Minimum Income on Bank Accounts?

missymish

I am looking to switch bank accounts and need a bit of advice.

A lot of the good accounts have a minimum income, I only earn around £680 per month but with all my tax credits it pushes me way over 1k per month. With all this combined is it acceptable as income?

I would be keen to move to first direct or co-op, santander 123 looks like a good account but a few people I know who switched to this have had issues so I am a little wary.

Any help appreciated thanks

rb10

Where a minimum pay-in amount is specified (e.g. £750, £1k per month), it will count all money paid into your account during the month - so as long as your total income (including everything) is over £1k, then you'll be fine for these.

Whilst First Direct and Co-op are giving £100 for opening an account, neither are particularly good accounts (unless you want to have access to First Direct's 6% regular saver account). There are much better accounts available elsewhere - most people would be better off by going to:

Halifax - £100 for switching, plus £5 per month thereafter

Santander - 3% interest, plus 1-3% cashback on direct debits, plus £36 for switching if you go through Top Cash Back

Nationwide - 5% interest for a year (or free travel insurance indefinitely), plus they often have good current account customer only savings accounts, plus if you can get someone to refer you as a friend you'll get £50

In the past (when they were merging Abbey/A&L/B&B etc together), Santander did have some customer service issues. They are, in general, long gone now.

(Note - if you have a dormant account there's nothing to stop you from switching that to FD/Co-op purely to claim the £100)

Archi_Bald

I am not aware of any T&Cs that require a minimum income. You might have to deposit a certain amount each month in order to get benefits, such as interest, but such deposits don't have to be income.

Many applications do, however, ask for income and employer address, and it is quite possible that applications get rejected if the bank doesn't like the income figure.

What are the issues the few people experienced?

Archi_Bald

rb10 wrote: »

Santander - 3% interest, plus 1-3% cashback on direct debits, plus £36 for switching if you go through Top Cash Back

Nationwide - 5% interest for a year (or free travel insurance indefinitely)

Santander only pay 3% interest on balances above £3,000, and there is a £2/mth charge for the account. Minimum £500/mth deposit, 2 DDs and more than £1,000 balance required to receive any interest at all.

Nationwide 5% requires min £1,000 deposit each month. Are you sure there is "free travel insurance indefinitely"? Mine gets reconfirmed annually until age 75, provided I pay in £750 each month (or have used their switcher service)

missymish

rb10 wrote: »

(Note - if you have a dormant account there's nothing to stop you from switching that to FD/Co-op purely to claim the £100)

I used to bank with natwest I had a business account and current account, both accounts are open but I no longer use, would it be ok to close current account but not the business account?

I currently bank with nationwide but it is just a basic account that I opened about 12 years ago and I have never upgraded. Is there a monthly fee with the Nationwide one?

Finally I am swaying towards the santander but to get interest does your bank balance have to be £1k constantly? So for instance if I paid in £1000 but throughout the month drew out money paid bills etc would I not qualify for the interest?

YorkshireBoy

missymish wrote: »

...would it be ok to close current account but not the business account?

Yes.

I currently bank with nationwide but it is just a basic account that I opened about 12 years ago and I have never upgraded. Is there a monthly fee with the Nationwide one?

No, not with the accounts being mentioned here, although there is with the FlexPlus account.

Finally I am swaying towards the santander but to get interest does your bank balance have to be £1k constantly? So for instance if I paid in £1000 but throughout the month drew out money paid bills etc would I not qualify for the interest?

Interest is calculated daily, providing the balance >£1K. If your balance dips below this level you won't earn interest for that day only. But don't forget you need >£3K to earn the top rate of 3% AER.