New bank recommendation.

flyinggizmo

Hi. I currently have a Virgin One Account which has helped me pay off my mortgage etc over the years but that comes to a compulsory end next month so I'm looking for recommendations for an alternative Bank. I'm caught in the middle of the pension trap ( 65 last May but no UK pension until May 2022 ) so I can't transfer to a Bank that requires a minimum sum monthly paid in as I'm living off savings at the moment. I have a private pension but I'm not touching it yet.
I'm very happy with computer banking and have the usual Direct Debits to be transferred over but no debts so preferential overdraft fees etc are not of interest in the comparison.
Appreciate any advice/recommendations, good or bad, before I'm forced to make a decision. Many thanks .... Don.

PRAISETHESUN

A number of banks are offering incentives to switch to them, check out here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts/

Most banks sound like they'll fit the bill here though to be honest. The "pay in" requirements for accounts that need them are easily bypassed by simply transferring savings in/out of your current account on a monthly basis - no need for any actual income (eg. on 01st of the month transfer £XXX from savings into your current account and then transfer the same amount back to your savings account - this can even be automated by standing order to make it easier).

Outside of that, you could look into staying with Virgin by opening a new current account or converting your One account into a different type? See here for options: https://uk.virginmoney.com/current-accounts/

gsmh

Over the years I have been with pretty much every bank - mostly the more esoteric ones. To cut a long story short I switched from Metro Bank to the Royal Bank of Scotland in May 2021 and I am very pleased with my choice. There are branches (NatWest and RBS) and pretty much everything is in place. Metro Bank doesn't do confirmation of payee and the online experience is rather basic, Triodos doesn't have Apple/Google Pay and 'faster' payments can take up to two days, and so on. I was pleasantly surprised with the RBS/NatWest online and app experience - there is really very little missing.

Both the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest have a £150 switching bonus at the moment - £100 for switching and another £50 if you stay a year. There are a couple of other conditions which apply. Nothing onerous, you don't even need to switch DDs.

Daliah

Minimum deposit requirements only apply to some switch bonus offers and some optional reward offers, not to the operation of a current account as such. Therefore any of the many current accounts is an option for you. But minimum pay-in requirements can easily be met, anyway, as you can just withdraw and re-deposit.

I believe you cannot use the CASS switching service for a Virgin One account, so you need to move your balance, your DDs and your SOs manually. This is easy to do though.

Current accounts at UK Banks and Building Societies are much of a muchness, all apart from Chase do DDs (they're working on it), all do SOs, all do Faster Payments, all have apps and contactless cards, some still do cheque books, some have Reward programmes, Santander does cashback on DDs, some do "save the change" gimmicks, some pay interest, most are free of charge but some offer various insurances for a monthly fee, all have FSCS cover. So it's down to your requirements (e.g. do you want a Branch, do you want cashback or interest etc etc) which one will suit you best. Many people on this forum have more than one current account, at different banks, in case something goes wrong with one of them, or to cycle money (e.g. for minimum deposit requirements), or to use one for DDs and the other for other spending etc.. 

Start here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/bank-accounts/

The only recommendation I would give is don't go for any of the pseudo current accounts such as Revolut which isn't a bank, or Wise which is a currency transfer service. 

blue.peter

flyinggizmo said:

 I can't transfer to a Bank that requires a minimum sum monthly paid in as I'm living off savings at the moment. .

That's not necessarily true. I lived off savings for a while (between ceasing paid employment and drawing my pension). At the time, I had an account that required a minimum monthly deposit requirement. I met it by making transfers from my savings account (with another bank) to that current account. And it doesn't matter if the minimum deposit requirement is more than you want to transfer in for living expenses: you can make the larger transfer in and then immediately return any surplus to your savings account.

flyinggizmo

@blue.peter   Unfortunately my accessible savings are in the Virgin One Account so I don't have the opportunity to transfer money in/out on a monthly basis to meet the minimum monthly deposit requirements of some banks. The Virgin Account will be closed by them permanently next month and my property deeds returned to me.
@Dalia I've spoken to them & you're correct that they don't use the CASS switching service so I'm really looking for a Bank that can help in easing the transition ( transfer of Direct Debits etc. ) and a good customer service record.
Would it be more problematic if I were to use an internet only bank such as Starling Bank of which I've read some favourable reports? 
Sorry about the amount of questions but it's better to ask knowledgeable people on the forum here rather than dive in & make a mistake. Many thanks .....

Zanderman

Any bank will do what you're needing to do.  I'm not sure where you're seeing problems?

If Virgin One can't do CASS then that's not an option at all.

So you simply need to open another account, any will do, and transfer your DDs etc manually (the banks won't do it for you if it's not a CASS switch).

Virgin One isn't with Virgin I think, but actually RBS?  So maybe RBS would be a good option.   

Ignore all the switching incentives for now, as they're for CASS switches.

Once you have an 'ordinary'  current account you can switch to other banks if you wish.

blue.peter

flyinggizmo said:

@blue.peter   Unfortunately my accessible savings are in the Virgin One Account so I don't have the opportunity to transfer money in/out on a monthly basis to meet the minimum monthly deposit requirements of some banks.

Sorry, but I don't follow your logic here. Your savings are in the Virgin One account, but that's going to be closed anyway. You want to replace it. So far, so good. But why not replace it with two accounts - one current plus one savings? Those two accounts can be with different banks, which would then allow you to make the necessary regular transfers.

Daliah

flyinggizmo said:

 I'm really looking for a Bank that can help in easing the transition ( transfer of Direct Debits etc. ) and a good customer service record.
Would it be more problematic if I were to use an internet only bank such as Starling Bank of which I've read some favourable reports? 

Moving DDs yourself is dead easy. All you have to do is

1. open a new current account
2. once you have full access to the new account, put sufficient money in to cover your DDs
3. give your new sort code and account number to each of your DD payees. In many cases, this can be done online or over the phone

You can do this straight away, no need to wait until your OneAccount closes. The process is the same whether you choose an online only or a high street bank.

Starling has, in my experience, good CS, and their app is great. They don't pay any cashback on DDs though, and the interest rate on the current account is a derisory 0.05%

gsmh

I prefer to do it myself anyway. I feel in charge and as soon as a direct debit leaves my old account I set it up on the new account. You don't end up with duplicate DDs that way either. It's only when a switching bonus is dependent on using the CASS you need to use it - but in your case that isn't an issue.

Daliah

Zanderman said:

 transfer your DDs etc manually (the banks won't do it for you if it's not a CASS switch).

There are actually a handful of banks which do partial switching*, not using CASS. But as this doesn't come with any guarantees, you might as well do it yourself. It's simple enough to do, and you don't have to check whether they did it properly. Add to this that the OneAccount folks might not cooperate.

* Note that the article is out of date regarding the benefits of the various accounts.