Basic Bank Account Thread

OldBob_2

Long ago, when I first had a bank account, I was told by an expert that the common practice of making out a cheque to "Cash" was not strictly correct, and that a court previously had ruled that the payee named should indeed be the person drawing the cash. This makes it more difficult for anyone to cash a lost cheque if they find it.

I have followed that advice for over 50 years despite minor arguments with bank clerks. Now I am told that my method is no longer legally valid. Is that really true?

James

Old Bob

On 1 October 2006 a change came into effect regarding the way cheques made payable to a bank or building society need to be written. Extra information should be added in the payee line, such as the name or account details of the beneficiary of the cheque.

Full details click here.

OldBob_2

Thanks James. I had seen that widely circulated piece about changes to cheque writing requirements, but alas it does not really answer my question, which refers to the drawing of cash from one's own current account.

vanessa1120

Can anyone please help, Ive applied to citi bank for the access current account.I have received the application form this morning does this mean they have accepted me or do they do the credit checks when they have recieved the form back? Concerned as my credit rating insnt very good.

DanDan123

They do the checks when you send the forms back!

Sorry!

keppoch1970

got to say I am happy with my Halifax Easycash acc. with debit card. Much better than the RBS one. I have Visa on the Halifax card so can use it for grocery deliveres & online purchases. Makes you feel more human & not so primitive. & I just go into a post office to take out amounts under £10.

karisuma

Hi everyone,

Just joined the forum and came across this fantastic thread which is really a life saver.
However I was browsing the beginning and saw a lot of different stories about people not being accepted to certain accounts so thought I'd post for some advice.
I was attending university up until 2003 when I had to drop out because I was suffering severely with depression.
I had been acting up spending money I didn't have on stupid things with Littlewoods and Littlewoods extra at my worst before I dropped out to make me "feel better" and had been struggling financially because I could barely leave the house to go to uni never mind work, so was relying too heavily on my student overdraft to try and struggle through to finish the year.
I went to the Bank of Scotland to talk things over with them to see what could be done about my student account after I had withdrawn but they weren't too forgiving and it defaulted pretty much immediately leaving me owing them the best part of £2000 with interest accruing further on that monthly since.
Now I did the worst thing I could do, stuck my head in the sand and it's been pretty much stuck there ever since.
I became a total recluse and it's really only this year I'm starting to make any progress and facing up to reality.
I want to get back on course, take care of the debts I'd built up, which are basically my Littlewoods accounts and the defaulted bank account, so I've contacted CAB and the consumer credit counselling service.
I want to open a basic bank account so I can set up standing orders or direct debits to make sure everything is paid in a timely manner and I can keep a tight reign on my finances.
I'm worried though that I won't be able to open a bank account that will let me do either, I don't have any CCJ's and have never declared bankruptcy but my credit is surely appalling, so I was wondering what would be my best shot?
At the moment I'm still not working and receiving incapacity with the hopes of getting back to work and finishing uni at the end of the year but till then, my benefit is my only income, which I know is another barrier to getting an account.

beekay1943

I am probably like many other bank customers who have a current account for all their day to day transactions such as Direct Debits and Standing Orders but also a separate higher interest savings account where I keep my surplus cash (I'm fortunate enought to have some!). I try and check the balances online every other day or so but have, in the past, been caught out when my current account has been overdrawn. Of course by the time you get the letter from the bank pointing this out to you, several days and numerous transactions have elapsed which incurs various exhorbitant charges - all to boost the bank's profits.

If the bank's computer software is clever enough to identify when my account goes "into the red" and produce this automatically generated letter, I'm sure it can also be programmed to send an automated telephone message to my home telephone number alerting me to this situation. This would allow me to rectify the situation on the same day it occurred by transferring money from my savings account to cover the overdrawn amount.

I'm equally as certain that the software could be imlemented in such a way that customers could specify their own minimum account balance, below which such an automatic telephone message could be sent alerting them to the impending, possible overdraft.

It is entirely within the realms of current computer programming that it would be possible to set up a standing transfer of a specified amount which would take place between the savings and current accounts once this minimum balance had been reached. Although these are obviously achievable benefits to the customer, they would of course deny the bank the opportunity to make even more money from us.

Jonny0000

Mistakenly I opened a new thread here that has had some suggestions including both a HSBC bank account and Lloyds.

Gillianh2

karisuma wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Just joined the forum and came across this fantastic thread which is really a life saver.
However I was browsing the beginning and saw a lot of different stories about people not being accepted to certain accounts so thought I'd post for some advice.
I was attending university up until 2003 when I had to drop out because I was suffering severely with depression.
I had been acting up spending money I didn't have on stupid things with Littlewoods and Littlewoods extra at my worst before I dropped out to make me "feel better" and had been struggling financially because I could barely leave the house to go to uni never mind work, so was relying too heavily on my student overdraft to try and struggle through to finish the year.
I went to the Bank of Scotland to talk things over with them to see what could be done about my student account after I had withdrawn but they weren't too forgiving and it defaulted pretty much immediately leaving me owing them the best part of £2000 with interest accruing further on that monthly since.
Now I did the worst thing I could do, stuck my head in the sand and it's been pretty much stuck there ever since.
I became a total recluse and it's really only this year I'm starting to make any progress and facing up to reality.
I want to get back on course, take care of the debts I'd built up, which are basically my Littlewoods accounts and the defaulted bank account, so I've contacted CAB and the consumer credit counselling service.
I want to open a basic bank account so I can set up standing orders or direct debits to make sure everything is paid in a timely manner and I can keep a tight reign on my finances.
I'm worried though that I won't be able to open a bank account that will let me do either, I don't have any CCJ's and have never declared bankruptcy but my credit is surely appalling, so I was wondering what would be my best shot?
At the moment I'm still not working and receiving incapacity with the hopes of getting back to work and finishing uni at the end of the year but till then, my benefit is my only income, which I know is another barrier to getting an account.

Open a Halifax easy saver account this comes with an electron card and has DD faciltity. It is a basic account and you can apply on line. I got this account and my credit file is rubbish:rolleyes: