How many accounts do you have?

Kim_13

Having read Bridlington1’s frank and honest thread regarding their LBG closures, and of their more dubious cancellation by some other banks, I am simply glad to hear that 14 current accounts remain and therefore that they are not at risk of being debanked altogether, as I believe that everyone has the right to a bank account. 

Barkin

(Removed by Forum Team)

Not aimed at anybody in particular, but... reading here I get the impression that some treat it as a kind of hobby, and open accounts just because they can. 

Which is fine - just not for me. 

B0bbyEwing

poppystar said:

B0bbyEwing said:

poppystar said:

Sleekit said:

poppystar said:

at the moment thwarted by Halifax who won’t allow me to close 2 accounts I no longer want

I've never heard of this before, although perhaps it's common and I've just been ignorant of it.

Why are they not letting you close an account, and how?

Their system for closing has a flaw in it. You need to reduce the balance to below £5 in order to be able to close the account but if interest has accumulated during the year then their own system shows them the account has over £5 in eventhough that doesn’t exist for the customer as it hasn’t been paid. They can tell me what the interest to date will be but I can’t withdraw that to reduce the balance because it hasn’t been paid yet. They can’t close an account that has more than £5 in. So basically stalemate until the interest is paid next year when I can then quickly take it out and the account can be closed. 

I was told on the phone it could be done in branch but my local branch says not. 

For the small amount left in there it’s really not worth my while fighting this but it is so frustrating not to be able to get rid of these accounts and reduce my total number by a little. 

Back in the day - a.k.a. when I was doing just about anything to get a few more pence to go towards a house deposit, that right there (phone telling you go in branch, branch telling you they can't do it) would've been a complaint letter going in. Disgraceful customer service, yada yada, go elsewhere, blah blah etc etc.

And (for the price of a stamp) it would've usually resulted in at least £50 as an apology (and the account would be closed in this case).

Everyone I've ever spoken to about it say the same thing, either 1) "it's not that big a deal" or 2) "I couldn't be bothered doing that".

But as I say, for the price of a stamp & 5mins work, I'd get £50. I don't know what you guys get paid but I know for sure I'm not on £50 an hour, nevermind £50 for 5mins.

That’s a good point. I’ve just dealt with their complaints department over an account of my late father’s (that one they closed too quickly🙄) and got a bit on top for my troubles. That may be a way to go and might even be profitable! 

I never kept a tally but I think I probably made somewhere around £1000-£2000 ish in complaints money all in all.

Santander were very good in this area, or bad, depending on how you look at it.

I've spoken with people who say they wont deal with [bank] because of XYZ balls ups. To me that's reason TO deal with them - potential for apology money.

B0bbyEwing

Barkin said:

(Removed by Forum Team)

Not aimed at anybody in particular, but... reading here I get the impression that some treat it as a kind of hobby, and open accounts just because they can. 

Which is fine - just not for me. 

Each to their own. 

Some people like to spend their time & money going down the pub. 
Some like to spend their time watching soaps of an evening. 
So on & so forth you get the point I'm sure.

I can't speak for others but I opened so many accounts because they all served a purpose. 
Lloyds with their cinema tickets - so I'd open one for me, the wife & us both - boom that's 3.
Halifax offer £5 reward & you can have 3 - boom that's 6 between us. 
Some would offer X-% but only up to £x. If it was unlimited then it would solve a lot of messing around but the T&Cs are the T&Cs so I'd max out the account & then look elsewhere to put the remainder of the money.

Some would just to be jump through hoops - First Direct for example. I only want their 7% RS but to do that I need their 1st account & if I don't want to get charged every month then I need their everyday savings account as well - so that's 3 accounts when all I actually wanted was 1. 

Then there's the wife - so that's 6 accounts when all I wanted was 2. 

I'm not going down the pub & I'm not spending all my time watching soaps either. I'm doing a bit of work which earns a bit of money. What I'm also not doing is hurting anyway, despite however many people may think it 'weird' when it gets brought up (but then what's 'normal'? Your normal? My normal? His/Her normal?). 

And before it gets suggested, I'm not being defensive here. I'm just giving one persons POV as to the why .... just in case you thought I was one of those who opened accounts "because I can", because I wouldn't want you having the wrong idea

Rich1976

B0bbyEwing said:

Barkin said:

(Removed by Forum Team)

Not aimed at anybody in particular, but... reading here I get the impression that some treat it as a kind of hobby, and open accounts just because they can. 

Which is fine - just not for me. 

Some would just to be jump through hoops - First Direct for example. I only want their 7% RS but to do that I need their 1st account & if I don't want to get charged every month then I need their everyday savings account as well - so that's 3 accounts when all I actually wanted was 1. 

First Direct scrapped that requirement years ago. There is no need to hold their savings account in addition to other products. But yes you do need to hold a current account to get the RS

B0bbyEwing

Rich1976 said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Barkin said:

(Removed by Forum Team)

Not aimed at anybody in particular, but... reading here I get the impression that some treat it as a kind of hobby, and open accounts just because they can. 

Which is fine - just not for me. 

Some would just to be jump through hoops - First Direct for example. I only want their 7% RS but to do that I need their 1st account & if I don't want to get charged every month then I need their everyday savings account as well - so that's 3 accounts when all I actually wanted was 1. 

First Direct scrapped that requirement years ago. There is no need to hold their savings account in addition to other products. But yes you do need to hold a current account to get the RS

Oh right, so now you don't get charged on their 1st (current) account?

In terms of managing accounts, that doesn't really make it any easier for me, it just deletes 2 accounts but that's an example of things I miss from time to time. 
T&Cs will be released & I'll admit to not bothering to go through the 100 pages to see if anything significant has changed.
Likewise at the moment I'm on this forum a bit lately but then I'll go through spells where I'll just not bother and somewhere along the line end up missing information one way or another, be it from not being on the forum, skim reading threads on page 1 or whatever. 

Bridlington1

Rich1976 said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Barkin said:

(Removed by Forum Team)

Not aimed at anybody in particular, but... reading here I get the impression that some treat it as a kind of hobby, and open accounts just because they can. 

Which is fine - just not for me. 

Some would just to be jump through hoops - First Direct for example. I only want their 7% RS but to do that I need their 1st account & if I don't want to get charged every month then I need their everyday savings account as well - so that's 3 accounts when all I actually wanted was 1. 

First Direct scrapped that requirement years ago. There is no need to hold their savings account in addition to other products. But yes you do need to hold a current account to get the RS

Though from what I can gather by some reports I've seen on this forum, holding a FD EA account can save some time when the regular saver matures so it may be worth keeping hold of it for this reason, particularly since it can be pretty much ignored most of the time.

Rich1976

Bridlington1 said:

Rich1976 said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Barkin said:

(Removed by Forum Team)

Not aimed at anybody in particular, but... reading here I get the impression that some treat it as a kind of hobby, and open accounts just because they can. 

Which is fine - just not for me. 

Some would just to be jump through hoops - First Direct for example. I only want their 7% RS but to do that I need their 1st account & if I don't want to get charged every month then I need their everyday savings account as well - so that's 3 accounts when all I actually wanted was 1. 

First Direct scrapped that requirement years ago. There is no need to hold their savings account in addition to other products. But yes you do need to hold a current account to get the RS

Though from what I can gather by some reports I've seen on this forum, holding a FD EA account can save some time when the regular saver matures so it may be worth keeping hold of it for this reason, particularly since it can be pretty much ignored most of the time.

True but i was responding to the OP's comment that FD charge if they don't open a savings account which they did up until a few years back if the current account wasn't receiving sufficient funding each month 

friolento

T&C changes are advised by email if you are on paperless, or by letter if you aren’t. There is usually a summary of the changes, so you don’t have to read through the entire T&Cs to find the changes. I get all my notices by email, and I only delete the email once I have checked what the changes are. More often than not, changes don’t require amy action from me.

Barkin

B0bbyEwing said:

Barkin said:

(Removed by Forum Team)

Not aimed at anybody in particular, but... reading here I get the impression that some treat it as a kind of hobby, and open accounts just because they can. 

Which is fine - just not for me. 

And before it gets suggested, I'm not being defensive here. 

Erm...OK!

As you say, each to their own. Oh, I've already said that... 😂