The benefits of multiple current accounts

phillw

ZeroSum said:
it's probably best not to have all of your DD's on the same day.

That would create extra work every month, makes it more of a pain to avoid DD when bank switching (yes it still causes issues) & more days a month when banking outages will affect you.

SiliconChip

adindas said:

IMO anyone who has multiple accounts must see personal benefit to own it otherwise why wasting time and allow credit check if it does not offer any benefit to you ??

Why would I care about credit checks? I have no borrowing, no overdrafts, and pay off all my credit cards in full, so a credit check has zero impact on me. And there must be many more sensible MSE members who are in the same position. What having multiple current accounts does give me is flexibility when there are inevitable technical issues affecting one or more banks.

And for those worrying about DDs, there's no need, you are not responsible for the collection of a DD, that's between the organisation asking for the money, their bank and your bank, if one of them has a technical problem it's for them to sort out not you. The only time you could have a concern is if you transfer money into an account just in time for a DD to be taken and can't because the transfer isn't working, but that's a matter of your own scheduling.

Daliah

SiliconChip said:

adindas said:

IMO anyone who has multiple accounts must see personal benefit to own it otherwise why wasting time and allow credit check if it does not offer any benefit to you ??

Why would I care about credit checks? I have no borrowing, no overdrafts, and pay off all my credit cards in full, so a credit check has zero impact on me. And there must be many more sensible MSE members who are in the same position. 

I agree, to many people the number of hard credit checks for multiple current accounts don't matter. Like you, I don't worry about them because I have no requirement in the near future for large credit. At one stage during lockdown, I had well over a dozen hard searches, all for current accounts which opened without problems. Interestingly, these hard searches showed on Experian but not on Transunion or Equifax.

It does matter, though if you are after a large credit facility (mortgage, loan) in the next 6 months. So may be people with those plans might want to skip current account switch offers for a few months. But the widespread fear of hard searches is largely unfounded as most people aren't about to apply for a mortgage etc.

adindas

SiliconChip said:

adindas said:

IMO anyone who has multiple accounts must see personal benefit to own it otherwise why wasting time and allow credit check if it does not offer any benefit to you ??

Why would I care about credit checks? I have no borrowing, no overdrafts, and pay off all my credit cards in full, so a credit check has zero impact on me. And there must be many more sensible MSE members who are in the same position. What having multiple current accounts does give me is flexibility when there are inevitable technical issues affecting one or more banks.

And for those worrying about DDs, there's no need, you are not responsible for the collection of a DD, that's between the organisation asking for the money, their bank and your bank, if one of them has a technical problem it's for them to sort out not you. The only time you could have a concern is if you transfer money into an account just in time for a DD to be taken and can't because the transfer isn't working, but that's a matter of your own scheduling.

Sorry for not being clear. I am not against having multiple current accounts I myself have more than a dozen current accounts. My point here is that people have multiple current accounts or will apply a new one if they believe it will benefit them or offer potential benefit in the future.

You do not keep the old one, or apply a new one if it does not offer any benefit on you.

There are a lot more other reasons for people having multiple current accounts rather than just flexibility. A few to name, monthly incentive, cashback, zero fees foreign currency withdrawal, donor account for switching incentive in the future, other perks such as insurance.

Certainly it will need to be compared between the benefit with the effort together with potential harm such as hard credit check that will be done.

On the same boat with you I also have no borrowing (apart from mortgage), no overdrafts (in use), and pay off all my credit cards in full. Each to their own, but I do not believe a credit check will have zero impact on me. You might not need major credit, but what about in the near future switching incentives, new balance transfers, that might be used for stoozing on offer, credit cards or current account with new perks such as travel insurance come in a row that will need 3-4 credit checks in relatively short period.

Daliah

adindas said:

Each to their own, but I do not believe a credit check will have zero impact on me. You might not need major credit, but what about in the near future switching incentives, new balance transfers that might be used for stoozing on offer come in a row that will need 3-4 credit checks in relatively short period.

Without revealing your financial circumstances, what impact do you believe a hard credit check will have on you? When were you refused a current account because you had too many hard searches (or because of anything)? Stoozing - what stoozing is there in 2022?

phillw

Daliah said:
Stoozing - what stoozing is there in 2022?

I'm making about £4 a month, does that count?

RG2015

phillw said:

Daliah said:
Stoozing - what stoozing is there in 2022?

I'm making about £4 a month, does that count?

I would say yes, and this is achievable on a quite modest amount in an easy access saver.

£3,500 x 1.55% / 12 = £4.52

Clearly, the minimum repayment of 1% per month will reduce this monthly amount, but not substantially.

ZeroSum

RG2015 said:

phillw said:

Daliah said:
Stoozing - what stoozing is there in 2022?

I'm making about £4 a month, does that count?

I would say yes, and this is achievable on a quite modest amount in an easy access saver.

£3,500 x 1.55% / 12 = £4.52

Clearly, the minimum repayment of 1% per month will reduce this monthly amount, but not substantially.

And if you manage cash flow effectively, you can build up using reg saver at 3.5% & then 1 year fix at 2.6%

Mind, many cards have a 2.5% min repayment 

castle96

I have dozens of (mostly historical) a/cs, mostly with £1 in. 'Useful' for any future switches and/or sudden increase in rates. No problem/no bother