Successfully upgraded your Cash Account?

Fighter1986

Hi All,

So I have basic accounts with Nationwide, TSB, and Halifax. I only need to keep one; there's no use in my having a multitude of accounts.

I wasn't offered "Full" accounts due to previous adverse credit history. I'm looking for guidance in which one to keep and carry out my day to day banking with.

Background:

My prior adverse credit history is now behind me, although the fact that I was once is serious financial difficulty will remain on my credit file for some years to come.
My circumstances now are very different to my circumstances which led to my bankruptcy two years ago.
At the time, I was single and on a zero hour minimum wage contract, I had been treading water with interest payments on my debts for six years on the meagre income I had at the time.
I'm now partnered and co-habiting, with a full time permanent job and a good salary, as well as now sharing the household expenses with my better half.
We are saving to buy a house and are on target to have £30,000 each by April 2023 (which will mark the four year anniversary of my Bankruptcy). I have been putting away over 50% of my NET monthly income since starting my new, permanent, salaried job in August. I've got my pension contributions at 12% as well. Long may it last.

I'm building positive credit history between now and the date we have saved for going house hunting; with my credit card which is paid in full each month; and little things like car and home insurance appear on my credit file as paid on time loans so that all helps bolster positive history since my bankruptcy. I'm happy that I'm doing everything right on that front and will just let things tick over.

My question relates to those who have had experience of being offered an upgrade to a full account after having used a basic / cash account as their main account for some time?

If anyone has experience of this, I'd appreciate anecdotal evidence, as it would help me decide which bank I should perhaps focus my efforts on moving forwards. I'd like to conduct my day to day banking with whichever banking group has previously shown other forum members appreciation for good account conduct in spite of adverse (but since resolved) credit history. 

eskbanker

Fighter1986 said:

So I have basic accounts with Nationwide, TSB, and Halifax. I only need to keep one; there's no use in my having a multitude of accounts.

On the contrary, it's usually recommended on here to maintain multiple accounts with different institutions, offering protection against technical outages, card loss/theft, overzealous security actions, etc.

Fighter1986 said:

I'm now partnered and co-habiting, with a full time permanent job and a good salary, as well as now sharing the household expenses with my better half.

I take your point about seeking comparative anecdotal info from other posters with direct experience of upgrading basic accounts, but IMHO you'd probably be best asking whichever bank you pay your salary into, as they'll have visibility of the predictably regular income arriving into your account....

Fighter1986

eskbanker said:

Fighter1986 said:

So I have basic accounts with Nationwide, TSB, and Halifax. I only need to keep one; there's no use in my having a multitude of accounts.

On the contrary, it's usually recommended on here to maintain multiple accounts with different institutions, offering protection against technical outages, card loss/theft, overzealous security actions, etc.

Fighter1986 said:

I'm now partnered and co-habiting, with a full time permanent job and a good salary, as well as now sharing the household expenses with my better half.

I take your point about seeking comparative anecdotal info from other posters with direct experience of upgrading basic accounts, but IMHO you'd probably be best asking whichever bank you pay your salary into, as they'll have visibility of the predictably regular income arriving into your account....

Very good point you make about having fallbacks for technical outages and the such like @eskbanker, thank you.

I'm just of the mindset of not wanting to make myself appear overburdened with a multitude of current accounts following my bankruptcy.

I spoke to Nationwide about upgrades when I opened the account, and they were very positive saying yes of course sir of course, in a few months, absolutely ... so I've used it as my main account for a year, always been in credit, never bounced any payments, very healthy turover, all that good stuff but when I asked this week I was still pre-declined for a Flex Direct or Flex Account. Their decision wasn't based on a credit search either, it was based on internal data... but I owe them nothing, am always in credit, put £2,500 a month through the account, and never have any payments returned unpaid.

Hence asking here. 

luvchocolate

Nationwide are usually happy to upgrade. 
Halifax not so friendly 

colsten

Why do you want to upgrade, what do you need/want to do that you can't already do with your existing accounts?

jonesMUFCforever

OP if your bankruptcy was only 2 years ago I suggest for many banks it will be too soon to offer you full banking services.
At present it stops you from applying for new credit such as overdrafts, loans and credit cards.

In your situation do you think you will want to apply for anything new soon? If not do nothing, perhaps until all reference to the bankruptcy or adverse entries on your credit files have gone.

Fighter1986

jonesMUFCforever said:

OP if your bankruptcy was only 2 years ago I suggest for many banks it will be too soon to offer you full banking services.
At present it stops you from applying for new credit such as overdrafts, loans and credit cards.

In your situation do you think you will want to apply for anything new soon? If not do nothing, perhaps until all reference to the bankruptcy or adverse entries on your credit files have gone.

Oh absolutely I understand, I'm really not that bothered at all as cash accounts are fairly full featured these days anyway. I'm not in need or want of a chequebook, overdraft, or any lending, and certainly wouldn't expect a bank to openly offer me a full account right off the bat with a bankruptcy still in my credit history but I was a little surprised Nationwide refused to upgrade me after a year of putting £2,500 a month through the account, maintaining a healthy balance and not bouncing a single payment. 

I'm quite content to carry on as I am, it would just be nice to know if anyone in my circumstances has been successful about an account upgrade.

One other thing that plays on my mind is whether only having a basic bank account would negatively affect my chances of buying a house.

Yes, I know, my bankruptcy will be the biggest negative, but many lenders clearly state in their mortgage underwriting criteria that they look at applicants who have been discharged three years, hence saving that date in our diary for going house hunting. 

I've considered that if I approach Nationwide with only a Flex Basic account that this might "pre-decline" me for all their other credit products Inc. mortgage.

I remember another bank telling me some time ago that if you hold a cashcard account with them you can't have any other products from them.

jonesMUFCforever

The fact that you put £2500 through the Nationwide account does not alter your credit history.
Your credit files show history going back 6 years - this is what all lenders base their decisions on not how much you put through an account.

Fighter1986

jonesMUFCforever said:

The fact that you put £2500 through the Nationwide account does not alter your credit history.
Your credit files show history going back 6 years - this is what all lenders base their decisions on not how much you put through an account.

I think you know me well enough by now to know that I know precisely how my credit history works and affects me, but if you see above I explained that nationwide's decision to refuse me an upgrade after 12 months of very healthy account contact was NOT based on credit file data, but internal data.

Hence my starting this thread to see if anyone had anecdotal evidence of other banks using internal account conduct data to give them an upgrade, which bank it was, and how long it took.

As an aside, more and more lenders are using open banking data as part of their credit and risk assessment data, for example Marshmallow insurance who I use to insure my car had me login to Nationwide and share open banking data with them, and as a result offered me monthly finance for my annual premium at a good APR and a very good premium for the insurance itself.

There's a few loan companies starting to use Open Banking Data too as part of their risk assessment. 

That's a separate topic, but an interesting one that shows the industry moving towards credit assessment models which include a granular analysis of the applicants current account transaction and balance history. 

williewonder

I had the Nationwide Flax-basic account for years, mostly dormant. I started using this as my main account in 2016. Only £540 a month going through it and 1 direct debit. I did have poor credit worthiness but was able to upgrade to the Flax-account within 2 years. I think they did this internally? 6 months later on logging into my online banking I was offered a small overdraft. In 2019 upgraded to the Flex-plus with £1000 overdraft. I'm very happy with this account.

jonesMUFCforever

williewonder said:

I had the Nationwide Flax-basic account for years, mostly dormant. I started using this as my main account in 2016. Only £540 a month going through it and 1 direct debit. I did have poor credit worthiness but was able to upgrade to the Flax-account within 2 years. I think they did this internally? 6 months later on logging into my online banking I was offered a small overdraft. In 2019 upgraded to the Flex-plus with £1000 overdraft. I'm very happy with this account.

Had you ever been declared bankrupt?