One Current Account One Savings Account

David28

If you just had one main current account and one savings account which bank would you chose?

All bills would be paid by direct debit and all spending would be by credit card.

Would you bother with a reward or vantage account where you had to keep a balance to get rewards or not?

There would of course be a backup account for emergencies.

Katiehound

Well, I would want to have 2 x current a/cs in this day and age- simply so that if one suffers a major blip I could still access my cash.
It really depends how much money 'sits ' in the account because some current a/c s will give you a 'small' reward... possibly more than a savings account!
TSB? Nationwide? Halifax?

blue.peter

Savings account would be fairly easy. I'd look at the MSE top ones, and pick the best-looking one. "Best-looking" isn't as simple as just the one that pays the highest return, but I'd also take into account things like the number of withdrawals allowed and any other limitation. I'd also exclude any offered by a bank about which I have negative feelings. And I'd dump it in favour of another as rates change. In practice, I ditch and switch about a couple of times a year. I opened an NS&I Direct Saver this week. I'm not too impressed by the operation so far, but it does at least seem to do what I need.

Current acounts are a bit more difficult, but I'd probably stick with Nationwide on the grounds that my experience of their service is, overall, as good as I've found anywhere. (Other banks beat it on one aspect or another, but lose out somewhere else.) Also, they're still paying me 5% on a balance of £2,500   TSB gets a bad press from some folk here, but they come a respectable second in my book. First Direct is unbeatable for phone service, but who uses that nowadays? It was great in the 90s, but hasn't kept pace with the market.

There's certainly something to be said for rewards/cashback etc on current accounts, but I've had good experiences (Santander 1-2-3, before the terms changed) and bad (RBS Rewards).

All this is entirely subjective. Different people have different needs/preferences, and can have different experiences of the same bank.

D3xt3r5L4b

I wouldn’t. I’d have multiple

colsten

It's a high risk strategy to keep all your funds in a single bank. What would you do if there was a problem with accessing your accounts? It's happened multiple times, to many people.

blue.peter

Katiehound said:

Well, I would want to have 2 x current a/cs in this day and age- simply so that if one suffers a major blip I could still access my cash.

colsten said:

It's a high risk strategy to keep all your funds in a single bank. What would you do if there was a problem with accessing your accounts? It's happened multiple times, to many people.

I agree with both of you. However, to be fair, the OP did say:

There would of course be a backup account for emergencies.

So I don't think that there is any suggestion (in spite of the thread subject) that we should really have only one bank account.

I certainly took it as read that we were only asked about a primary, not sole, current account, and that was the basis on which I replied above.

Jami74

David28 said:

If you just had one main current account and one savings account which bank would you chose?

I used to just have one current account and one savings account with the same bank. Then I discovered the MSE way and now I have lots
If I had to go back to just having the one I'd probably stick with my original bank simply because the app and online banking is the most familiar as I've been using it the longest. I have been extremely lucky (judging by the many threads) in that I've never had any problems with any of my accounts and if I've ever called customer services they've been helpful.

crumpet_man

It's a hypothetical question to determine how you really value a bank account.  Is it the ease of use of app/online banking, rewards/cashback, customer service etc

I would probably choose Dansk Reward currentacurrent as it's the easiest £5 (after fee) to earn and the app is no better or worse than all the other banks.

st999

crumpet_man said:

I would probably choose Dansk Reward currentacurrent as it's the easiest £5 (after fee) to earn and the app is no better or worse than all the other banks.

Is that not only for NI?

Ready to open a Danske Cash Reward account?

To apply for this account:

• If you’re a new Danske Bank customer, you must be living in Northern Ireland
• If you’re already a Danske Bank customer, you must be living in the UK

quirkydeptless

I had one main current account for decades (Lloyds) until I discovered this site and the number spiralled to uncountable levels

I'd stick with it for my one main.

As for one savings, I would pick the top rate Easy Access Saver that was uncaveated by restrictions (e.g number of withdrawals per year) and keep moving it as the top runner changed.

crumpet_man

st999 said:

crumpet_man said:

I would probably choose Dansk Reward currentacurrent as it's the easiest £5 (after fee) to earn and the app is no better or worse than all the other banks.

Is that not only for NI?

Ready to open a Danske Cash Reward account?

To apply for this account:

• If you’re a new Danske Bank customer, you must be living in Northern Ireland
• If you’re already a Danske Bank customer, you must be living in the UK

I didn't say it was available to new customers 😁
I've had the account for a while and they were previously more lenient on the rules as to where you live.