Which bank??

thestens

We currently bank with TSB (not by choice - moved when Lloyds had to get rid of branches) and are moving to a town with only the following banks: Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Newcastle Building Society, so will be moving our current account. We are always in credit and our income (married couple, joint account) is about £3400 a month. We sometimes have cheques to pay in, so would like a bank where we can go into the branch. Not looking for a premium account, just ordinary. Which would people recommend??

Archi_Bald

They look all totally unattractive from an interest-paying point of view.

If there is a compelling reason for having an account with any of them, I would definitely keep the TSB account(s) if I were you. At least they pay up to 3% interest, assuming you have added Enhance to your accounts. With Faster Payment, it is easy to transfer money between any of the companies mentioned.

Having a 2nd current account is a good idea anyway since any given bank could have severe technical issues at times, as has now been proven by Natwest 3 times.

grumbler

You can open a new account just for paying the cheques in and for other miscellaneous, - and have your main current(s) elsewhere: Best Bank Accounts

YorkshireBoy

I wouldn't bank with any of them!

If you bank online or by telephone currently, and the only foreseeable reason for visiting branch is to pay cheques in, then stick with TSB and use the Post Office, or the post itself, to pay in these cheques. It'll only add a day or two to the clearance time.

alanq

If the only reason you want to use a branch is to deposit cheques then you may wish to consider First Direct. You can deposit your cheques at HSBC. FD's Regular Saver pays a higher rate (6%) than HSBC's normal one (4%).

Archi_Bald

alanq wrote: »

If the only reason you want to use a branch is to deposit cheques then you may wish to consider First Direct. You can deposit your cheques at HSBC. FD's Regular Saver pays a higher rate (6%) than HSBC's normal one (4%).

Yes, FD and HSBC have regular savers that are worthwile having. But they pay zero percent on any balance in your current account, whilst there is now a whole host of banks, incl TSB, who offer current accounts that pay interest.

I have both, the FD and HSBC current accounts myself but only for the single purpose of having access to their reg savers.

ColdIron

thestens wrote: »

moving to a town with only the following banks: Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Newcastle Building Society

There's not much in it really, I'd stick with the TSB for their Enhance and choose the one with the longest opening hours

Gromitt

I'd open an account with HSBC or First Direct, have your salary paid there so it seems 'used', deposit your cheques there, open a Regular saver and keep all your DDs and SOs with TSB.

thestens

Thanks for the advice but we are not much further on. I understand the First Direct account being able to use HSBC but it pays no interest so how would we get regular savers interest as we dont tend to save. Not that we spend it all just some months expenses are higher than others. Help please not very experienced in this sort of stuff had the same bank account for the last 40+ years.

YorkshireBoy

thestens wrote: »

Thanks for the advice but we are not much further on.

Of course you are!

You keep TSB (converting to Enhance if not already, so at least you're making 3% AER on your cash before you spend it!), and either:

1. Pay cheques in at the Post Office or post them (as I've already suggested), or

2. Open a basic no-frills account with any of the banks in your new area purely for paying in cheques which you'd then transfer to your TSB account once cleared (as suggested by others).

What more help could you need?

And finally, if you're likely to need credit in the near future (likely because you "don't tend to save"?), then that's another reason to keep the TSB account open, as 'time with bank' is a key stability criterion in credit scoring.

thestens

I think you are right YB keep the TSB account ( already Enhanced - until you mentioned it I had no idea there was such a thing) and pay in cheques at PO ( mobile PO calls at closest village twice a week - new house pretty isolatednearest full time PO is 6 miles away same as banks.)
I opened the bank account when at University as Lloyds was in the college and am now happily retired and have had same account all the time.