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Best Current Account For Pensioners?

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I have recently discovered that the current account my mum & dad, both over 65, are using is not doing them any favours. Their Alliance and Leicster account was taken over by Santandare. They are paying a small monthly fee for the account, the incentive being free travel insurance, but they dont travel!

They have agreed they need to switch, but where/who to?

It seems to me that they are not eligable for any of the 'cash back' offers that are available, and that genrally this section of society is ignored where day to day banking is concerned.

What a shame, as they are never over-drawn and a pension is a regular income after all.

Between them they have approx £800 per month to deposit, use the account to pay bills by SO or DD and have a little left over they save for christmas etc which is left in the account until needed.

They do not use a computer and altho I would be happy to bank on-line for them I wont offer as I think this would be an intrusion on their privacy, so these type of accounts are out of the question.

Any advice will be greatfully received from a daughter who just wants to help get the best for her parents :)

Comments

  • Chadsman
    Chadsman Posts: 1,113 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    With an income of under £1000 per month and not banking online that cuts out all the decent accounts. I would open an account at which ever bank or Building Society happens to be most the convenient branch.
    God save the King!
    I'll save Winston Churchill, Jane Austen, J. M. W. Turner and Alan Turing.
  • ses6jwg
    ses6jwg Posts: 5,381 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    they are entitled to downgrade their fee paying account to an everyday account retaining their cards and numbers etc
  • knightstyle
    knightstyle Posts: 7,224 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Agree with ses6jwg the easiest thing to do is to downgrade to a normal current account with Santander, can be done in branch, keep cards, account number and put a small arranged overdraft on it just in case.
    We, now pensioners, have just done the reverse to get the travel insurance as we are going abroad at least 4 times this year.
  • thank you all. I did think as much myself, but, as my mum in law used to say "if you don't ask, you don't get"; it was worth a shot at listening to what other people thought :T

    What a pity a HUGE % of the human race are ignored for having a low income :(
  • Mikeyorks
    Mikeyorks Posts: 10,377 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    What a pity a HUGE % of the human race are ignored for having a low income :(

    Nothing to do with the low income. All to do with the lack of online access I'm afraid.

    And the reason I used to manage my mother's savings. As I more than doubled the interest via Regular Savers and selected fixed term products. As she was intent on single handedly keeping the local PO open - she was happy to handle her day to day needs in cash via a PO account. But she did have a Halifax Reward Current account - and had organised SOs between that and a savings account to credit the £1k monthly. As her residual pensions were short of that.

    It can be done ..... but the lack of online access / visibility makes it difficult.
    If you want to test the depth of the water .........don't use both feet !
  • Chadsman
    Chadsman Posts: 1,113 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    If they travel in Europe a lot you could consider a Nationwide Flexaccount which offers free European travel insurance and a loyalty scheme offering discounts at various retailers. To get the benefits you need to deposit a minimum of £750 per month.
    http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/account_benefits.htm
    God save the King!
    I'll save Winston Churchill, Jane Austen, J. M. W. Turner and Alan Turing.
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