What’s your financial setup

gingercordial

I used to be someone with loads of current and savings accounts.  I cut it all down over the last year or two, leading up to a house purchase at the end of last year, both to simplify things for mortgage brokers/lenders and to have fewer addresses to change.  I'd also exhausted most switching bonuses, incentives, introductory rates and so on.  I might ramp it up again if it becomes worthwhile.

Current accounts: 4 (an historic low!)
- Natwest Reward joint account for all bills
- Other sole account (legacy longest-held account, plus wouldn't want to not have one just in my name; husband likewise has his own elsewhere too)
- Nationwide Flexplus joint account, (1) as banking system failure back up, (2) for the insurance and breakdown cover and (3) also this acts as a holding account for spare cash which is needed in the short term for house renovations, so best to keep that somewhere we can both access immediately even though no interest is earned
- Starling account for fee-free overseas cash withdrawals, which was a key benefit back in the pre-pandemic days as we travelled a lot

Savings accounts: several
- Mixture of regular savers, credit unions which pull by direct debit (no longer important but kept going just in case), premium bonds, S&S ISAs, some Nationwide accounts with prize draws.  

Credit cards: 2 of my own, but we are both additional card holders on each other's accounts so access to 3 - ALL spending goes on credit cards for cashback and protection, but paid off in full every month
- Amex for cashback, used for majority of purchases
- Halifax Clarity Mastercard for places in the UK that don't take Amex and also for fee-free overseas spending
- Husband also has a Nationwide Visa for fee-free overseas spending if Mastercard not accepted

Everything is tracked to the penny in a spreadsheet (cash flow forecasting) and You Need A Budget (budgeting).  I am an accountant after all!

jbrassy

I have 4 current accounts:

1. First Direct - which I use as my main account where my salary is paid in and all my bills are paid out. I use it because of the good customer service, it's free to use, and has a £250 free overdraft.
2. Halifax - which I keep £5000 in order to get £5 a month bonus. I also got a bonus for switching to them.
3. Virgin Money - which I keep £1000 in to get 2% interest. I also got a load of free wine for switching to them.
4. Starling - which I use for ATM withdrawals abroad.

I have 3 credit cards which I pay off in full every month:

1. Amex Platinum cashback - this is what I do most on spending on. Currently pays 1% cashback (due to change soon) and charges £25 per year.
2. Capital One cashback - which I use when Amex isn't accepted. Pays 0.5% cashback.
3. Barclaycard Rewards - which I use for spending abroad and pays 0.25% cashback.

For savings, I have an account with Marcus and a stocks and shares ISA with Vanguard. I used to put my savings into regular savers, but the rates on these are now rubbish. I also reached the point where I felt I had enough cash savings available for a rainy day and set up the stocks and shares ISA. If you have a decent chunk of cash saved away already, I would strongly consider a stocks and shares ISA as you'll likely make much better returns over the long run. 

Some other tips to make / save money:

1. Join Quidco and Top Cashback to earn more cashback on online purchases.
2. Set up a PayPal account. Sometimes websites don't accept Amex but do accept PayPal. Therefore, I can use my Amex via PayPal and earn more cashback. Also, if you purchase something using PayPal and you want to return it, PayPal will cover the shipping costs for returning the item for up to 12 purchases per year. 
3. Matched betting. Something that's definitely worth looking into and isn't mentioned a lot on this forum. I joined Profit Accumulator earlier this year and have made over £2500 since January. 

jimjames

Not sure what the benefit will be but I have 10 current accounts and 1 savings accounts (plus 4 empty Tesco savings accounts that I can't close online so have left) and I think around 6 credit cards. 

The only thing I would reiterate from previous posts is that it is definitely worth having current accounts with more than one bank and also (IMHO) having a credit card you clear every month. I see far too many posts complaining they can't pay for xyz because the petrol pump "took" money from their account by an authorisation. Same thing when you get food shopping online. Credit card will avoid those issues if you run close to your limits.

eskbanker

jbrassy said:
Matched betting. Something that's definitely worth looking into and isn't mentioned a lot on this forum.

There was a dedicated matched betting board but it was removed in the last cull....

Lumiona

I have lots of dormant accounts due to switching and previous uses but my active banking boils down to:

* current account - income received and all DDs paid out 1 week after income, (do not use my debit card) - every penny extra bar £50 buffer is transferred to savings.
* savings account - all money kept in savings.

2 cashback /reward credit cards - Amex platimum & Amazon for all spending throughout the month paid off in the DD after payday. Majority is on Amex if accepted otherwise it goes on Amazon. 

I have 2 other credit cards for travel spending but they are not used other than that.

jbrassy

eskbanker said:

jbrassy said:
Matched betting. Something that's definitely worth looking into and isn't mentioned a lot on this forum.

There was a dedicated matched betting board but it was removed in the last cull....

Fair enough. I didn't realise. How come it was culled? I would have thought it's something MSE members would be quite interested in? 

eskbanker

jbrassy said:

eskbanker said:

jbrassy said:
Matched betting. Something that's definitely worth looking into and isn't mentioned a lot on this forum.

There was a dedicated matched betting board but it was removed in the last cull....

Fair enough. I didn't realise. How come it was culled? I would have thought it's something MSE members would be quite interested in? 

The 'announcement' that it wasn't being retained was light on detail but suggested disproportionate management effort versus usage:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6275627/weve-closed-some-boards 

datlex

All that matters is it works for you.

Personally I have a main account.  Bills accounts, Savings Pots

Splitting money helps massively with budgeting.

colsten

eskbanker said:

jbrassy said:
Matched betting. Something that's definitely worth looking into and isn't mentioned a lot on this forum.

There was a dedicated matched betting board but it was removed in the last cull....

WOW. Didn't realise this board had got the chop. It was the most profitable board by a mile for me, back in the days of £100 to £200 free bets that you could repeat almost ad infinitum. It kept me busy and in clover for a number of years, before the last bookie cordoned on to what people were doing and more or less stopped the gravy train. Very fond memories......

jbrassy

colsten said:

eskbanker said:

jbrassy said:
Matched betting. Something that's definitely worth looking into and isn't mentioned a lot on this forum.

There was a dedicated matched betting board but it was removed in the last cull....

WOW. Didn't realise this board had got the chop. It was the most profitable board by a mile for me, back in the days of £100 to £200 free bets that you could repeat almost ad infinitum. It kept me busy and in clover for a number of years, before the last bookie cordoned on to what people were doing and more or less stopped the gravy train. Very fond memories......

The matched betting gravy train is still running. However, it sounds like you need to sign up to a dedicated website such as Profit Accumulator or Odds Monkey. If anyone wants a referral code, feel free to private message me.