How many bank accounts do we have?

I have a raisin currant account...

masonic wrote: »

Here's the way I see it...

Masonic is spot on with that last post above. Banks will offer the perks they feel are needed to gain the customer numbers they want. As with most other things in life, there will be people that take advantage of this competition between the banks - so the banks try to place some obstacles to deter most of this activity, but they can only do so much without detering the real customers they actually want.

masonic wrote: »

If the switchers, stoozers and multiple account holders were not gaining from their activity, they wouldn't do it.

Worth highlighting this from an earlier post too, as it pretty much sums it all up. People usually place some arbitrary value on their time, and whether the returns by playing the game are worth it to you - only you would know.

As far as general pointers, I will say that it is important to reduce the time involved by increasing your efficiency. Or in other words, by automating as much as you can (at least that is where I stand on it all). In other words, people ought to consider things such as....

- Standing Orders - to move funds automagically between current accounts to meet monthly funding requirements. I prefer to use weekly standing orders (at 1/4 of the monthly funding target) with money only moving on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (to best avoid any bank holiday issues - yes, I realise there is still xmas lol). I have 3 strings of chained accounts doing this (same day movements only happening on accounts that already hold funds, and ensuring there is separation between banking groups). Your standing order values should also account for stuff like DDs, fees, etc that get taken over the course of the month).

- Direct Debits - you want direct debits that allow you to keep the entire value of the money being debited. There are plenty of avenues to achieve this, but some of the best ways do not get mentioned on these forums (for obvious reasons). However, some of the already publicised solutions work well enough. You want it to be easy and effortless (and not something that you have to be proactive over). I have over 25 x £1 DDs, all going out on the same day of every month.

- Log in requirements - no automated way to get around this really, so there are a couple of accounts I have to remember to log into each month (I am referring to accounts such as Danske, Coop, where there is a log in requirement that forms part of the perk criteria).

- Regular Savers - funded automagically on the first day of the month, or monthly cycle, via standing order (or chain of two standing orders, a few days apart, if I have to fund the current account which then funds the regular saver at the same insitution). I generally don't use "until cancelled' for these and set the stop date correctly. It is also useful to distribute regular saver start dates throughout the year if you are just funelling your general (easy access) savings through them.

I think that pretty much covers it. Oh, and a well laid out (visual) spreadsheet is also useful to keep track of everything in case future adjustments need to be made.

agrinnall wrote: »

"We" don't have any, because I don't open joint accounts with people I don't know. The number of accounts that I have is of no relevance to you.

That is a bit harsh...

He used the word "we" as a collective address to everyone on the forum. If you do not want to answer the question, you do not have to, but I don't see the point in sniping at him. He is hardly asking you for a sort code and account number is he?

It is a light-hearted question and most likely for self-comparison, but he doesn't mean any harm to anyone and isn't asking for anything remotely identifiable.