Can anyone help me pick a basic cash account?

dimestorediamond

I currently have two bank accounts and this all I have ever had. I have one for my business, in Natwest. My personal is with Barclays. My ISA is also with Barclays.

I would like to open a second personal bank account. I want to use it for daily spends. I will be depositing an allowance every week but my wages will keep going into my Barclays account, and all DDs will go out from there too.

I want to use this account in shops, online and at cash machines. I do not want any overdraft or cheque facilities. I don't want a monthly charge for the account and ideally I'd like the card to simply be rejected if there is no funds (not that I will want this to happen in the first place) rather than be charged if there are insignificant funds. As there will be no DDs from the account, I don't worry if there are charges for bouncing SOs or DDs.

Lloyds seem to be my front runner, as I can make the application online. I know it's a good idea to open an account in a different place, so I haven't looked at Barclays offerings, does this apply to Natwest too, as my business account is held there?

Any advice would be lovely, thank you.

pinkdalek

Nat West do a Basic account with Visa Debit, however not sure if you can use it at other banks ATMs.

Halifax Easycash account has debit card, and you can use any cash machine. It does not have overdraft, and is online/telephone, however you are able to use their branch counters should you need more than £300, you can also use Post Office counters.

I suppose if you stay with Nat West/Barclays you would be less likely to need ID as you are exisitng bank customer.

dimestorediamond

I want to keep the accounts I have - just want to add one so I can budget better!

I do have ID, but I am not very forceful and I worry that I will somehow end up with an account I don't need or want if I go in the bank!

Just checking out Halifax now, but I don't think it appeals.

I am looking at Santander too.

grumbler

Firstly, if you just want another account it's more convenient to have it with the same bank, i.e. Barclays. Do they not do basic accounts?
However, Santander 123 is believed to be the best for DDs, so you can open it and use for DDs.

dimestorediamond

Yes, they do, but I've been told it's good to keep separate accounts in different banks? I am only recently getting to grips with my money and financing, so a lot is new to me, so I could be wrong.

I have a large OD with Barclays that I am working on shifting, so will not be changing any DDs from them in case they worry I am !!!!!!ing off without paying it back. The aim is to take an allowance into a basic account for my weekly spends in shops/online.

stclair

pinkdalek wrote: »

Nat West do a Basic account with Visa Debit, however not sure if you can use it at other banks ATMs.

Halifax Easycash account has debit card, and you can use any cash machine. It does not have overdraft, and is online/telephone, however you are able to use their branch counters should you need more than £300, you can also use Post Office counters.

I suppose if you stay with Nat West/Barclays you would be less likely to need ID as you are exisitng bank customer.

The NatWest and RBS ATM restriction is being lifted in the new year.

http://www.rbs.com/news/2014/06/wider-atm-access-for-basic-bank-accounts.html

MadMat

Co-op cashminder is worth a look too, basic account, visa debit card, which I can confirm from experience gets rejected if you have insufficient funds, and a basic online banking service.

I've had one for several years, works fine, and kept me out of trouble in the past when I was less financially aware/responsible than I am now!

Mat

grumbler

CRT86 wrote: »

I've been told it's good to keep separate accounts in different banks?

Told by whom and why?
Regardless, you already have accounts with two banks.

That said, if you are heavily overdrawn at Barclays and aren't going to get into black soon, it's probably a really good idea to have an account with a different bank.

colsten

It is a good idea to have instant access funds in two different financial institutions, just in case one of them has some problems. Like RBS Group had a while ago, and like some bank's ATMs seems to have from time to time.

Mrs_Ryan

Halifax EasyCash is awful.
Avoid it like the plague.
I have it and I absolutely hate it.

YoungTrafford

Apart from NatWest/RBS accounts that offer limited cash machine access for another 60 days, I feel that all basic accounts offer pretty much the same... 0 interest, no overdraft possible, so if the bank/visa system glitches you get declined, and otherwise a regular bank account. I have 2 "premium" current accounts, and a basic. I chose the basic simply by them having branches local to my home and my holiday home, so if I need more than my card limit in cash I can go to a branch without much travel. In my case, my home town has pretty much all major banks... My holiday hone has natwest a mile away and lloyds 3 miles away... Others a 30 minute drive. I chose natwest as I can get to a branch in foot and get cash if needed. My regular accounts are with neither so I wasn't bothered about existing relationships.

In practice I bank online 99.9% of the time, so locality shouldn't matter, but sometimes it's nice to see a face!

Edit: Natwest allow online application without first applying for another account, though it's not obvious... I think I searched "basic account application" on their site to find it.

All establishments should be made to offer the basic accounts alongside others... Why should someone with bad credit hit their rating applying for an account they know they can't get just to reveal the basic account offering?