Bank account no income

devildolly

Hi

Does anyone know of a basic bank account that can be opened with no income.

I'm asking as my recently widowed mum needs to switch accounts. She is stuck on an account charging £18 per month (none of the perks can be used either). Long story short she has several thousand in cash, but little income. She is not state pension age yet, not working due to health but not sick enough to claim sickness benefits, not entitled to any other benefits beyond the bereavement payment and only has £30 a month from a private pension. Have a year to go before state pension kicks in and/or savings run out and we can apply for benefits.

Im trying to make the cash she has work as hard as it can, and paying for a bank account doesn't help. I tried to open a first direct account as they didn't require a minimum payment each month and it was declined.

Tried with her current bank and they require minimum payments each month (which she cant meet). Is there anyone that we can try or are we going to have to stick it out with this account until she has her pension coming in.

Neil_Jones

Have a look at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/basic-bank-accounts/

Note that "minimum income" doesn't necessarily have to mean wages, if you get accepted for an account that needs a minimum pay in you could just cycle a chunk in and out of a savings accounts every month.

Robin9

devildolly wrote: »

.................................. (which she cant meet)................


Where is the cash being held ?

She could withdraw £1500 of cash , pay it into the bank, draw it out the next day . ....... repeat monthly (or even better open a second bank account and have standing orders to switch from one to the other)

eskbanker

devildolly wrote: »

Tried with her current bank and they require minimum payments each month (which she cant meet).

This sounds like a misunderstanding - to the best of my knowledge there are no UK banks offering packaged accounts that don't also have fee-free products with no minimum monthly funding requirements.

Granted, some banks are unwilling to accept new customers who don't meet certain earning criteria, but if she's already an account-holder then her current bank should allow her to downgrade to a fee-free product - which bank is it that she's currently with?

devildolly

eskbanker wrote: »

This sounds like a misunderstanding - to the best of my knowledge there are no UK banks offering packaged accounts that don't also have fee-free products with no minimum monthly funding requirements.

Granted, some banks are unwilling to accept new customers who don't meet certain earning criteria, but if she's already an account-holder then her current bank should allow her to downgrade to a fee-free product - which bank is it that she's currently with?

Thanks. Currently she is with Natwest and pays £18 per month for the account. Savings sitting in the current account. This will all be gone by next year so not looking to earn loads of interest.

Might be worth trying Natwest again then.

18cc

You should be able to downgrade the account to what is known as an everyday current account

i don't know if you need to go in or call them up to do this but for example with Lloyds you just do that on internet banking - there is an option there to downgrade an account

don't know if NatWest have it on their internet banking - if they do that is probably the simplest way otherwise give them a call, go into the branch or write them a letter

System

Ask NatWest to change it to a Select account

Flobberchops

As above - packaged bank accounts are a thing of the past. They were wildly unpopular and exposed the banks to accusations of mis-selling. As a result you can now choose to have completely free current accounts with almost all banks.


A bank might reasonably ask that your mother's account shows activity, as opposed to sitting dormant - opening and maintaining an account costs them a small but not negligible sum in terms of person-hours, stationery, postage and server space. But it's unlikely the lack of a regular income will be a make-or-break factor. Retired, unemployed, and disabled people all deserve access to banking.

xylophone

Had your mother considered a switch to the TSB Classic Plus account and putting her cash above the £1500 into a savings account?

She could move £500 out of the savings to TSB each month so as to get the 3% interest.


The balance of the money should go into the best paying savings account (s) she can get. See here

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1583859/Best-savings-rates-General-savings-Internet-branch.html

With regard to her state pension, has she obtained a state pension forecast?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Re Pension Credit

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf

Ben8282

devildolly wrote: »

Thanks. Savings sitting in the current account. .

As Natwest pay ZERO interest on current accounts could you not help her by putting the 'Several thousand' pounds of savings that you say she has somewhere where at least it will earn her somethingI Am unsure as to if the real problem is having to pay for a packaged account or having to meet a minimum pay in requirement, but not sure why there is a minimum pay-in requirement for this account if it provides nothing beyond the packaged benefits paid for by the fee. Is it a rewards account? Does she not pay bills from this account? If it is a reward account does she benefit?
Presumably if she has not yet reached pension age and is not sufficiently unwell to obtain any form of benefits as a result of this illness, she is still legally competent and managing her own financial affairs so get her to go to her branch and have the account type changed to whatever type of free account offered by Natwest that takes her fancy then go and open a building society account and put her savings there and earn some little interest on them.

devildolly

xylophone wrote: »

Had your mother considered a switch to the TSB Classic Plus account and putting her cash above the £1500 into a savings account?

She could move £500 out of the savings to TSB each month so as to get the 3% interest.


The balance of the money should go into the best paying savings account (s) she can get. See here

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-1583859/Best-savings-rates-General-savings-Internet-branch.html

With regard to her state pension, has she obtained a state pension forecast?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Re Pension Credit

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf

Thanks everyone. I think I will take her to Natwest and see if they can downgrade her account. The account we applied for had no minimum pay ins, but she failed the credit check. Ive checked her report and it looks fine to me. No missed payments, she has a credit card which is all paid up (not used for a few months now), plenty of history, correct details etc. so I can only assume its her lack of income.

Have got the state pension forecast, thats all fine. She is due to get £168 ish a week from July next year. Her savings will likely run out before then though, so rather than try to earn a few quid in interest, I just want to avoid her paying £18 per month.

I think around March next year her savings will be below the cap on any benefits so we can apply for what she is eligible for and start to get some money coming in. She currently only has £130 per month from bereavement payments and a private pension.