Please help me choose!

The_Offside_Rule

Good morning everyone,

I have a Nationwide basic account which I opened in June 2011, and have been running it very responsibly from the start (I'm still battling with my terrible credit standing though)

I've been following a guide that I saw here some time ago that advised me to do a lot of business with my bank, so I have my home insurance with them and an ISA. I will also be getting my car insurance with them in March.

However, due to the aforementioned battle with my credit standing I tried to upgrade my account to the 'full' current account as prompted on the online banking menu. I got turned down although that has not left a mark on my credit report.

I then went down to Natwest to open their basic account (formerly the STEP account). The kind lady there ran my details through and said that I am eligible for the Select account, which is their 'full' one. I was accepted and it is now open :T

What should I do now? Should I leave things as they are and keep the Natwest account open with £1 in it, or should I switch over? If I do that, should I keep my Nationwide account open?

Thanks all!:money:

innovate

Nationwide generally has much better products than Natwest. Have you spoken to anybody in Nationwide, either on the phone or in branch?

The_Offside_Rule

innovate wrote: »

Nationwide generally has much better products than Natwest. Have you spoken to anybody in Nationwide, either on the phone or in branch?

Yes, I got turned down in branch at Nationwide. The reason is that I have a defaulted payday loan account which actually defaulted a year today.

redcard

What features of a full current account do you need?

You likely won't get an overdraft, and your debit card is likely still an online one.

The_Offside_Rule

I suppose that I just want to feel that I'm making good progress with my credit rebuild, and being given an account that isn't basic feels nice after all these years.

I physically have a debit card from NatWest and a cheque book.

bayzat

You just need to build up your credit score, there is no easy way around it. The funny part is I took some loans out once and repaid them just (I didn't need them) just to improve my credit score. It's funny how the system works.