Budget account to spend from?

supercelt

I was on the phone to Lloyds TSB today and the girl talked about a Budget Account which I could use for my own spending on food, leisure, petrol, etc - just day to day spending.

My current account with Lloyds could be used to pay all my bills.

Does anyone have anything like this at the moment? Do you set up a standing order to move your "monthly spend" into the budget account and then work from there and does it come with chip and pin / visa so that I don't need to withdraw everything from a cashpoint.

And I don't have an overdraft with Lloyds anymore (cancelled it) - can I cancel what I pay for my current account as I never use any of the features and it's almost £8 a month now. Waste of money.

All help appreciated!

skyrider007

I find it easier to manage just one current account. More than that and it'll give me migraine. By the way I never use my debit card for day-to-day purchases, I use a credit card and pay the bill off in full. It's easy to see how much money have gone out of the account on spending this way.

teeni

i have two accounts one for bills i transfer the amount to cover the bills to this and dont touch it what is left in current account is then mine to spend. it means i dont have to think about the bills more than once a month and the money is always there for direct debits when its needed

supercelt

teeni wrote: »

i have two accounts one for bills i transfer the amount to cover the bills to this and dont touch it what is left in current account is then mine to spend. it means i dont have to think about the bills more than once a month and the money is always there for direct debits when its needed

This is what I need to do I think. I don't have enough control over my finances and need a bit of clarity with regards to exactly how much I have left to spend in a month.

Credit cards - I would get lazy sometimes if I did this and just pay the minimum!

jonesMUFCforever

I think what you need is 2 current accounts. There used to be a monthly charge for a 'proper' budget account.

Paul_Herring

supercelt wrote: »

Does anyone have anything like this at the moment?

Main current account: LTSB. Wages get paid into this. Direct Debits and Standing orders get paid out of this. Any excess is funneled into:

IceSave: One payment in per month from LTSB (variable amount.) Once a week a set amount gets SO'd to:

Nationwide: Day to day spending - the only one I usually carry a debit card with, and from where my 'pocket money' comes from.

Shopping/major stuff gets put onto one of two credit cards, both of which get paid off in full every month.

teeni

supercelt wrote: »

This is what I need to do I think. I don't have enough control over my finances and need a bit of clarity with regards to exactly how much I have left to spend in a month.

Credit cards - I would get lazy sometimes if I did this and just pay the minimum!

I tried the credit card and pay off at the end of month route years ago and it did not work.

I do not have a specific budget account just two current accounts, I only take the card out from the one for monthly spend, the card for the direct debit/bill account never leaves home so I cant talk myself into using it and repay later iykwim

anything left in the account at the end of the month ( it happens sometimes) transfers to a savings account.

john_s_2

My wife and I have used various arrangements but we have settled on:

One joint account into which both our salaries are paid. All bills and other joint expenditure come out of this.

From this account we pay two standing orders into both our personal accounts for our 'pocket money'.

Before I had a PC and a spreadsheet - and definitely before the luxury of online banking with the facility to check transactions daily - we had a second joint account out of which we paid for groceries and similar - the first joint account only had direct debits / standing orders coming out of it.

Whatever works best for you I would say. So long as banking remains free. I'll have to rethink if or when we are charged per account.

marc.faulkner

I'm thinking of going down the same route.

I currently have one current account, along with a series of internet savings accounts which I used to use for various bills when I was being paid weekly.

Now I get a monthly salary, I'm looking to open a second current account to use for bills and keep my main account for spending money.

soon2be_student_wife

you can cancel ltsb added value account if you weren't using the benefits, just ring them and say you wanna downgrade... and as far as im aware they werent charging for the specific budget account last time i checked. i thought they were phasing them out though but i may be wrong!

the bank i work for insisted i had one of their bank accounts to have my wages paid in (cheeky i know!!) so i kept my hsbc account to pay bills from as all my bills were set up from there already and i have another account for my savings so basically... i get paid and some of my salary goes 2ward my savings and my bills account... i do also have a credit card which i pay off in full but thats for wedding things and big purchases xx

din_dons

Hi I have a Nationwide current account, you can then open e savings pots and name them e.g. I have christmas, bills, holiday etc etc and you get interest off them!!

It helps me manage my money very well

Good luck