Cheques and Prepaid accounts

postuscodus

Hi

My son recently received a refund from HMRC by cheque. As he got himself into debt whilst at Uni, he had his bank account closed by his bank (First Direct) and now relies on a Cashplus? prepaid account until he gets himself back into the black. Rather than pay the extortionate rates that cheques cashing businesses charge, can I ask if anyone knows how he can get his HMRC cheque 'loaded' onto his prepaid card? He spoke to HMRC and they told him he can have a Giro issued instead, but it can take up to 9 weeks to have issued (which is ludicrous, I know)

Seemingly from what I can gather from their website, you can 'load' cash onto it as certain outlets, but it makes no mention of cheques and when he phones the 'helpline' he only gets automated options and no option to talk to a human.

Thanks

Kate

pmduk

I suspect you can't. These companies aren't banks and don't offer a full range of banking services.

The only options I can see are for you to ask HMRC to issue a giro, cash that and load the cash onto the cashplus account or open a basic bank account and give up the over-priced cashplus account. I suspect this is the best option, There's a list of accounts here. Just avoid HSBC as they are part of the same group as First Direct.

dazza.mk

Or opening a savings account to pay the cheque into (again obviously not with HSBC)

antrobus

dazza.mk wrote: »

Or opening a savings account to pay the cheque into (again obviously not with HSBC)

Well yes. In the circumstances, wouldn't the quickest option be to wander along to the nearest branch of the Nationwide (for example) armed with the necessary ID and open a savings account and pay in the cheque? Even these days Building Societies still have passbook accounts - rubbish interest rates naturally, but still useful if all you want is the facility to clear cheques you've received.

pmduk

antrobus wrote: »

Well yes. In the circumstances, wouldn't the quickest option be to wander along to the nearest branch of the Nationwide (for example) armed with the necessary ID and open a savings account and pay in the cheque? Even these days Building Societies still have passbook accounts - rubbish interest rates naturally, but still useful if all you want is the facility to clear cheques you've received.

After my experiences with them, I recommend you find a professional Building Society. Nationwide doesn't qualify in this category