Trying to save but accused of being a terrorist /fraudster :-(

jackyann

I use a money programme to keep track of my "virtual" brown envelopes

Errata

18 accounts :eek: What's wrong with one account and a notebook

Archi_Bald

jackyann wrote: »

I use a money programme to keep track of my "virtual" brown envelopes

Can you post a link to the money programme you use? That might be easier for the OP than my suggestion of spreadsheets.

To all the others laying in on the OP: give her a chance. She is used to budgeting with envelopes and wants to take the next step.

libra10

I would hate to try and keep track of so many accounts.

anna42hmr

to be honest, whilst the OP has possibly gone to the extreme end in terms of the number of accounts, it sounds like she has followed the piggy banking technique suggested by martin, http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning#piggybanking

his example shows having 6 accounts i also personally follow this technique but I have 8 "side" accounts for different purposes. not sure if i would manage with 18, and the bank has been fine with this over the years as they are just old bonus savings accounts that have matured which i have kept, as only have relatively small balances in.

The only time lloyds mentioned anything was when i went in to open an ISA a couple years back and they asked if wanted to amalgamate the money into one, and when i advised why i wanted them individually there was no problem at all.

I can see why it could raise flags for fraud, money laundering etc, but not had a problem in all the years i have done this.

its quite easy to work out how/why would have multi accounts, for instance mine are:
holiday,
car,
christmas,
birthdays,
entertainment spending (used for going out, theatre tickets etc)
health/medical (which i used to pay for my glasses, dentist appointments, prescriptions etc)
clothes,
dog account (keep money aside for annual injections equivalent of the insurance excess etc,

each one has a small amount in and has a standing order into each month from my current account (most only £10 a month or so) then the money is there when needed.

I find it easy to keep track of them as they all show on my lloyds internet banking, and have there own names, plus takes a couple minutes to update the spreadsheet i have with all my accounts on. (my main savings are kept separate from these side accounts and monitor them all via spreadsheets any way)

Hominu

I can just imagine getting 18 letters through the door at the beginning of every month for the account statements! I think the post man will begin to think that something suspicious is going on, never mind the bank.

I'm sure you could become more general, like "food" which would be meals out, lunch, groceries, etc.

anna42hmr

Hominu wrote: »

I can just imagine getting 18 letters through the door at the beginning of every month for the account statements! I think the post man will begin to think that something suspicious is going on, never mind the bank.

I'm sure you could become more general, like "food" which would be meals out, lunch, groceries, etc.

LOL If they are standard savings accounts, statements are often annually rather than monthly (which mine are with lloyds).

its not that uncommon (or it didn't used to be) as I remember loads of threads on the piggybacking technique a couple years ago.

plus these days having a lot of accounts is standard for many people when you have to chase interest (i.e many of us have several current accounts for interest rates etc) i would have thought that the banks are starting to be more used to seeing higher numbers of accounts in general.

nidO

anna42hmr wrote: »

plus these days having a lot of accounts is standard for many people when you have to chase interest (i.e many of us have several current accounts for interest rates etc) i would have thought that the banks are starting to be more used to seeing higher numbers of accounts in general.

Chasing interest generally involves having a spread of different account types at different banks though, or maybe having 2-3 of particularly decent accounts (FlexDirects for example) and in these types of cases, the banks tend to have limits of 2-3 accounts - I would think having 18 of the same account with the same bank is massively abnormal, and frankly i'm surprised Natwest let the OP have this many.

luvchocolate

I used to do envelopes too but was concerned about the cash at home..!i am rubbish with spreadsheets so I have a little book with a different page for every item....car tax/insurance and so on the cash is in the same account but I can see how much I have on one side for everything......not explained very well tough day at work LOL,, but you get the gist of it

ThumbRemote

Hominu wrote: »

I'm sure you could become more general, like "food" which would be meals out, lunch, groceries, etc.

Which would completely defeat the object, as OP has stated that this method is working for them as now it is obvious that a sneaky pizza means taking money from something else.