Any downside to opening multiple bank accounts?

Bridlington1

blue.peter said:

phillw said:

If you open a lloyds account, you might as well make it a club lloyds. The 6 free cinema tickets alone make it worth the minutes per month it takes for admin.

That's a very personal assessment. It might be true for you, but it isn't for everyone. It depends how often you go to the cinema. I think that the last time I did was when my niece asked me to take her to see Mamma Mia. That'd have been in about 2008, wouldn't it?

Personally I'm just in it for the £50 0% overdraft, which I've been stoozing for several months and the 5.25% regular saver. I get the free magazine as well, but I usually end up giving that away.

If you have money bouncing through accounts anyway, even the extra £1.50ish/yr in interest from stoozing the £50 overdraft is worth grabbing IMHO.

Bridlington1

flaneurs_lobster said:

Re: Club Lloyds, don't take the movie rental reward. Turns out that Rakuten have a rubbish film selection and no Firestick app (I discovered today). And you can't change to another reward for a year.

I imagine the way round that would be to downgrade the Lloyds account into a classic account, then open a new Club Lloyds account and choose a different reward. Works for Halifax, plus generates an ideal donor account for switching purposes.

flaneurs_lobster

Bridlington1 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Re: Club Lloyds, don't take the movie rental reward. Turns out that Rakuten have a rubbish film selection and no Firestick app (I discovered today). And you can't change to another reward for a year.

I imagine the way round that would be to downgrade the Lloyds account into a classic account, then open a new Club Lloyds account and choose a different reward. Works for Halifax, plus generates an ideal donor account for switching purposes.

I take note  but like yourself I'm actually there for the regular saver account. I guess this could be swapped but I ain't going there.

JezR

You can sideload the generic Android Rakuten app onto a Firestick and it works reasonably well.

Katiehound

I actually like the magazine but certainly wouldn't pay the cover price of £5.99!! (Country Living, quite a few other titles are available)

trient

Bridlington1 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Re: Club Lloyds, don't take the movie rental reward. Turns out that Rakuten have a rubbish film selection and no Firestick app (I discovered today). And you can't change to another reward for a year.

I imagine the way round that would be to downgrade the Lloyds account into a classic account, then open a new Club Lloyds account and choose a different reward. Works for Halifax, plus generates an ideal donor account for switching purposes.

You can actually downgrade then upgrade back, and you get to select another benefit. I don't know what would happen to the linked club RS though.

Bridlington1

trient said:

Bridlington1 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Re: Club Lloyds, don't take the movie rental reward. Turns out that Rakuten have a rubbish film selection and no Firestick app (I discovered today). And you can't change to another reward for a year.

I imagine the way round that would be to downgrade the Lloyds account into a classic account, then open a new Club Lloyds account and choose a different reward. Works for Halifax, plus generates an ideal donor account for switching purposes.

You can actually downgrade then upgrade back, and you get to select another benefit. I don't know what would happen to the linked club RS though.

Thanks for this. I'd just assumed that since the Halifax reward account keeps the same reward criteria and reward whenever you downgrade it, then upgrade it back again, that Lloyds would do the same. Though to be honest it's just as easy to downgrade the account, then open a new account with Lloyds.

In a similar vein, the trick you've just mentioned works for TSB's spend & save account. Just upgrade it into a spend & save plus account, then downgrade it back into a spend & save account to restart the 6 months of £5 cashback. I would use this method with TSB given the amount of hassle their split internet banking profiles can cause. Just bear in mind that they will send you out a new debit card if you change your account type so will end up with 2 new debit cards for the same account which are all usable if you do this.

flaneurs_lobster

JezR said:

You can sideload the generic Android Rakuten app onto a Firestick and it works reasonably well.

Thanks for that, I can live with Chromecasting from my phone for now.

phillw

blue.peter said:
I think that the last time I did was when my niece asked me to take her to see Mamma Mia. That'd have been in about 2008, wouldn't it?

You can just give them to your niece if you don't want to go yourself.

pridehappy

I've opened quite a few different accounts with different providers in the last few years, and I've never had any problems. I strongly think it depends on the bank, Lloyds and HSBC are a bit more stingy when it comes to opening accounts whereas the likes of Virgin Money and Nationwide just go ahead and open your account quickly.

Keep an eye out for any requirements on the current account you select, such as minimum funding requirements or Direct Debit requirements or sometimes you have to pay a fee (for example, Club Lloyds or TSB Spend & Save Plus). 

As long as you don't apply for an overdraft on the account, there is little effect on your credit score. Although, instead of manually closing the account in future, check the terms & conditions and if there are no fees for inactive accounts, just leave the account dormant and completely log out and forget about it and after a period, the bank will automatically close it for you with no impact on your credit score. Manual closures do impact your credit score.