Basic bank account

jonnygee2

Why would you want a Monzo or Starling account rather than a basic account with a real bank/BS that you can actually deposit cash & cheques if needed?

Monzo and Starling are real banks. And you can deposit cheques into both. They are cheaper to use abroad than any basic account. And they are much better for managing your money, which is useful for everyone but especially if you are having . But particularly, the OP wrote;

Ideally I’d like to be able to [use] the car[d] asap

If the OP downloads Monzo now they will most likely have a card by Wednesday morning.

Anthorn

GlassFull wrote: »

Apologies for another basic bank account question, but after reading various existing threads I’m still undecided

I’m about to apply for a DRO (after visiting Citizens Advice)
I’ve been advised to open a basic bank account as my current account is with Halifax and my debt owed is to my Halifax credit card. I’m assuming that’s incase they take my wages from me?

I was looking at opening a CO OP cashminder after looking at the top picks on one of the articles on MSE but then my friend recommended MONZO?

I don’t want to have to pay any monthly/transaction fees whatsoever

Would anybody recommend one card over the other? Or can you suggest any others?

The card will be used mainly for online purchases and food/petrol. Ideally I’d like to be able to the cars asap without further credit checks and the potential of them declining me

Many thanks

In my experience the Citizens Advice do sometimes produce eyebrow-raisers.

First of all you are insolvent although not actually bankrupt and are most likely recorded on the Individual Insolvency Register: Some banks are absolutely paranoid about insolvency and may reject you so you need to check the Ts&Cs of the banks you intend to apply to. You should also tell the bank about your Debt Relief Order as well as tell your debt advisor about your intention to open a bank account.

Secondly, when the above is considered credit checks and the possibility of rejecting you are mute points unless you intend to keep quiet about your DRO.

Lastly, bank accounts which include the possibility of overdrawing are potentially a minefield because if you go overdrawn for more than £500 you will likely break the restriction against loans and are likely to be prosecuted because of it. Hence I think the advice to open a basic bank account.

btw good luck.

deadendwaterfall

Petrol might be an issue especially at night due to the fact that a lot of self service pumps rejecting cards linked to basic bank accounts.

Terry_Towelling

deadendwaterfall wrote: »

Petrol might be an issue especially at night due to the fact that a lot of self service pumps rejecting cards linked to basic bank accounts.

I wonder if such rejections are down to the fact that the petrol pump sends an authorisation request for £1 but that auth amount is enough to allow the user to dispense up to £60 (or whatever the allowable level is these days).

Could be that some banking systems would rather decline these transactions up front than take a gamble on approving up to the allowable limit (or more if the pumps are non-compliant with payment-scheme limits - often a problem in the old days with Tesco pumps) and risk the account going overdrawn or having insufficient credit to meet other demands such as direct debits that may be set up awaiting payment.

jonnygee2

Could be that some banking systems would rather decline these transactions up front than take a gamble on approving up to the allowable limit (or more if the pumps are non-compliant with payment-scheme limits - often a problem in the old days with Tesco pumps) and risk the account going overdrawn

This is exactly what this is. There is an increasingly common type of fraud where someone sets up a new, phony bank account and then goes to town on petrol pumps with £1 auths.

When I say 'go to town' I'm not talking about a £60 petrol run either. Using specially modified vans and trucks they can go far into five figures overdrawn in a short space of time, before they ditch their card. Depending on the situation, either the bank or the petrol station might be liable for the losses.

Also, there's another set of people who use these auths as form of borrowing, once they have figured out how they work. So they wait until they know they are almost out of money to fill up the car, using their last £1 or so to auth at the pump and then going into unauthorised overdraft until payday.

Hence, lots of banks and petrol stations have started to tighten up on these auths, disallowing them to anyone with bad credit, basic bank accounts, new cards, low balances etc etc.