Which bank

KierNet

I'm sure there are a fair few threads on this, but can't see anything that stands out in a search! Will keep looking though!

At the moment I'm with Halifax, but their overdraft charges are £1 a day, which at the moment is adding up!

I've still got a current account with Lloyds TSB, but not happy with the staff at my local branch. Only reason I've not closed it is because my phone contact comes out from there, and I'm too lazy to swap it over!

Also got one with Barclays, never use it...will get round to closing it soon! Again, staff aren't helpful at all, and overdraft fees are OTT.

All I want is a basic current account, card to use in shops and internet banking. Small overdraft (£50, just to stop the huge fees from a unplanned OD). Not interested in phone insurance or anything extra.

Tried Natwest, and for some reason they want three months worth of statements from Halifax before they'll open my account to prove that I'm getting money paid in. Can only get a month at a time online, and going down to Halifax they don't say whos paid what in...which isn't any good!

Any help would be great! I know they are all pretty much the same, trying to pick the best out of the crap!

samwsmith1

I would recommend First Direct, the first £250 of your overdraft is free, and there's the excellent customer service too!
https://www.firstdirect.com
(Oh and £100 for joining them.)

KierNet

£10 fee a month sadly. Don't agree with paying to have somewhere to keep my money.

Also, wont get the £100 as I don't pay enough in.

YorkshireBoy

KierNet wrote: »

£10 fee a month sadly. Don't agree with paying to have somewhere to keep my money.

Why dismiss it without reading/familiarising yourself with the T&Cs? Are you "too lazy"?

Stick a pound in one of their savings accounts and you avoid the £10 per month fee.

Also, wont get the £100 as I don't pay enough in.

If you're only a small amount short then just 'cycle' it to meet the £1,500 requirement.

KierNet

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Why dismiss it without reading/familiarising yourself with the T&Cs? Are you "too lazy"?

Stick a pound in one of their savings accounts and you avoid the £10 per month fee.If you're only a small amount short then just 'cycle' it to meet the £1,500 requirement.

Just had a quick look, but can't find anything that says I can get this account without the monthly fee, just by opening this one. Do you know where it says this?

Get paid £660 a month, so no were near enough. Is cycling it, taking it all out and paying it back in straight away?

izools

All you need to do is open a savings account with them and put £1 in it to avoid the fee.

If you aren't prepared to do that, then HSBC, their parent company, would be best choice in terms of a high street bank.

I would say Lloyds TSB are a close third but their merger with HBOS and recent IT System integration is causing issues which I'd suggest avoiding.

The rest (Barclays, RBS / Natwest / Santander) are absolute cack and to be avoided at all costs. Nationwide are a good building society but can be difficult at times.

pinkdalek

Just out of interest how much is the overdraft with Halifax and are you in it for a long period of time; hence why the £1 per day fees are kicking in?

Only asking because if you had their Clarity Credit Card you can pay the overdraft off with no cash advance charge and pay 12.9% APR; now that is cheaper than £1 per day. With their credit card too you can earn £5 per month reward and it's free to use abroad or for foreign payments. Or just use the credit card to pay off the debt slowly over a period of time.

Their Reward current account pays you £5 per month (if you fund over £1000) so if you end up using your overdraft for less than 5 days a month then that pays for that facility.

If you are fed up with Halifax and their staff you find are not helpful then fair enough. I am only mentioning this as you did not like staff at the other banks you mentioned.

Hope that helps.

meer53

KierNet wrote: »

Just had a quick look, but can't find anything that says I can get this account without the monthly fee, just by opening this one. Do you know where it says this?

Get paid £660 a month, so no were near enough. Is cycling it, taking it all out and paying it back in straight away?

Very few people will be paying the £10 per month fee with FD. You only need to open another qualifying account to avoid it. You don't have to pay in £1500 per month, you only need to do that if you want the £100 joining bonus.

KierNet

izools wrote: »

All you need to do is open a savings account with them and put £1 in it to avoid the fee.

If you aren't prepared to do that, then HSBC, their parent company, would be best choice in terms of a high street bank.

I would say Lloyds TSB are a close third but their merger with HBOS and recent IT System integration is causing issues which I'd suggest avoiding.

The rest (Barclays, RBS / Natwest / Santander) are absolute cack and to be avoided at all costs. Nationwide are a good building society but can be difficult at times.

Thanks, I'll have a look at HSBC if need be!

pinkdalek wrote: »

Just out of interest how much is the overdraft with Halifax and are you in it for a long period of time; hence why the £1 per day fees are kicking in?

Only asking because if you had their Clarity Credit Card you can pay the overdraft off with no cash advance charge and pay 12.9% APR; now that is cheaper than £1 per day. With their credit card too you can earn £5 per month reward and it's free to use abroad or for foreign payments. Or just use the credit card to pay off the debt slowly over a period of time.

Their Reward current account pays you £5 per month (if you fund over £1000) so if you end up using your overdraft for less than 5 days a month then that pays for that facility.

If you are fed up with Halifax and their staff you find are not helpful then fair enough. I am only mentioning this as you did not like staff at the other banks you mentioned.

Hope that helps.

Last time it was £13, but they took it out when I was at my limit already...so wanted to charge me £20 extra! Managed to get them to cancel that though. I've not really had to deal with them in the past, apart from trying to get this fee sorted, they didn't like it when I said I wouldn't give my phone number out, as I wouldn't be giving any details out unless I phoned them.

meer53 wrote: »

Very few people will be paying the £10 per month fee with FD. You only need to open another qualifying account to avoid it. You don't have to pay in £1500 per month, you only need to do that if you want the £100 joining bonus.

Thanks! Think I'll go with that then!

pinkdalek

KierNet wrote: »

Last time it was £13, but they took it out when I was at my limit already...so wanted to charge me £20 extra! Managed to get them to cancel that though. I've not really had to deal with them in the past, apart from trying to get this fee sorted, they didn't like it when I said I wouldn't give my phone number out, as I wouldn't be giving any details out unless I phoned them.

You can request no marketing by telephone, that means they will not ring you trying to sell you anything. They may have wanted your mobile number to suggest registering for text alerts, this system warns you when you are near your limit/go over it, which would help you with the overdraft fees.

KierNet

pinkdalek wrote: »

You can request no marketing by telephone, that means they will not ring you trying to sell you anything. They may have wanted your mobile number to suggest registering for text alerts, this system warns you when you are near your limit/go over it, which would help you with the overdraft fees.

They wanted my home number, person on the phone said it was incase they needed to phone me back about taking the charges off. When I said I wasn't happy with giving my number out to talk about my bank details, and they would have to do it via letter...they said they couldn't take the charges off.

Phoned up a day later, and they didn't say they needed a number.