Keep bank accounts open or close?

Sunshine_and_Roses

I have been a 'card tart' and bank account switcher for years. I am wanting to simplify and streamline my finances to make it easier for my husband if anything happens to me.

I currently have AMEX and M&S credit cards with additional card holder which I pay in full each month. I have several cards which have zero balance which I have been advised to keep for credit rating. These are with Barclaycard, Virgin, NatWest, Santander and HSBC.

Our main bank is Santander, and I have emergency and regular savings with Zopa. I have accounts with various other banks which I used for switching, but I think I have exhausted all the bonuses a few years ago and wondered if it is worth keeping these open. They are with Chase, Halifax, Co-op, Virgin, Monzo and possibly others which I have forgotten but will still have paperwork. In addition I have an account with Nationwide (keep for shareholder bonuses) and Barclays (had for over 40 years, looks good on credit file) both with about £100 each.

We have ISA with Trading 212 and Santander, and fixed savings with Marcus and Cahoot.

Is there any advantage to keeping the current accounts open knowing I will probably not get another switch deal?

Brie

I'd say close any you aren't using leaving yourself with 2 or 3 so that you have an alternative if, for some reason, one gets frozen for any reason.

And if you're not sure where you've had an account you could check here on My Lost Account. Home

A number of banks will consider you a new customer again if you haven't had an account for some time. I expect they have different rules, i.e. 6 months or 2 years etc. So if you close some you might be able to get the switch bonuses again.

twopenny

Not having used my M&S card for a while I found it blocked when I tried to use it.

Whichever ones you keep test to see if they are still working for you.

friolento

I keep the ones I want to have online access to open - mainly savings accounts.

I have a few current accounts with zero balance - mainly for access to Regular Savers, and/or to facilitate cashback (e.g. Natwest or YouGov)

I have one credit card which had a £0 balance for a few years - I keep it because it is a VISA card with a decent credit limit and all my other CCs are Mastercard.

Everyone has different circumstances - I would suggest that if you can't think of a reason for keeping an account open, just close it. Keep a record though of why and when you closed it, as any future offers might have clauses about accounts held in the past.

scoot65

You could always keep a couple accounts open, just lying dormant which could be used for switch offers in the future. I've done this recently with a couple if lloyds and TSB I had.

Blessdays

I’d probably simplify things a bit if your main goal is making life easier for your husband in future.

Personally I’d keep:

• your main current account
• a backup account with another banking group
• any accounts that give genuine benefits (like Nationwide)

The rest are probably just adding admin and paperwork at this stage.

Also worth making a simple list of all accounts/savings/cards somewhere safe. That can honestly be more valuable than keeping lots of dormant accounts open.

QQQQQQQQ_Y

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6667559/keep-bank-accounts-open-or-close

It's always a good idea to have redundancy built into your finances so having 2-3 bank accounts is not a bad idea - technical failures are a fact of life. You could use these bank accounts to order your finances differently e.g. household expenses in one, personal expenses in another. You could also have some fun e.g. setup a standing order from account 1 to account 2 and another from 2 to 3 etc. and move money around them all in a round robin - I believe Robert Maxwell was a strong advocate of this technique - but you can take it too far and he went a little overboard in the end IIRC.

danny13579

QQQQQQQQ_Y

I believe Robert Maxwell was a strong advocate of this technique - but you can take it too far and he went a little overboard in the end IIRC.

Yep, into the Atlantic ocean. 🤪