New Bank or Not?

DreamerHelen

Hi Everyone, I've been meandering around the Boards for a little while but haven't really gotten involved until recently.

As you can see in my Sig I'm about £35k in Debt with various Banks all over the Place (Natwest, HSBC and Barclays to name but a few). And I currently bank with Barclays.

Now, I DO owe money to Barclays both on a Previous Bank Account and also with Barclaycard. The Interest has been frozen on both (which is great) and when I spoke with Barclays I expressed a concern that they would take money out of my Account if I had extra in there - they said that they would not do that ever.

However I have read on these Boards that you should never Bank with people that you owe money to because they DO have the legal right to claim back any money if you have any left over at the end of the Month and I just can't afford for them to do that.

The problem that I'm having is that I like Barclays for a start off, I have a Visa Debit card (not a Visa Electron but a proper Visa Debit card) and I do NOT have any overdraft facilities. Plus there is a Barclays in my little Village which makes it very handy for putting in money.

Now I dont mind changing Banks however I DO need to be paying for things on the Internet with a Card and also need to make Hotel/Hostel reservations as well. I also need to be able to pay for things in Supermarkets and other shops. Therefore a Visa Electron would probably be okay cause I can do most of those things with that.

Now another thing - In my little Village there are several Banks - HSBC (which I owe to), Natwest (which I owe to), Barclays (which I owe to) and also Nationwide (which won't give me a Visa Electron )

Any advice on which bank to choose if in fact I should choose another Bank or should I stick with Barclays?

I DO have a Post Office where I live so a Bank where I can pay money in and take money out of there would be okay as well.

Thanks for the advice in advance!!

tealady

Alliance and Leicester, you can use the Post Office and do internet banking.

inmypocketnottheirs

Smile and Co-op can be paid in to at the Post Office. Or try citibank, https://www.citibank.co.uk. You can transfer funds online from Barclays within a 3 days or pay in at LoydsTSB.

skyepark

cahoot is hassle free adn gives you 3.75 % on a current account, allionace will send you loads of letters, give you hassle and generally make more work for you

Miss_Marple_2

yes - you do have to be careful as the banks are entitled to take your cash (so Payplan told me - it was the first thing they said and wre insistant that I got another account)

Having said that - whilst Lloyds did take one lot of credit card payments from my account - as soon as the DMP was properly in place, everything has been fine.

Alliance & Leicester are OK as you can use the Post Office & you get lots of interest on your current account - I've got one with them ( I opened it via Quidco & got £50 cashback). They initially gave me an electron card, but I complained & got upgraded to a normal Visa Debit card.