Natwest Step current account v Lloyds classic vantage

cbassno3

Evening all,

I do my main banking with Lloyds tsb. I have been banking with them for around 7 months and at the start was very impressed with the services they providing. In the recent few weeks I have been a little dissapointed. Firstly I did have the silver account again at first a great little account until the changed t&c in reference to mobile phone insurance I.E £100 Per claim on any phone. Very excessive in my opinion compared to other banks. Vantage percentage has been reduced which is a shame, good while it lasted. And lastly I can't have a cheque book with my classic account, It's not the end of the world but it's still a little perk with the account. Has anyone had better experiences with Natwest and would advise me to switch to them or shall I stick with Lloyds? Many thanks in advance!;)

jen245

Natwest Step account, is a basic bank account, and so doesnt come with a cheque book or overdraft facilities. You'd better off applying for the Current Plus account. I have this account as my main account, and have a cheque book, with a £250 cheque guarantee card (although from next month this function will be useless!) and an overdraft. I have no complaints, online banking is very good, athough their savings products arent very competitive (I have Halifax accounts aswell for better rates).

cbassno3

jen245 wrote: »

Natwest Step account, is a basic bank account, and so doesnt come with a cheque book or overdraft facilities. You'd better off applying for the Current Plus account. I have this account as my main account, and have a cheque book, with a £250 cheque guarantee card (although from next month this function will be useless!) and an overdraft. I have no complaints, online banking is very good, athough their savings products arent very competitive (I have Halifax accounts aswell for better rates).

I did apply for the current account + but due to needing to improve my credit score it only gave me the options of the step account and the cash account. I'm quite happy with the step account just waiting for my debit card and pin etc. Thats kind of why Im thinking is it best to switch build up my internal score with Natwest to in the future have the current account plus etc?

TheEffect

Isn't the step account a basic account?

Therefore it will not have any internal ratings and will not show on your credit report. Stick with Lloyds.

jen245

I dont think the Step account generates an internal score to apply for other credit products, but if you run it well for 6-12 months, they might uprade it to a current plus, but it isnt guaranteed and would probably be subject another credit check

cbassno3

TheEffect wrote: »

Isn't the step account a basic account?

Therefore it will not have any internal ratings and will not show on your credit report. Stick with Lloyds.

Yeah the step account is a basic bank account but it's classed as a current account. It's also credit checked too so who knows they may report to cra to produce an internal score and general behaviour?

stclair

TheEffect wrote: »

Isn't the step account a basic account?

Therefore it will not have any internal ratings and will not show on your credit report. Stick with Lloyds.

Natwest step account does have an internal rating and the account will report to the CRAs

stclair

jen245 wrote: »

I dont think the Step account generates an internal score to apply for other credit products, but if you run it well for 6-12 months, they might uprade it to a current plus, but it isnt guaranteed and would probably be subject another credit check

If you internal rating is 7 or above the bank will recommend you apply for other products such as an account upgrade.

jen245

stclair wrote: »

If you internal rating is 7 or above the bank will recommend you apply for other products such as an account upgrade.

Would they run another credit check though, or would it be pre-approved?

cbassno3

stclair wrote: »

If you internal rating is 7 or above the bank will recommend you apply for other products such as an account upgrade.

Do you know what the internal score is required for a Step account?
If it's 4or5 with a bit of hard work I could get an upgrade in the future?

stclair

jen245 wrote: »

Would they run another credit check though, or would it be pre-approved?

It may get pre approved but 9 times out of 10 they will do a credit check.