Opening a second bank account.

FragrantFan

Hello - I'm new to MSE and I've just signed up in order to ask for advice regarding opening up a second bank account.
In a nutshell, I need to squirrel away money. I rarely leave the house, so withdrawing money from the ATM on a regular basis isn't practical and so it needs to be done through a seperate account to the one I have.
MSE came up in a Google search and something caught my attention. One poster said that quite a few MSE members have several basic current accounts and use these to switch and take advantage of the money switch rewards. May I ask if someone could explain this in more detail, please? (I find things like this difficult to grasp at first)
Regards to the second account mentioned previously, I will only be transferring a few pounds at a time, literally. £2 one week, £5 the week after, £3 etc etc...can I get an account for something like this? I don't want fancy interest rates, cheque book, no frills and I won't set up payments into this account because I want to keep everything the same with the account that I have now.
I'm feeling confused.
If anyone has the time to spell it out for me, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.

Flobberchops

Yes, most banks will happily let you have a second bank account for the purposes of budgeting, saving, or just keeping money in a separate "pot" if you so wish.


You could use an instant access savings account for this, and you may even be able to open this yourself online. This will pay some interest, but nothing to get worked up about.


You should alternatively have no problem opening a secondary current account. Don't get hung up on the word "basic" as this has a specific meaning in bank terminology, i.e. it's a special account reserved for customers with poor credit who don't qualify for a full current account or any credit facilities. What you'll be applying for is a standard, normal current account. If you're only planning on using this for online transactions you may be able to request no card be issued, for simplicity and security.

Dobbibill

Welcome to the forum.


Do you specifically want the new account to be completely away from your current bank?
If not, if you use internet banking, you could possibly have an account opened in a couple of minutes. (Current or Savings account)

If you would prefer it to be elsewhere completely, it would possibly take 10 mins to do an online application. Your card, PIN and anything else would follow in the post assuming you won't need to visit branch with ID.

zagubov

There are good reasons for having a second account with a different bank. Many forum members keep a separate account and prefer to not keep all their eggs in the one basket.

colsten

FragrantFan wrote: »

One poster said that quite a few MSE members have several basic current accounts and use these to switch and take advantage of the money switch rewards. May I ask if someone could explain this in more detail, please? (I find things like this difficult to grasp at first)

There is a massive amount of information about switching on MSE, both the Forum and the main site. Please do some reading.

xylophone

If you want to keep your existing bank account, you could open another account with your own bank, wait until you received the debit card, then switch that account to get the switching bonus and subsequently to use as a home for your small amounts.

FragrantFan

Thank you so much.

@Colston - sorry, didn't mean to aggrevate you. I'm sure there is a huge amount of info on this site, I just hoped for a pointer in the right direction in order to do so. I've never, ever used MSE before, so I'm finding that the forum navigation is taking some getting used to.

One thing though (to whoever is reading) I understand that in order to receive the switch reward money, a few direct debits must come out of the new account, and so much must be paid into it. Is there a way around this?

northwalesd

FragrantFan wrote: »

One thing though (to whoever is reading) I understand that in order to receive the switch reward money, a few direct debits must come out of the new account, and so much must be paid into it. Is there a way around this?

Each bank has it's own set of terms & conditions for receiving switching 'bonuses'. If a bank requires direct debits, or standing orders or minimum pay in (or whatever they require to pay switching bonuses or ongoing rewards or interest) then those will be in the T&Cs and no, there isn't any way round them (though there is a thread about setting up direct debits to maximise account 'earnings' on this board).