Preparing for self managed DMP

nachocheese

Hello,

just thinking about this point in the instructions from this forum:

"It is sensible to open a bank account unconnected with any of the banks that you hold debts with and move your pay and priority bills (mortgage, council tax, etc) to this new account to avoid your bank using your pay to pay your non-priority debts."

I have a bank account with Barclays, and debt with: 
Barclaycard, Sainsburys, Tesco, Virgin, MBNA and Santander

We have mortgage with Santander.

My husband has credit cards Capital One and Natwest. 

Do I need to open a new bank account? Is Barclays conencted with any of these? I assume it is connected to Barclaycard - what does that mean?

Thank you in advance for your help 

sourcrates

Yes Barclays and Barclaycard are the same bank, Barclaycard could take money from a Barclays current account in the debtors sole name to off set a debt on that card, its not an everyday occurrence, but is a possibility, so best to plan for it.

The rest are all stand alone banks, you need an account with a stand alone bank not associated with your debts, Monzo and COOP are two examples, there are a few more.

nachocheese

sourcrates said:

Yes Barclays and Barclaycard are the same bank, Barclaycard could take money from a Barclays current account in the debtors sole name to off set a debt on that card, its not an everyday occurrence, but is a possibility, so best to plan for it.

The rest are all stand alone banks, you need an account with a stand alone bank not associated with your debts, Monzo and COOP are two examples, there are a few more.

Thanks for your reply.

I thought so re Barclaycard.

In the light of this, would I be able to do a switch offer? A quick google showed me an offer from TSB and First Direct. 

How do I find out what banks are connected?

RAS

Do not use switch for this. Set up the new account and then transfer the DDs you need. There's a risk the DDs to creditors will go out otherwise.

nachocheese

RAS said:

Do not use switch for this. Set up the new account and then transfer the DDs you need. There's a risk the DDs to creditors will go out otherwise.

Strangely enough I do not have any DD set up for paying my debt. I always did it manually. Does this still apply what you just said? 

Also, why using a switch is not good in this situation? Sorry, stress is making me a bit clueless 

RAS

Well, in that case, you can switch safely. If you think you'd currently pass a credit check both first direct and TSB off bonuses for switchimgnbut do check the details on the banking pages here for the conditions. 

nachocheese

RAS said:

Well, in that case, you can switch safely. If you think you'd currently pass a credit check both first direct and TSB off bonuses for switchimgnbut do check the details on the banking pages here for the conditions. 

Oh I see, I've never done a switch over so didn't know they do credit check?

RAS

It depends on the type of bank account to some extent.

People needing a new account have no problem with Monzo (on-line) and most banks offer basic bank accounts that do not require a credit check. These don't offer overdrafts. TSB offer a basic bank account, so check if you can switch to that?

nachocheese

RAS said:

It depends on the type of bank account to some extent.

People needing a new account have no problem with Monzo (on-line) and most banks offer basic bank accounts that do not require a credit check. These don't offer overdrafts. TSB offer a basic bank account, so check if you can switch to that?

Ok so it is about overdraft which I won't be needing. I was only thinking about the monetary reward for switching

RAS

might be worth reading up on the banking section and asking a question or two on that forum?

fatbelly

There are some good deals around. I noticed on a thread earlier that First Direct were offering £45 cashback plus £175 when you jump through the hoops, if you go through topcashback.

With Santander it's £20 plus £150, and this is a cashback account where they say the average customer gets £300 back per year. Again use topcashback

Nationwide and TSB have offers that are similar

I personally wouldn't worry too much about the Barclays/Barclaycard connection as the two companies seem pretty separate but if you want to start a new account and get paid for doing so, avoiding Santander, and doing so while your credit history is OK, then I'd probably be looking at

1. First Direct
2. Nationwide
3.TSB