Looking to leave halifax, best account to move too

Alloneword

Been with Halfiax for about 10 years and been happy with them most of the time that is why i have never moved, however they are now changing the telephone system and will not have people answering the phones during the midnight hours and that is when i do all my banking (anywhere between 10pm and 4am).

Being on benefits i can only pay in about £600 a month, but can borrow some money if it's needed for first 3-6 months to increase the balance but it will not be long term, i only use it for normal stuff like paying bill by DD and moving money from one account to another some time, a small overdraft would be handy but not vital.

My credit rating may not be great as in 5th Nov 2012 I was granted a DRO and i have done nothing to clear up my credit file, so this may be an issue.

Should i stay with Halifax till my credit file is cleaned up or make the move asap to another bank if the latter what bank would be best for me bearing in mind what i want from an account and hopeefully with most cashback?

All1

davethorp

You mention wanting cash back. Santander 123 lite costs £1 a month but earns you 1% cash back on council tax, water bills and Santander mortgages, 2% on gas and electric and Santander insurance and 3% on phone, mobile, broadband and TV. It only has a £500 pay in requirement which you!!!8217;d meet

NatWest/RBS reward accounts are similar but offer a blanket 2% cash back on the bills for £2 a month. The pay in requirements are significantly more at £1500 a month though

You could also look at Halifax reward which gives £3 cash back for paying in £750 a month and paying out 2 direct debits and remaining in credit. You might have to withdraw cash and pay it back in to meet the funding requirement but it could be an option

All these accounts will credit check you which may be an issue as you say. My credit rating wasn!!!8217;t the greatest when I opened my Santander 123 account about 6 years ago though so you never know. 1 or two applications wont harm your rating too much as long as you don!!!8217;t go crazy

DCFC79

Credit ratings aren't seen by banks, lenders etc, just you can see your score/rating, the banks see the credit history.

You say you do your banking at night but why not use internet banking.

18cc

If you do most of your banking in the small hours of the morning you could think about opening an Australian bank account !

ValiantSon

davethorp wrote: »

You mention wanting cash back. Santander 123 lite costs £1 a month but earns you 1% cash back on council tax, water bills and Santander mortgages, 2% on gas and electric and Santander insurance and 3% on phone, mobile, broadband and TV. It only has a £500 pay in requirement which you!!!8217;d meet

NatWest/RBS reward accounts are similar but offer a blanket 2% cash back on the bills for £2 a month. The pay in requirements are significantly more at £1500 a month though

You could also look at Halifax reward which gives £3 cash back for paying in £750 a month and paying out 2 direct debits and remaining in credit. You might have to withdraw cash and pay it back in to meet the funding requirement but it could be an option

All these accounts will credit check you which may be an issue as you say. My credit rating wasn!!!8217;t the greatest when I opened my Santander 123 account about 6 years ago though so you never know. 1 or two applications wont harm your rating too much as long as you don!!!8217;t go crazy

Santander 123 Lite has low pay in requirement of £500 each month, so it would be suitable for the OP. The £1 fee would easily be covered by direct debit cashback, with some extra cashback money being available to boost the balance! The downside might be access to customer services. Their phone lines are open 24 hours a day, for automated telephone banking, but only between 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays. The online banking, however, is 24 hours and allows you to do almost everything I can think of.

First Direct offer 24 hour, 7 days a week telephone banking where the phone is answered by a person (no automated menus at all), but they offer no other benefits, and they an be quite fussy about who they give accounts to. To give an idea, they charge £10 p/m for the account, unless you pay in £1000 every month, or hold another product with them. (The best solution is to have a savings account with £1 in it to avoid the £10 monthly fee).