Does anyone Multi Account

ColdIron

J_i_m wrote: »

I don't want to have my money ping ponging between multiple current accounts in order to perhaps make £5 a month on one or two of them

The ping ponging is worth over £1,650 pa after tax to me and and I'm only using 8 of the interest bearing ones. As badger says, why not budget and take the free money?

AndyBSG

shaz77 wrote: »

I can't fathom the point in having more than one current account, this thread has not convinced me otherwise.

There's two main reasons.

The first one is that if you have all your money with one bank and something goes wrong then you're up the creek. i.e. last year when NatWest customers couldn't access their cash for a couple of days because of an IT problem. Having a second account with a different bank that had some cash in it would have been a huge help!

The second one though and the reason I have multiple accounts is because of the interest rates paid. Current accounts generally pay a MUCH higher interest rate than saving accounts but they also generally have a limit on how much money you can put in them.

My Nationwide account pays 5% and I also have a Clydesdale one that pays 4%. These two pay much higher interest rates than my Halifax saving account so I try to keep both of them up to their limit

FOREVER21

You know, I have to say, it appears to me that people of the personality type who "can't be bothered" claiming a few hundred pounds of free money for a few minutes of effort per month goes a long way to explaining why these people only ever have "moderate" incomes too. QUOTE-- HOOLOOVOO


You are making a very generalised statement there. I agree with Jim all the faffing around is not worth it, I have tried it with Lloyds and Nationwide and got fed up with it, for the small returns., and I can assure you my income is much better than moderate,(whatever that is!).

J_i_m

ColdIron wrote: »

The ping ponging is worth over £1,650 pa after tax to me and and I'm only using 8 of the interest bearing ones. As badger says, why not budget and take the free money?

That's very impressive.

I very much doubt I could even come close to that. I could conceivably make £60 from Halifax, but certainly not £1650

As Hooloovoo (slightly condescendingly) pointed out I live at my parents house.

I do not have direct responsibility for the house hold bills and as a result very few direct debits as I have little need of them and so my opportunity to take advantage of cash back accounts is limited.

I have no debts, and I pay my car insurance annually because it costs less to do so.

I could service a maximum of two other current accounts in addition to my everyday account. But I'm very happy with that account and do not wish to switch it even for a one off incentive.

Furthermore I have an ISA and regular saver connected to my main account which both return comfortably more than the £5 a month the Halifax reward account (for example) pays.

However, I concede that I shouldn't rule out maybe upgrading my Halifax current account to reward status and manipulating a direct debit or standing order or two.

Archi_Bald

J_i_m wrote: »

...Furthermore I have an ISA .....

Assuming you are a basic rate tax payer: no ISA, incl. the First Direct one, pays as much as several of the current accounts these days. Even for higher rate tax payers, most ISAs don't come close to the return you can get from current accounts.

Unless you are building up a cash fund for the medium to long term (say more than 5 years), current accounts appear to be where the action is for cash savings. Of course, there's no guarantee this will continue to be so in the future.

As to not being able to benefit from cashback on bills: if you personally can't, then surely your parents can? For at least 3 people in a house, the savings could easily amount to a net £10 - £15 per month, giving £120 - £180 a year. That's a very nice free christmas lunch for the 3, for instance.

But I rest my case - if people aren't interested in picking up the occasional £100 or so over the year, that's their decision. Just they should pooh-pooh the efforts of those who are interested. After all, this is MSE.

scragend

eproctophilia wrote: »

Hi

Someone said N&P do free atm withdrawals abroad and on purchases. N&P = ?

Sounds better than the halifax clarity card

N&P = Norwich & Peterborough.

Yes, their debit card does give you free ATM withdrawals and fee-free purchases abroad.

I have their Gold Light account, which has no minimum funding requirement but you do need to make five transactions a month. Payments to/from the same person on the same day count as one transaction.

It seems that their Gold Light account is now called Gold Start and doesn't offer the fee-free use abroad anymore. I don't know whether existing accounts have been changed (I need to find out before I next go away!) or if it is just for new accounts.

They still do a Gold Classic which does offer the fee-free use, but you need to deposit £500 a month or have a balance of £5,000, or there is a £5 monthly fee.

EDIT: According to This Is Money, existing Gold Light accounts are not affected. Which is good news (for me).

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-2532126/Norwich-Peterborough-scrap-popular-Gold-Light-bank-account.html

YorkshireBoy

Archi_Bald wrote: »

...giving £120 - £180 a year. That's a very nice free christmas lunch for the 3, for instance.

The £240 I've made over the last year from my 4 Reward accounts has paid for my annual winter sun week in the Canaries next month - as it has for the last 4 years in fact - (and some change left over towards airport parking...that's moneysaving!).

Yes, I could afford to pay for it anyway, but it's always much nicer when someone else pays don't you think?

marvin

shaz77 wrote: »

I can't fathom the point in having more than one current account, this thread has not convinced me otherwise.

1. As others have said to not be stuck with one bank if they have a systems failure.

2. All my incoming money into one account all my outgoings in other accounts (I have one main outgoing account but also have 2 on a Halifax to get the free fiver a month).

This came about by accident many years ago and I decided I liked it to kept it.

If I have a financial hick-up it means the bank with all my outgoings cannot pinch my salary without me saying so. Means I remain in control of how I pay things and not be at the mercy of a bank.

3. Free fivers