Top Bank Accounts Discussion Area

hohum

Hi, I was reading over the article as I'm trying to help my boyfriend sort out his bank accounts. Currently he has a £100 overdraft on 2 Halifax accounts, He is freelance, and recently they introduced a policy of charging account holders £1/day for use of their authorised overdraft. This has meant him being charged up to £60/month for use of a £200 overdraft. This makes me cross that he is being charged such a heinous amount, and I want to help him a) sort out how he uses his accounts and b) switch so that Halifax no longer make money off him.

The thing is, as you might guess, his credit rating is not brilliant. He probably needs an account with an overdraft facility, but not more than £100. He mostly uses online banking and from what people say on this thread the Alliance and Leicester account is not great for that? He doesn't pay in a regular amount each month as his income can fluctuate. Any suggestions/ recommendations for what bank we should be looking for? I'm not sure that accounts charging a monthly fee would be appropriate (I also need to figure out the transfer of direct debits as he has them across both his Halifax accounts, brain melt).

And on a final unrelated note: I have an esavings account with First Direct which they seem to have changed the terms on: it appears I can't withdraw money without opening up a current account with them? As I wouldn't be able to pay in the minimum spend a month, I'm not keen to open up a secondary current account for myself and then spend £10/ month on it. Someone earlier said if you have another product from them you get the bonus, but does it mean you still pay the £10/month if not paying in over £1200? I'm not ready to open a joint account with my boyfriend so am out of qualifying for it that way.

Gambit

hohum wrote: »

He mostly uses online banking and from what people say on this thread the Alliance and Leicester account is not great for that?

I would have thought the A&L/Abbey account would be best for him. I currently have an A&L account which I'll be closing soon as only opened if for the interest free overdraft which is now no longer interest free. But I think their online banking is alright. It's not the best but I does what it's suppose to!

Hope this helps

hohum

Thanks Gambit, I'm going to check out the details and combine it with general operation 'organise accounts so it doesn't cost potentially £600/ year to run' (!)'

purplestar133

hohum wrote: »

Hi, I was reading over the article as I'm trying to help my boyfriend sort out his bank accounts. Currently he has a £100 overdraft on 2 Halifax accounts, He is freelance, and recently they introduced a policy of charging account holders £1/day for use of their authorised overdraft. This has meant him being charged up to £60/month for use of a £200 overdraft. This makes me cross that he is being charged such a heinous amount, and I want to help him a) sort out how he uses his accounts and b) switch so that Halifax no longer make money off him.

The thing is, as you might guess, his credit rating is not brilliant. He probably needs an account with an overdraft facility, but not more than £100. He mostly uses online banking and from what people say on this thread the Alliance and Leicester account is not great for that? He doesn't pay in a regular amount each month as his income can fluctuate. Any suggestions/ recommendations for what bank we should be looking for? I'm not sure that accounts charging a monthly fee would be appropriate (I also need to figure out the transfer of direct debits as he has them across both his Halifax accounts, brain melt).

And on a final unrelated note: I have an esavings account with First Direct which they seem to have changed the terms on: it appears I can't withdraw money without opening up a current account with them? As I wouldn't be able to pay in the minimum spend a month, I'm not keen to open up a secondary current account for myself and then spend £10/ month on it. Someone earlier said if you have another product from them you get the bonus, but does it mean you still pay the £10/month if not paying in over £1200? I'm not ready to open a joint account with my boyfriend so am out of qualifying for it that way.

I don't like A&L's internet banking but you do get used to it. The transactions seem to update overnight so there can be a slight delay. The important thing to remember is to look at your available balance, that should tell what you have/don't have.

I think the A&L account is best, at least for the first year with the 0% overdraft. Then, as long as you go through the switching process, you should get £100 for opening it. Keep an eye on the direct debits though as they can go missing during the switching process!

Oh, just to add, you need to pay £500 into this account every month to avoid getting charged. You could keep say £100 in another account and keep transferring that backwards and forwards, 5 times to meet that condition.

Synonymous

purplestar133 wrote: »

I don't like A&L's internet banking but you do get used to it. The transactions seem to update overnight so there can be a slight delay. The important thing to remember is to look at your available balance, that should tell what you have/don't have.

I think the A&L account is best, at least for the first year with the 0% overdraft. Then, as long as you go through the switching process, you should get £100 for opening it. Keep an eye on the direct debits though as they can go missing during the switching process!

Oh, just to add, you need to pay £500 into this account every month to avoid getting charged. You could keep say £100 in another account and keep transferring that backwards and forwards, 5 times to meet that condition.

You can also get £45 cashback from Topcashback if you sign up for the account online, make sure you pick the right one with the £100 deal on or it wont work.

rb10

hohum wrote: »

Hi, I was reading over the article as I'm trying to help my boyfriend sort out his bank accounts. Currently he has a £100 overdraft on 2 Halifax accounts, He is freelance, and recently they introduced a policy of charging account holders £1/day for use of their authorised overdraft. This has meant him being charged up to £60/month for use of a £200 overdraft. This makes me cross that he is being charged such a heinous amount, and I want to help him a) sort out how he uses his accounts and b) switch so that Halifax no longer make money off him.

1) Just have one account, with one overdraft. That cuts the maximum that he can be charged in half.

2) Switch it to a Reward account. Then, he gets £5 (after basic rate tax) every single month, just for paying in £1k. (If he doesn't already pay £1k/month into the account, just transfer it to another account and straight back again - that will qualify).

3) Budget better. It's not a massive overdraft that he's using, so surely with a bit of thought you could stay out of it for good. Save a small amount for a few months so that you aim for the balance to never fall below £200. That way, even if you do miscalculate/have an expensive month you'll still be in credit. It can be done, without too much effort.

blueberrypie

purplestar133 wrote: »

I think the A&L account is best, at least for the first year with the 0% overdraft.

The A&L overdraft is subject to approval, and one of the criteria for approval is that the old account must have been in credit for a certain number of days each month. From hohum's post, it doesn't sound like that's the case, so A&L would not be offering a 0% overdraft.

hohum

rb10 wrote: »

1) Just have one account, with one overdraft. That cuts the maximum that he can be charged in half.

2) Switch it to a Reward account. Then, he gets £5 (after basic rate tax) every single month, just for paying in £1k. (If he doesn't already pay £1k/month into the account, just transfer it to another account and straight back again - that will qualify).

3) Budget better. It's not a massive overdraft that he's using, so surely with a bit of thought you could stay out of it for good. Save a small amount for a few months so that you aim for the balance to never fall below £200. That way, even if you do miscalculate/have an expensive month you'll still be in credit. It can be done, without too much effort.

Yes, one step at a time though! He doesn't earn over 1k a month, and his income fluctuates as he is freelance. Therefore I don't think any account with a min paying in per month is appropriate, although I think he could prob do £500.

Because he is essentially spending more than he earns, getting rid of one of the overdrafts means finding an extra £100. We may need to save to create that to essentially 'pay off' one of the overdrafts. I agree this may be the best thing to do initially. I'm just trying to figure out how to best make that transition.

Having done his last tax return (he put together the info, I do the sums!) I think he is actually one of the examples where just earning more would massively improve his budgeting, as opposed to cutting costs. There's not much we can cut apart from the money he spends on the bloody overdraft! He earnt less than 10k last year. It would not be hard to pick up additional work that would make the difference to his budgeting (speaking as someone who went from less that 10k to just over 12k).

hohum

blueberrypie wrote: »

The A&L overdraft is subject to approval, and one of the criteria for approval is that the old account must have been in credit for a certain number of days each month. From hohum's post, it doesn't sound like that's the case, so A&L would not be offering a 0% overdraft.

Ah, I missed that. Useful to note, thankyou.

LoobyLou63

Warning to all! A&L do not make it clear that you have to meet ALL of the qualifying conditions to receive the £100 incentive. In my case, I had no direct debits to switch, and have been informed I will not receive the cash, very annoying given how long it took, and how much more difficult it is to use A&L's online system than my previous (Nationwide - very easy, never a problem). It made sense to swap and get better interest, plus the incentive, but not convinced it was the right decision.