Want to leave Barclays, but to where?

George889

I'm 22, i earn, after tax and NI, about £1400 a month.
I hate the constant charges that barclays give me.

I want to change, but my problem is that i'm in the british army and in october i'm due to go to afghanistan for 6 months.

It's a good thing and a bad thing. It's bad because i don't have much time to swap.
The good thing is that for 6 months i wont be able to spend any money and also whilst i'm away i'll probably be making 2k a month after tax etc.

so just wondering what is the best bank for me to change to

and is it true that the banks do all the work with my direct debits etc...

I almost signed up with citi bank but then decided to ask you guys.


thank for any help

Sagaris

We've just switched from Abbey to Alliance & Leicester, they have done all the switching for us and it's about to go 'live' this week - so far no problems (fingers crossed!) The nice thing I've found is that the call centres do not seem to be based abroad and I've had a sensible, straight answer from them every time I've called them.
Might be worth a look?

CLAPTON

Barclays will only be charging you if you are not abiding by the T&Cs.

Other banks will do the same.

book12

Alliance and Leicester opens bank accounts for people in the army.

Since you earn more than 1400 a month, I would recommend high interest current accounts from Halifax and Abbey for example.

George889

i was thinking something like citi bank or abbey

i might be leaving the army next year sometime and moving to south korea, so i'm thinking citi bank would be good for that reason, since it's internation bank aswell.

It would be usefull to have high interest because i wont be touching the money for 6 months. i plan to finish afghan with about 12k saved up

book12

George889 wrote: »

i was thinking something like citi bank or abbey

i might be leaving the army next year sometime and moving to south korea, so i'm thinking citi bank would be good for that reason, since it's internation bank aswell.

It would be usefull to have high interest because i wont be touching the money for 6 months. i plan to finish afghan with about 12k saved up

Abbey would be the one to avoid for the time being, as they are taking a long time to distribute debit cards, and other things. The reason they are taking so long is because of the floods a few months ago. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=515980

Go for Citi. HSBC has international banking too.

stamford

Nationwide Flexaccount - they change over the DD's etc and for your savings you can open up an eSavings account which pays pretty good. Also their card doesn't charge for ATM's abroad although I doubt if there's any machines/or you'll use the local money there. Good luck with the posting

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/apply.htm

George889

so i'm stuck between Citibank and HSBC

do either have any good freebies or is there any way i can get freebies via another subcontractor or whatever?
that'll probably be my deciding point

iceicebaby

Hiya George

You need to sort out why you are being charged before you move banks as any bank you move too will also charge if you do not keep to the T&C.

I recommend Nat West, recently moved to then all went through quickly and smoothly

Bokkens

I would move to Alliance and Leicester as you clearing bank have your wages paid into here.
Visit a A&L branch and set up several direct debits from this account to other higher paying savings accounts or ISA's .Concider ICICI the Indian bank good rates.Icesave the Icelandic internet saving account again good rates over 6% or if you want really safe go for sainsbury's internet saver account at 6%.
You coud leave say £200 per month in your bank account and shift the remainder of your wages out to savings accounts or ISA's(tax free savings)until you come back.
I would then decide about joining a international (Citi) bank on your return, let your money do some hard work while your away.
Good luck with your tour.