best account for this situation...

paulskin

sorry but im new here and didnt know where to post this,
im am soon to be moving into my first,new,rented acomedation,
my plan is to open a second bank account to transfer any savings and any money im not going to want/need for personal/pleasure. so it will be an account where all utility bills,rent ect will be coming out of.
i have a good amount of money to open the account with.
but i am unsure the comings and goings from month to month as they will change.
which is the best type of account to do this,any advice is greatly appreciated

paulskin

no help on this one then?

regularsaver1

well you will defo need another bank account as you have stated you will need your utility bills and rent to come out so will need direct debit and standing order facility.

Why not open another account at your existing bank?

paulskin

yeah i thought of that as the easiest option,didnt know if i opened a different account at another bank if there was any other benefits ect. think il just do that

Jonny0000

I have always preferred separate accounts held with different banks. My reason for this may seem overly cautious but if for some reason you have some trouble with your bank, having another account set up and ready to take its place can avoid a lot of hassle, trust me!

Of course ideally you need a reason for a separate account so that it has regular incomings/ outgoings. The situation you mention is a perfect excuse to branch out and set up another account specifically for your utilities and rent.

There are plenty of free bank accounts available that provide a direct debit/ standing order facility, including the HSBC bank account, and Barclays current account.

You are right in the fact that there are sign up incentives available with some of them. HSBC currently offers an incentive for their Green account that is managed online, but as for others you would have to research them yourself.

paulskin

thanks mate thats helpful,i already bank with barclays,recently upgraded to their first additions account for 6.50 a month(i know martins tips say to avoid this as its a stitch up) but it did actually save me money by consolidating my phone and gadgets insurance and reducing them.
so as i have a barclays account should i go for hsbc or another bank for my uttilties ect,would you suggest placing ALL bills over to this including personals like mobile,catalouges,car insurance,and keep other bank open for personal......although i just realised that me and my girlfriend will be placing money into the account and if i do this more money will be coming out on my behalf so maybe il pay personals through my current account.

Jonny0000

Really depends on your situation, if you bank with Barclays already there are plenty of other free accounts to choose from if you wish to open a separate account with another bank. There are some good comparison threads on this site actually that might give you a better idea of which bank and what account is best to go for.

I have a separate account my partner and myself pay into each month for bills and utilities and then we both have separate accounts for our personal finance, wages, phones etc. All in all these are spread across three different banks.

Like you I also have a personal account with a monthly fee. I travel twice a year saving travel insurance; I save mobile insurance, and have used breakdown cover twice in the last year too. Then there is the card protection, passport, DL, and home insurance benefits too. Also I only recently discovered that you can cover up to five additional people at the same address on some policies, so as a household we are saving even more.
(also if it was helpful would you thank me so my membership level increases, thanks)

SimonJ80

Jonny0000 wrote: »

I have always preferred separate accounts held with different banks. My reason for this may seem overly cautious but if for some reason you have some trouble with your bank, having another account set up and ready to take its place can avoid a lot of hassle, trust me!

Of course ideally you need a reason for a separate account so that it has regular incomings/ outgoings. The situation you mention is a perfect excuse to branch out and set up another account specifically for your utilities and rent.

There are plenty of free bank accounts available that provide a direct debit/ standing order facility, including the HSBC bank account, Barclays current account.

You are right in the fact that there are sign up incentives available with some of them. HSBC currently offers an incentive for their Green account that are managed online, but as for others you would have to research them yourself.

I was thinking of doing something similar to this. My girlfriend and I each pay different bills and then work out who owes who what. As you can guess that is not the most straight forward way of doing it!
Do you have standing orders going into the account which is for your rent or do you just top it up? I was worried that there might be a problem with a standing order and I would end up going overdrawn. I guess if you keep an eye on things it would be ok.

paulskin

well i think im going to follow in jonnys footsteps as it seems he already does what i was planning to do.best too keep an eye on you bank accounts via internet banking,makes life a whole lot easier