Top Bank Accounts Discussion Area

i-luv-free-stuff

i just meant is it worth opening an online account with someone like egg or 1st diretc etc?
i dont realy know what im searching for.
cheers

JimmyTheWig

It depends on what you are looking for.

Just paying in £50 a month isn't going to get you any particularly good deals.

So lets say you're looking at getting between 0% and 2% interest. Lets assume you won't use an overdraft so never get charged.
I presume that the money won't be staying in the account very long. Say, maybe, your average balance is £100.
If you get 0% interest you will, obviously, earn £0. If you get 2% interest you will earn £2 over a year.

So yes, you can hunt around for the best deal and maybe get £2 a year interest. Hardly life changing. I would have thought for the effort involved it you could earn much more than that in ebaying, etc.
So my point is the account itself doesn't really matter. An account that is convenient for you is much more relevant.

i-luv-free-stuff

ok cheers for your help.

thriftydave

First time poster so here goes;

As part of our New Year overhaul of our family finances we plan to do the following;-

Close down our main Halifax account, a dormant Nationwide Flexaccount and an HSBC account my wife uses for paying in Child benefit and Child Tax Credits and to pay for odds and sods and save up for holidays.

In their place we are looking to open:-

1) A main account into which my salary will be paid and which all our DD's and SO's will be transferred. This account will only be used for this purpose so should never go overdrawn.

2) A second account (which will be with First Direct) into which my wife's salary will be paid and which will be used for monthly expenses such as shopping, petrol purchases and cash withdrawals. This will give us a £100 cashback and will offer an interest free £250 overdraft facility, which should be more than suffficient based on the past year.

3) Open an Instant Access cash ISA (most probably Standard Life) into which we will pay a small amout each month which will give us our tax free interest but also be used for very occasional one-off major outgoings such as car repair bills and Christmas presents.

Regarding the main account, we were considering an Alliance and Leicester Premier Direct account. This would give us £100 switching cashback (as from Monday 11th Jan) and £45 Quidco, and give us 6% credit interest.

Should I go with this option or consder a different bank account? I ask because A&L do seem to get mixed customer feedback ratings for their Customer Service, although as we are only using the account for DD's and SO's this shouldn't be too much of an issue for us?

Alternatives, with high scores for customer satisfaction (in WHICH?) are SMILE and Cahoot, although I woudn't benefit from any switching cashback deals.

Does the above seem a good approach and what are your thoughts on which account to use as the main DD SO account?

Finally, are there any cashback deals via MSE?

Many thanks

thriftydave

rb10

For the ISA - Standard Life looks good, but note that it is a variable rate, so keep and eye on it to ensure it doesn't drop.

For your current account, it has to be your decision whether to take a chance with A&L, or go for a bank with a better reputation.

As you have read, many people on here have massive difficulties with A&L, also, their internet banking can often be slow to update.

Any particular reason why you are closing the Halifax account? A much simpler option would be to upgrade it to a Reward account (takes about one minute over the phone to do this), and then you'll get £5 per month (after tax).

thriftydave

rb10 wrote: »

For the ISA - Standard Life looks good, but note that it is a variable rate, so keep and eye on it to ensure it doesn't drop.

For your current account, it has to be your decision whether to take a chance with A&L, or go for a bank with a better reputation.

As you have read, many people on here have massive difficulties with A&L, also, their internet banking can often be slow to update.

Any particular reason why you are closing the Halifax account? A much simpler option would be to upgrade it to a Reward account (takes about one minute over the phone to do this), and then you'll get £5 per month (after tax).

That's a thought.

They just moved us on to a High Interest account with no reference to other options. Will have a look at the Reward account and possibly reconsider moving to that instead.

thriftydave

blueberrypie

thriftydave wrote: »

That's a thought.

They just moved us on to a High Interest account with no reference to other options. Will have a look at the Reward account and possibly reconsider moving to that instead.

thriftydave

The High Interest Current Account is no longer available - check again what they've changed your account to. It is probably the standard current account, but the Reward account gives £5 each month as long as you pay in £1000 during the month - if you don't go overdrawn, it's a very good deal, and the Halifax's on-line banking and implementation of FP is vastly superior to A&L's.

td_007

thriftydave wrote: »

First time poster so here goes;

As part of our New Year overhaul of our family finances we plan to do the following;-

Close down our main Halifax account, a dormant Nationwide Flexaccount and an HSBC account my wife uses for paying in Child benefit and Child Tax Credits and to pay for odds and sods and save up for holidays.

In their place we are looking to open:-

1) A main account into which my salary will be paid and which all our DD's and SO's will be transferred. This account will only be used for this purpose so should never go overdrawn.

Why not continue with Halifax Reward a/c and get £5 for each month you pay in £1000. Between yourself and wife you can have 4 a/cs which means an additional £240 per year in interest and you just need to circulate the same £1K each month through the 4 ac/s.

thriftydave wrote: »

2) A second account (which will be with First Direct) into which my wife's salary will be paid and which will be used for monthly expenses such as shopping, petrol purchases and cash withdrawals. This will give us a £100 cashback and will offer an interest free £250 overdraft facility, which should be more than suffficient based on the past year.

first direct have a good setup. But be aware of min £1500 funding per month or maintaining £1500 each month or hold one of another selected fd product otherwise there is a fee.

thriftydave wrote: »

3) Open an Instant Access cash ISA (most probably Standard Life) into which we will pay a small amout each month which will give us our tax free interest but also be used for very occasional one-off major outgoings such as car repair bills and Christmas presents.

Looks good but be prepared to move if/when rates fall.

thriftydave wrote: »

Regarding the main account, we were considering an Alliance and Leicester Premier Direct account. This would give us £100 switching cashback (as from Monday 11th Jan) and £45 Quidco, and give us 6% credit interest.

Between Halifax, fd and A&L, my vote goes to fd. However, given that A&L provides 6% interest you could consider using this a saver a/c instead of the ISA a/c if you know that you will withdraw all money in about a years time. The effective rate you get is 4.8% net which will easily beat the ISA rate. You will get this rate for the first £2500, if you have more then just open another a/c

.........

thriftydave wrote: »

Finally, are there any cashback deals via MSE?

Many thanks

thriftydave

Quidco/TCB are among the best out there.

rb10

td_007 wrote: »

Why not continue with Halifax Reward a/c and get £5 for each month you pay in £1000. Between yourself and wife you can have 4 a/cs which means an additional £240 per year in interest and you just need to circulate the same £1K each month through the 4 ac/s.

Three accounts is the limit:

One joint account (just get them to change over the existing one to Reward, so you'll then have all your DDs and SOs here, and your salary)

And one account in your name only, and one in your wife's name. Put £1000 into and back out of each of these once a month (takes about 30 seconds on internet banking), and then collect the fivers the following month.

td_007

rb10 wrote: »

Three accounts is the limit:

One joint account (just get them to change over the existing one to Reward, so you'll then have all your DDs and SOs here, and your salary)

And one account in your name only, and one in your wife's name. Put £1000 into and back out of each of these once a month (takes about 30 seconds on internet banking), and then collect the fivers the following month.

Four a/cs are possible:
Sole A - 1
Sole B - 2
Joint A+B with A as primary - 3
Joint A+B with B as primary - 4

Getting my 4x fivers like clockwork