The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

ForumUser7

Band7 said:

happybagger said:

A tradition of having to book an appointment weeks in advance just to open an account, from what people say on here.

For a minute, I thought you were talking about Barclays. They also offer you an appointment several weeks in the future if they can't process your online application for a current account for one reason or another.

Barclays is ridiculous. I opened a current account online, and I want a chequebook. To get my chequebook, I need to give them a copy of my signature - this makes sense. What does not make sense is that it has to be via branch (cannot be via post, email, some kind of document web upload), and it has to be with a booked appointment! The earliest one I could get is late next month… Surely one of the two people who walk around helping people with the machines could literally take the pre-filled signature mandate form from me and put it on the system…at least, that’s how it’d work in any reasonable financial establishment rather than making customers wait 2 months + delivery for a basic chequebook

Bridlington1

According to moneyfacts, Coventry will be launching a new limited access saver at 2.85% (variable):
Allows 6 penalty free withdrawals, each additional withdrawal is subject to 50 days loss of interest.
Online only.
Min deposit: £1
Max deposit: £250k

Noneforit999

ForumUser7 said:

Band7 said:

happybagger said:

A tradition of having to book an appointment weeks in advance just to open an account, from what people say on here.

For a minute, I thought you were talking about Barclays. They also offer you an appointment several weeks in the future if they can't process your online application for a current account for one reason or another.

Barclays is ridiculous. I opened a current account online, and I want a chequebook. To get my chequebook, I need to give them a copy of my signature - this makes sense. What does not make sense is that it has to be via branch (cannot be via post, email, some kind of document web upload), and it has to be with a booked appointment! The earliest one I could get is late next month… Surely one of the two people who walk around helping people with the machines could literally take the pre-filled signature mandate form from me and put it on the system…at least, that’s how it’d work in any reasonable financial establishment rather than making customers wait 2 months + delivery for a basic chequebook

Blimey, a cheque book is a blast from the past! Haven't seen a personal cheque for about 10 years

Assuming its for business reasons?

subjecttocontract

I find cheques quite useful for gifts to family around Christmas and birthdays if I'm feeling generous.

Bridlington1

Noneforit999 said:

ForumUser7 said:

Band7 said:

happybagger said:

A tradition of having to book an appointment weeks in advance just to open an account, from what people say on here.

For a minute, I thought you were talking about Barclays. They also offer you an appointment several weeks in the future if they can't process your online application for a current account for one reason or another.

Barclays is ridiculous. I opened a current account online, and I want a chequebook. To get my chequebook, I need to give them a copy of my signature - this makes sense. What does not make sense is that it has to be via branch (cannot be via post, email, some kind of document web upload), and it has to be with a booked appointment! The earliest one I could get is late next month… Surely one of the two people who walk around helping people with the machines could literally take the pre-filled signature mandate form from me and put it on the system…at least, that’s how it’d work in any reasonable financial establishment rather than making customers wait 2 months + delivery for a basic chequebook

Blimey, a cheque book is a blast from the past! Haven't seen a personal cheque for about 10 years

Assuming its for business reasons?

I find chequebooks to be useful things to have in the house. I've written about a dozen cheques in the last 3 months. Many savings accounts can only be opened in branch or by post and if your local branch is over 70 miles away and you don't drive a cheque is the easiest (and often the only) way to make your initial deposit.

Admittedly 4 of those were only written because TSB had a bit of a technical meltdown resulting in the only way I could transfer money out of my account without using cash or debit card was to write myself a cheque then deposit it with one of the banking apps. 

Bridlington1

subjecttocontract said:

I find cheques quite useful for gifts to family around Christmas and birthdays if I'm feeling generous.

Plus when many people, particularly younger ones, are going cashless a cheque can be a lot easier for the recipient. With cash if the recipient doesn't spend cash they have to go into a bank or post office to deposit it. With a cheque they can just deposit it within a minute or two in one of the banking apps.

km1500

also a cheque doesn't tend to get blocked by fraud filters like FP payments sometimes do.

ForumUser7

Noneforit999 said:

ForumUser7 said:

Band7 said:

happybagger said:

A tradition of having to book an appointment weeks in advance just to open an account, from what people say on here.

For a minute, I thought you were talking about Barclays. They also offer you an appointment several weeks in the future if they can't process your online application for a current account for one reason or another.

Barclays is ridiculous. I opened a current account online, and I want a chequebook. To get my chequebook, I need to give them a copy of my signature - this makes sense. What does not make sense is that it has to be via branch (cannot be via post, email, some kind of document web upload), and it has to be with a booked appointment! The earliest one I could get is late next month… Surely one of the two people who walk around helping people with the machines could literally take the pre-filled signature mandate form from me and put it on the system…at least, that’s how it’d work in any reasonable financial establishment rather than making customers wait 2 months + delivery for a basic chequebook

Blimey, a cheque book is a blast from the past! Haven't seen a personal cheque for about 10 years

Assuming its for business reasons?

For opening deposits on personal savings - a few places have been reluctant to let me do the initial deposit via electronic transfer after the opening, they prefer to open it with a balance via cheque.

janusd

Bridlington1 said:

According to moneyfacts, Coventry will be launching a new limited access saver at 2.85% (variable):
Allows 6 penalty free withdrawals, each additional withdrawal is subject to 50 days loss of interest.
Online only.
Min deposit: £1
Max deposit: £250k

off-hand, does anyone know how long deposits take with Coventry BS? i've just opened the account with £1, but it's been a year since i've been with them, so I can't remember if I should expect it to clear today, or it won't clear now until Monday.

Section62

Noneforit999 said:

ForumUser7 said:

Band7 said:

happybagger said:

A tradition of having to book an appointment weeks in advance just to open an account, from what people say on here.

For a minute, I thought you were talking about Barclays. They also offer you an appointment several weeks in the future if they can't process your online application for a current account for one reason or another.

Barclays is ridiculous. I opened a current account online, and I want a chequebook. To get my chequebook, I need to give them a copy of my signature - this makes sense. What does not make sense is that it has to be via branch (cannot be via post, email, some kind of document web upload), and it has to be with a booked appointment! The earliest one I could get is late next month… Surely one of the two people who walk around helping people with the machines could literally take the pre-filled signature mandate form from me and put it on the system…at least, that’s how it’d work in any reasonable financial establishment rather than making customers wait 2 months + delivery for a basic chequebook

Blimey, a cheque book is a blast from the past! Haven't seen a personal cheque for about 10 years

Assuming its for business reasons?

I wrote out a personal cheque for £200 last week, and sent it to Monmouthshire Building Society to open a new Christmas Saver bond.

I calculated it gave me the best chance of getting the account open and fully funded in November... hanging around waiting to be able to make a "faster" payment would have taken longer and there was no realistic prospect of the payment reaching them in time to use November's allowance.

I don't yet know whether they got the application and cheque in time, but I do already know that if I'd relied on making a more modern "faster payment" then I'd have missed November for sure.

Cheques are also useful for verifying nominated account ownership where required for easy access account opening.