New Year, New Financial Me... ?

Bitzal

Hi,

I've decided that in the new financial year with my recent promotion, salary increase and hitting mid 20s I needed to sort myself out. Im just curious what people thing about this whole idea of transition / or if I should do something differently?

Currently I have -
Santander Graduate Account (Final year now)
Santander eSaver Account

I have just opened the following accounts.
First Direct - 1st Account
Everyday Savings Account
Coventry ISA

The plan is to close the Santander eSaver (moving the money to my new ISA). Use my First Direct as my new main account and having a backup cash fund in the everyday savings incase I run short some months and not dip into the ISA fund.

The Santander graduate account will most likely transition to the Santander 123 account where I will just keep open with say £100 and setup alerts incase some charges come in.

The reason for keeping Santander open, is I've defaulted before on LOTS of overdraft charges(nationwide) when I was a student and they kind of destroyed my credit rating. Ive read that having a 'long' bank account open is good for credit so until Im in a situation where I can rebuild my credit I think ill keep it open.
Not registered on electoral roll and moving house this summer, so waiting until I move house to sign on to try also fix the credit.

Another area for concern is that I spend ridiculous amounts of money on food, Im spending hundreds and thousands on my lunches at work alone… Approx £8 lunches. I can never seem to create a budget and stick to it, any tips?

While im at it, has anyone any history with First Directory? AA, Travel, Mobile etc.


Any advice or if im doing anything wrong way about please let me know..

Thanks! :j

Herbalus

The Santander 123 account comes with a £2 per month fee - a bit steep if you're not actually going to use the account for cashback on direct debits or put money in there to gain interest. If you just want to keep the account to improve your rating and have a backup in case you lose your FD card or something, the standard Santander account will do this for you.

In terms of food, why not make a sandwich in the morning? 4 slices of bread and some cheese and ham can hardly cost more than £1. And if you lack the discipline for that (many do), surely a boots meal deal or something works just as well? If I think about it, I'm not sure I could spend £8 on lunch unless I went to a restaurant or John Lewis cafe. Even the hideously expensive Londis down the road from me will do a sandwich and coke for less than £5.

Bitzal

Thanks - I didn't know the Santander 123 charged £2!

Yea by time I pay for sandwich and loads of fruit its around £8.. outta hand really.

Ill switch to the standard account. Thanks