Best bank for those on benefits.

HandyA

Apologies if this has been covered. 

I want to leave Nationwide (reasons). Does anyone in receipt of PIP or ESA have recommendations of a bank account I can swap to? Not too worried about a payment for switching. 

HillStreetBlues

HandyA said:

Apologies if this has been covered. 

I want to leave Nationwide (reasons). Does anyone in receipt of PIP or ESA have recommendations of a bank account I can swap to? Not too worried about a payment for switching. 

What do you want from the bank?

WillPS

HandyA said:

Apologies if this has been covered. 

I want to leave Nationwide (reasons). Does anyone in receipt of PIP or ESA have recommendations of a bank account I can swap to? Not too worried about a payment for switching. 

More info required. What features do you need? Do you require branch access (if yes it'd be helpful to know which banks have a convenient branch)? Do you regularly pay in/withdraw cash? Do you write cheques? Do you pay in cheques (if so, for what sort of value)?

Any bank you like should offer you at least a basic account, so long as you haven't got major flags against your credit/CIFAS files.

MattMattMattUK

HandyA said:

Apologies if this has been covered. 

I want to leave Nationwide (reasons). Does anyone in receipt of PIP or ESA have recommendations of a bank account I can swap to? Not too worried about a payment for switching. 

Nationwide are fairly highly rated, but up to you if you choose to leave, switching away to another will be pretty much all the same for a standard current account, but as they are all pretty much the same why not get £150-200 for free whilst changing?

WillPS

MattMattMattUK said:

HandyA said:

Apologies if this has been covered. 

I want to leave Nationwide (reasons). Does anyone in receipt of PIP or ESA have recommendations of a bank account I can swap to? Not too worried about a payment for switching. 

Nationwide are fairly highly rated, but up to you if you choose to leave, switching away to another will be pretty much all the same for a standard current account, but as they are all pretty much the same why not get £150-200 for free whilst changing?

The only payment available at the moment is £175 from Club Lloyds, which requires a £2000/month pay in or a £3/month fee. The two workaround are to cycle money through it (e.g. £500 4 times, £200 10 times  etc) or simply take the bonus then after it's paid switch to a Classic account.

I can see why the OP might be minded to ignore such perks though, not least because they may (or may not) be unavailable in their situation. If Lloyds is a good option anyway then there's no harm in trying for it, then if it's not available Lloyds should at least offer a Basic account.

Rob5342

It really depends why you want to leave Nationwide. I always recommend Starling and Monzo because of all the budgeting features their apps have (Nationwide is incredibly poor in that respect). They don't have branches but with Starling you can pay in cash at the post office and cheques with the app or by post. .

HandyA

The customer service has gone so far downhill it’s astonishing. Half a day on a simple query. 

Some answers -
not bothered about branch access (disabled so don’t go out much)
will check out monzo and starling - thank you
Will also check Lloyds - thank you
all my benefits are paid direct and haven’t used cheques for years

Thank you all for the feedback. 

WillPS

Chase is also worth a look - similar offer to Monzo/Starling but with a bit of cashback on your debit card.

Bigwheels1111

I have 7 bank accounts, I would give them all up except First Direct.
Ive had issues with FD but a call or two sorts it out, no visits to branches as they don’t have any.
Also they give £20,£30 or £50 good will gestures.
I get a friends ESA  and PiP paid into my account as they don’t have or want an account.
It shows the payment the day before, or on Friday for Monday.
Plus COL payments.

HillStreetBlues

I would switch to Lloyds for the money, once paid downgrade account to classic.
If you don't get on with them, switch again.

400ixl

Starling are the top rated digital bank for service for several years now. From a traditional bank, First Direct is the top rated for service.

Have both and very happy with both, but would pick Starling for the extra features if I was going to pick one.

Also have Chase, but would pick Starling over that everyday. Only really keep that for the US travel benefits and they have a decent savings rate.

One thing, do you have more than one banking facility? If not, it may be worth keeping Nationwide as a backup and open a new account elsewhere and manually switch across. Or switch and also open an account with another bank as well so that you have facilities in case there is ever an issue with the main one.