Top Bank Accounts Discussion Area

rb10

blueberrypie wrote: »

With standing orders, be careful: they're usually only paid on working days, so if the SO is set up for a Saturday or Sunday, you might find it goes out of the account before the other SO goes in, putting you in an unauthorised overdraft. (Also some banks send SOs by BACS, so they're not instant transfers - they can take about three days to show on the credited account.) Personally, I just do the transfers on-line - with Faster Payments, it all happens almost instantly, and takes less than five minutes once a month. If you really want to use SOs, I'd recommend leaving at least three or four days between the paying-in SO and the back-out SO.

If they are internal standing orders, within the same bank, then they will go instantly, and on any day of the year, including Saturdays and Sundays. So it is fine to set them up on consecutive days.

blueberrypie

rb10 wrote: »

If they are internal standing orders, within the same bank, then they will go instantly, and on any day of the year, including Saturdays and Sundays. So it is fine to set them up on consecutive days.

Ah, true, I wasn't quite awake enough for it to register that all the accounts were with the same bank (and that that bank didn't operate like A&L, where transfers between accounts don't show up until the next day).

jasperconran

jasperconran wrote: »

hi guys, i was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice. My husband and i have got a current account with hsbc and we have been with them now for like 20 years! We have got an overdraft with them of £2,500 which we go up to every month (bad i know, but we are starting to sort ourselves out!!) but never go over. We get charged between 14 - 20 pounds a month for this. I would love change bank accounts, but we are worried that we wont get the same limit. Can anyone recommend a bank which is better than hsbc?? Can anyone offer any advice/help to us? I would be most grateful to anyone that can help. Thanks. I dont know what to do and hsbc charges get on my nerves

hi has anyone got any thoughts on this at all???? I really want to get this sorted out asap thanks

blindjack

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if someone could help me.
I'm interested in opening the A&L current account, specifically for the interest free overdraft because this past month my HSBC graduate account became a current account and with that my overdraft went from 0% to 19.9% interest.

However, I was recently made redundant and I don't have any standing orders or direct debits to use their switching service on. I'm assuming that means I don't qualify to open the account, or does it mean I just won't qualify for the free £100?

Similarly, not having a salary coming in at the moment, would it be possible for me to pay in £500 of savings a month, withdraw it and then repeat the process every month?

Sorry if this has been covered already in this epic thread.

Thanks,
Jack

bgarnish

@blindjack.
I know for sure if you do not have any direct debits, which you input when applying for the new account, then you do not get the £100 deal. So i would setup a DD between another bank of yours something small £10. So you can declare a DD and fingers crossed get the £100 out of them. Im not too sure about the £500 from your savings account, putting it into the account and then withdrawning it again, but i do remember reading something about it and it works. You may have to let it sit there for a day but that's easy.

Anyone else know this for sure?

plumber2009

jasperconran wrote: »

HI Guys, i was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice. My husband and I have got a current account with HSBC and we have been with them now for like 20 years! We have got an overdraft with them of £2,500 which we go up to every month (bad i know, but we are starting to sort ourselves out!!) but never go over. We get charged between 14 - 20 pounds a month for this. I would love change bank accounts, but we are worried that we wont get the same limit. can anyone recommend a bank which is better than HSBC?? can anyone offer any advice/help to us? I would be most grateful to anyone that can help. thanks. I dont know what to do and HSBC charges get on my nerves

I would stay with HSBC for the following reasons

They are far better than most banks.
I have banked with HSBC, Lloyds, NATWEST, Halifax, First Direct and Alliance Leicester. They are all AWFULL apart from HSBC and FIRST DIRECT

If you'r looking to switch I would look at First Direct.
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SWITCH TO NATWEST OR ALLIANCE LEICESTER.

Also you will be very lucky to get a matched overdraft with any other bank as HSBC tend to use internal scoring to assess an overdraft. The only other banks I know that use this process is Barclays.

Hope this helps.

apt

I also think you are best off sticking with HSBC. Most banks, even if they gave you a £2,500 overdraft, would charge the same or more. The charges with A&L would be lower, but they would probably not match your overdraft and give you poor customer service. The Norwich and Peterborough Gold Current Account offers cheap overdrafts, but again it may well not match the £2,500.

LongTermLurker

NickyDee wrote: »

Does anyone know if you have to use their Switching Service to be eligible?

I think you do - I used the service, and I can't think of another reason why I would have

I seem to remember it was very smooth and efficient :eek:

babyangel

Please can someone give me some advice for my mum she has a current account with lloyds which has an overdraft of 750 which is used but she does not go over that amount each month and also a credit card with £2500 on it. I feel they are threatening my mum and asking her to come in and see them because they want to transfer the credit card into a loan and even though she has not gone over her o/draft and her payments are not late on her credit card they are saying that her rating with them is 7 out of 10 and they can pull her overdraft at any moment. I think this is a bullying tatic to a customer that is a good customer but who is not making them enough money, do you think she is being bullied and do lloyds do this to loyal customers when they won't take out a loan with them. If she leaves them can she keep her credit card with them?

JimmyTheWig

babyangel wrote: »

Please can someone give me some advice for my mum she has a current account with lloyds which has an overdraft of 750 which is used but she does not go over that amount each month and also a credit card with £2500 on it. I feel they are threatening my mum and asking her to come in and see them because they want to transfer the credit card into a loan and even though she has not gone over her o/draft and her payments are not late on her credit card they are saying that her rating with them is 7 out of 10 and they can pull her overdraft at any moment. I think this is a bullying tatic to a customer that is a good customer but who is not making them enough money, do you think she is being bullied and do lloyds do this to loyal customers when they won't take out a loan with them. If she leaves them can she keep her credit card with them?

What is your mum's credit rating like? She can see a copy of her credit report for free. (Don't bother with paying to see a "credit score".)
If she earns a decent amount, is on the electoral roll, always pays everything on time, etc, then probably the best thing to do would be to shift the credit card balance onto a 0% deal on another credit card. That would mean that her repayments would be significantly eating into the outstanding balance rather than mainly paying off interest.
But if her credit rating is low then she may actually be better off with the loan that the bank are talking about. We would need to sthe figures to be able to determine that.
Either way, she needs to work out how (a) pay the money she owes back and (b) how not to end up in debt again.

The worst thing she could do is pay off the card with a loan or transfer it to another card and then rack up another hefty credit card bill now that her card is "paid off". The only way to ensure this is self-discipline. Cutting up the card might help.