Best Current Accounts Discussion Area

wayned1985

I currently have an Lloyds TSB Current account, after reading a couple of pages on this site i was going to sign up to A&L, but the problem is you have to be 21 im 21 next august 06, so i guess thats out the question, does anyone recommend any other current account with the same sort of benifits as A&L or should i stick with lloyds?

Thanks

EDIT: Also i forgot to mention a couple of criteria's, I dont earn enough yet to pay in £1000 a month, also a nice interest rate would be nice plus an overdraft dont really bother me.

eilz

Its now changed to £500 a month minimum, not £1000 as it was previously, but yeah your right, if your not working £500 a month is still loads. Oh, well those who can do £500 a month get £50 for joining.

wayned1985

sorry i do work but only part time i can afford the £500 month, but im not 21, so was just wondering if its just best to stick with lloyds for the time being.

eilz

If your over 18 and have someone over 21, you can open a joint account

Tony_H_3

I've quickly scanned this thread and there is no mention of Norwich & Peteborough Click Here whom currently offer 8% on thier tied "Gold Savings Account".

snaggle

I opened a PREMIER DIRECT A/C with A&L at the start of this year after reading an artical on this sight & by the start of the financial year had also tranfered all my ISAs and also opened a PLUS SAVER a/c. But with the drop in interest rates I found that the + saver was not paying the best interest and tryed to close it down by moving money into the Premier Direct. This it let me do untill I tryed to remove the last £1 and then It stoped letting me take money out.
Yeserday I called into the Sheffield branch & was told the only way to close this a/c was by phone, I replyed that as I had opened it on the net Surely I should be able to CLOSE it on the net.
After some debate I left and when I arrived home I looked at the phone number and taking note from MARTIN'S sister sight ( say no to 0870 ) I looked up the local number (it's in Leeds) only to find that when I got through I was asked " were are you phoning from ?" I told the lady (?) "Sheffield" to be told in no uncerten terms that I was not allowed to use that number as it was only for oversea's calls and I had to use the overpriced number.
I finished up writing them a letter stateing that I want to close an a/c with £1 in and they are holding around £45,000 of my money Would they like me to close those as well ?.
I find them VERY slow when they are updateing transactions. It takes days for them to update my a/c were as when I was with ABBEY you could put money in at the counter and go to the ATM and find that money already IN the Account.
After about ten month with A.&L. I am thinking of moving to a bank that has CUSTOMER CARE training for it's staff, After all they are working for us, Or are they ?
Snaggle

eilz

Norwich & Peteborough sounds great, but you have to put £1000 a month in for 12 months and can't touch it, to get the 8% interest, a little steep for me to do

p.s. - please allow me to recomend them as a friend for A+L Account, so we BOTH get £50.

lynneinjapan

I've had a current account with Lloyds TSB (or the TSB) for over 20 years but have never had my salary paid into it. Basically it has a couple of hundred pounds in it and doesn't really get used much; my main current accounts are with HSBC (salary & DDs) and IF (offset mortgage and store for most of the money that's left over after my DDs have been paid).

I'd like to start having my salary paid into my Lloyds TSB account and so upgrade to Classic Plus and benefit from the high interest rate, and dump the HSBC one. However, as a loyal customer of over 20 years' standing, I don't see why I shouldn't also benefit from the £50 cash gift that they are currently offering to new current account customers. I did look into signing up for a new current account online but in order to get the £50 deal you do have to confirm that you don't have an existing current account with them. If I have to, I will close my existing current account and open a new one in order to qualify, but I've just sent an email to them to find out whether this is really necessary, or whether I can bypass that step and still get the money!

Has anyone else tried this?

(I did try their call centre but all the nice lady in India could do was suggest that I upgrade to a Select Account, which basically means paying THEM for a bunch of services that don't interest me in the least.)

planetf1

How are A&L with
a) overdrafts
b) speed of money transfers

I'm currently with Royal Bank of Scotland and have a rather large overdraft limit, (10k) - originall setup when I was buying a car but it's very handy for allowing some flexibility in money transfers ie to /from savings/CC. Normally current a/c runs close to 0 at end of month, with decay after salary... the -10k is purely a safety net... nice though.

Are A&L likely to offer such a facility? I'll have a current letter from my bank confirming this (fair enough not to be at 0%!)

b) Can I still assume payments in etc get credited within the usual 3 days? Anything else I might miss from using a main clearing bank?

RBS have been absolutely fine CS wise, but current a/c interest is around 1.5% (not quite - auto transfer in/out on a daily basis - pain in MS money!) and o/d 15+% (so you really don't want to do it). Called them today and they can't offer anything better.

Might I be better with Lloyds (not a customer) or cahoot (have a CC). The balance is quite variable each month, by more than the 2.5k cap A&L on high interest.

grumbler

planetf1 wrote:

...overdraft limit ... -10k is purely a safety net...

Are your so heavy that you need such strong safety net? :rolleyes:

Are A&L likely to offer such a facility?

I don't think so. As far as I know free ovedraft is usually within minimum monthly credit. Mine is £500 with £1000 credit.

Can I still assume payments in etc get credited within the usual 3 days?

Yes, you can. My transfers from Barclays arrive on the third working day (i.e. transferred 3/10 credited 5/10)

RBS have been absolutely fine CS wise

Don't expect this from A&L