bit of a mess with a rbs overdraft, i had a £1500 overdraft with them, and was struggling, so i stopped using the account and i have started a debtmanagement plan, they are paying the rbs towards my overdraft monthly and have been doing so for the last 4 months or so, i was wandering if anyone knew if i could close my account with the rbs as they are still adding charges on for me being over my overdraft, i feel like im going around in circles!! any help on this would be much appreciated

Hey Lyndsay!

I can't answer your question but I think if you post it as a new thread in this forum rather that as a post in this thread then I am sure lots of helpful people will answer that may not see it here.

Good luck! DD

dsab

Hello together,

I just moved from Ireland to the UK. As I have never lived in the UK before I have no credit history at all.

How difficult should it be to open an account? I have Bank Statements and Credit Card Statement from my Irish Bank to show.

What documents will I usually have to bring. As I only just moved here the only proof of adress I have is my lease. Will that be enough?

Cheers,
dsab

smithja

Hi, I would check it out with Equifax and Experian but I have a funny feeling they cover Eire. James

butch_dingle_2

Baron_Greenback wrote: »

I've noticed a few occurrences of people having their accounts upgraded on this site (Natwest, Abbey, Halifax)

Paradoxically, it would also be useful to know anyone who has been refused an upgrade being told "we never upgrade" or who have been turned down where they feel they have handled their account impeccably.

this is only based on my own experience, but from my many conversations with natwest it is not possible to "upgrade" a step account. Which makes something of a mockery of the name of it, but anyway....

They tell me there is no way on their computer systems to upgrade from the step account - they have to go thru a whole new account application, which will result in it being externally scored via equifax.

This caused untold problems for me, because I had one outstanding default from 5 years ago, so everytime, the computer blocked it. This was despite being shown quite proudly, that I had the highest internally rated score that was possible - even to being told many times - "gosh, nobody with a step account gets that score". I held this account (jointly) for 4 years, used it for both salaries, all bills, dds, etc and turned over around 55K per annum in this account. It was never overdrawn, never was a payment refused/returned, and the minimum balance at its lowest point was probably about 500 quid.

The moral here is that no matter how well you runyour account, if there is bad stuff on your credit report, you are going to struggle.

This was Glasgow branch of natwest. I expect to hear slightly different stories from different branches. It would be ridiculous if the policy was the same countrywide....

Baron_Greenback_2

Thanks Butch,

I've moved post to the main banking thread as it occured to me anyone who has achieved an upgrade probably wouldn't look in the basic account section!

butch_dingle wrote: »

this is only based on my own experience, but from my many conversations with natwest it is not possible to "upgrade" a step account. Which makes something of a mockery of the name of it, but anyway....

They tell me there is no way on their computer systems to upgrade from the step account - they have to go thru a whole new account application, which will result in it being externally scored via equifax.

This caused untold problems for me, because I had one outstanding default from 5 years ago, so everytime, the computer blocked it. This was despite being shown quite proudly, that I had the highest internally rated score that was possible - even to being told many times - "gosh, nobody with a step account gets that score". I held this account (jointly) for 4 years, used it for both salaries, all bills, dds, etc and turned over around 55K per annum in this account. It was never overdrawn, never was a payment refused/returned, and the minimum balance at its lowest point was probably about 500 quid.

The moral here is that no matter how well you runyour account, if there is bad stuff on your credit report, you are going to struggle.

This was Glasgow branch of natwest. I expect to hear slightly different stories from different branches. It would be ridiculous if the policy was the same countrywide....

sillygirl24

Daisy_Duck wrote: »

Hello! :wave:

Thought I would mention that the original post in this thread has not been updated since January and things with Citi have changed since then.
It seems there was a time at the start of the year when their account opening criteria was slackened but this is no longer the case.
Citi do not offer a 'basic' account, their current accounts are full accounts and will be credit checked/scored as such. You say you have a relatively bad credit rating so don't be too disappointed if they turn you down...

I would imagine that they offer joint accounts.

It will show on your report that First Direct have checked you but can't imagine that one search will have a great deal of impact... only concerning if you've also applied for several other things over the past year.
It will not show on your report that you were declined, only that a search took place.

DD

Thanks for this daisy duck!

I recieved the application pack in the post today for the above account, when I called the really unhelpful girl at the other end confirmed that the credit check had not been done till i sign it and send it back. Im now wondering wether I should just not bother with this account and try one that is more likely to accept me.

As iv already been refused by first direct i dont want another rejection showing. Any advice on whats the best account I should go for in my sitution? I only need somewhere that will give us a joint account for our salarys to go into and pay our direct debits. Not bothered so much about debit cards.

Thanks for any advice you could give me:p

mazza1970

I have got a basic account with Lloyds, but it is a pain as you don't get a debit card and you can only use the cashcard in Lloyds cash machines, they would not upgrade me a full account, so I thought I would look elsewhere. I applied to the Abbey, they asked me to send my recent bank statements and i.d. They then sent me what I sent to them back, without saying if I had the account or not, the first I knew that I had an account with them was when a cheque book arrived last Saturday and a debit card arrived yesterday - and I haven't got a very good credit rating, so I was very surprised they let me have an account with them!

DanDan123

Mazza, do you mind if i ask you what account you applied for, and how?

Do you also mind if i ask you how bad your credit rating is?

Thanks

mazza1970

I applied for the normal current account online, I was surprsed to tell you the truth that I got it as my credit rating is not that good, and earlier this year I got into arrears with my mortgage, but that is all paid now. Also, when I first bought my house 6 years ago, I had a CCJ and Abbey was the only one who would give me a mortgage at the time, I haven't got my mortgage with them now.