Which bank has best overall accounts?

Ken68

Hi Jackiee.. Know what you mean, I am wanting the same answer, and in a right muddle with money all over the place.
Will probably need, due to age and infirmity, to give up online banking., so am gradually , whilst I still have me marbles , channelling everything into a local branch based long term building society account.
Nice to see posters beating the system, though expect the government will encourage less tariffs as they have done with Energy Providers.

jackyann

Definitely look at Nationwide. "Best" does vary both with your situation & what is on offer, but I am very pleased with my Nationwide FlexDirect, and some of their other products as well.

pmduk

There used to be "budget" accounts which let you pay all your bills from one account. They add up all the bills and let you pay 1/12 each month. I haven't seen them mentioned anywhere for about 20 years.

I'd certainly re-emphasise that it's important to have accounts with more than one banking group, not just because of set-off, but to cope with technology problems which seem to be becoming more prevalent.

camperdown9

Jackiee wrote: »

Thanks all, I think. I feel well and truly reprimanded! I thought I'd ask the question before delving any deeper.

Please don't feel like that. When people you don't know type something it can me misinterpreted, because you don't know how they use English in everyday life. They might think they are being funny!

Back on topic, unfortunately its too big question to give a simple answer.

Example.

Some people are happier with savings in one account, a current account for direct debits and a standard current account for spending money. Others are happier with just one account.

I have £2500 of savings and I also need mobile phone and travel insurance so the Nationwide flex plus works for me. The £10 a month fee is less than I was paying for insurances and they give 3% interest on my balance.

The Santander 123 account pays 1% on £1000-1999, 2% on £2000-2999 & 3% on £3000-20000. (hope I have got that right). Plus they give cash back on direct debits. Well I am not likely to have savings of anything like £20000 and the only direct debits I have payed back pretty much the same amount as the £2 fee. So for me this didn't work.


These are only two products but you get the idea its really difficult to say whats best.

Alex

Jackiee_2

I am grateful to you all. Currently we are actually with 2 banks. We had an offset mortgage with one so also had current and savings accounts with them which worked very well at the time. Now our mortgage is paid off we need to move elsewhere to get a bit of interest, albeit not much these days I know.

We need a current account where my husbands salary can be paid into. A budget account I know is out of date. However I do like to keep our 'bills' separate so a separate current account that can be used to budget is what I'd like. A savings account is also needed. We're not well off so are not talking big bucks but somewhere with a bit extra interest would be good. I do want to be able to access this however.

grumbler

• Best Bank Accounts

Have a look at Santander 123. I have no idea what a "budget account" is, but you can have 2 individual 123 accounts and a joint, say, "Everyday" current account for joint expenses or a credit card with an additional cardholder.
Most bills have to be paid by DDs from 123 accounts.

Midland45

I've recently moved from Halifax to Santander123 via their switching service. The monthly fee of £2 will easily be offset by all the CashBack for my monthly DD payments. I switched via my topcashback and will receive £47 CashBack, which equates to 2years of free banking anyway, think it's over £50 at the moment. I get my salary paid into here, but now there's no massive loss of interest with my salary sat there a couple of days while I move money to a slightly higher rate with accounts I have elsewhere. Up to now Santander have been excellent, their website and app are from a different century to The Halifax versions too!