£15 to transfer money? Is this fair?

studentsaver2007

Yesterday I wanted to transfer some money (1k) into another bank account from my HSBC current account. I do no currently have a chequebook, and was told that the bank would charge me £15 for writing me a cheque.

I though that was a bit pointless/unfair, as I'm switching the money to a higher interest account for the sake of a lousy £30 extra interest per year.

When I threatened to close my account, I was given the option of having my own chequebook, which I accepted.

Now I'm waiting for the chequebook to come through so that I can pick it up.

So I am currently on a normal, UK, current account. I wish to write a cheque for 1k to *myself* to cash into another bank's account, so that this money can be transferred.

My question is: *will I be charged/fined/are the any fees for doing this too?

*Are there any limits to the amount I can write out by cheque?

*Why do they charge £15 for writing me a cheque? Surely it's my own money and I should be allowed to do as I wish with it?

*what is the minimum amount I need in my current account to keep it open?

Bazn

simple solution - register for online banking... and say goodbye to cheques!

YorkshireBoy

Bazn wrote: »

simple solution - register for online banking... and say goodbye to cheques!

Except, of course, that some savings accounts (eg [strike]the new B&B 6.40%[/strike] ING Direct) require a cheque drawn on your current account for DD set up/account verification purposes.

noh

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Except, of course, that some savings accounts (eg the new B&B 6.40%) require a cheque drawn on your current account for DD set up/account verification purposes.

Thats not the case with the new B&B 6.4% one. I have opened the account and elected to pay the initial deposit via DD.
Paragraph 2.4 http://www.bradfordandbingley.co.uk/_img/savings/Cropped_Internet_Saver_-_12th_Sept_2007.pdf

Nigel

YorkshireBoy

noh wrote: »

Thats not the case with the new B&B 6.4% one.

Thanks Nigel. I've edited my post above to read ING, whom I'm sure are not the only ones to operate in this way.

jonesMUFCforever

They are not charging you to withdraw your own money only charging you to use one of THEIR cheques.
When you get your own book you can write out a cheque for any amount as long as your account can stand it.

dunstonh

*Why do they charge £15 for writing me a cheque? Surely it's my own money and I should be allowed to do as I wish with it?

It is your money and if you use your own cheque book they wont charge you. You want to get member of bank staff to spend about 10 minutes getting a managers cheque/bankers draft prepared. So, a £15 charge for that seems quite fair.

esuhl

studentsaver2007 wrote: »

what is the minimum amount I need in my current account to keep it open?

HSBC treated me *incredibly* poorly in the past, so I withdrew all my cash except for a penny, and kept the account open for about four or five years before they closed it.

fwor

I'm probably out of date here or missing something obvious, but if I were in your position, I would have asked them to arrange a BACS transfer, which should be free and takes around 3 working days to clear.

All you need is the sort code and account number of the destination account (and make sure you get them right, as the banks do not check that the name of account holder matches!).

jonesMUFCforever

Banks cannot do this over the counter.
This would have to be done either online or by telephone banking.

sav4it

Would taking it out as cash and cashing in to new place not be an option?