There is talk in the financial press of the end of free banking now looming, with customers paying about tenner a month for the privilege of having a bank account.
Do you pay for your account? If so, are the advantages worth it? If not, how would you feel about it?
For us, we have a free account and from time to time they ask if we want to pay them money to use a different account, which seems to offer some limited advantages like free travel insurance to places we won't be going to, that kind of thing, so I've not bothered.
Sales of mattresses to keep your money under might boom though.
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>> Do you pay for your account? If so, are the advantages worth it?
Yes. After being dropped in the social mire many times by the bank at awkward moments, I decided with some courteous arm-twisting from the bank to pay some sort of fee (plus interest needless to say) for a guaranteed couple of thousand overdraft.
I have needed this for several decades, being a freelance Grub Street hack whose money appears in random, widely separated lumps, often disappointingly small for the blood and guts they have cost.
Even so I sometimes get pulled up short by running out of money. Problem is I can't bring myself to open brown envelopes or envelopes from the bank, except sometimes, all at once, with many missing (and believe me, this experience is not one that an ordinary person could survive mentally intact without substantial help from drug dealers, pubs, psychiatrists and so on).
What I really need is four or five volunteers from this website to open my letters and keep my losses to a minimum. Most of you could do it standing on your heads.
Any volunteers? Tsk. Thought not.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sun 2 Mar 14 at 19:20
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>> Problem is I can't bring myself to open brown envelopes or envelopes from the bank, except sometimes,
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My postman continuously disregards my instructions to put all brown envelopes with windows into a special letterbox I have set aside marked "Refuse".
No wonder they want to privatise the damn organisation.
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I pay for my Lloyds account. In return I get all year round travel insurance (Useful) -- Mobile Phone Insurance ( 2x iPhones) - AA cover....used once to recover the Scoot. and ID Aware....(anti fraud thingy).....seems worth it.
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I pay for my Account.
for that I get WW travel insurance, mobile phone insurance, Green Flag, large overdraft. Worked it out, for me its cost neutral.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 2 Mar 14 at 22:26
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Yes, when I was discussing the account, whatever it's called, the winsome young woman told me that for the fee, whatever it is, I would get 'lots of lovely services'.
Apart from not even trying to get the lovely service that sprang immediately to mind, I have only ever used the overdraft as far as I can remember.
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I don't pay. I'm pretty sure, but can't quote a reference that if you want the travel insurance it's cheaper to buy it from a normal provider.
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I think that was my conclusion. The basket of benefits offered cost more by paying the monthly fee than it would if we were to source them elsewhere, especially given that of the four or five things in the basket about four were useless to us anyway.
I'd be a bit grumpy if my bills went up by £120 a year for no perceivable difference to me, which is what seems to be being proposed.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 3 Mar 14 at 09:23
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Free banking has been 'about to end' for as long as it has existed.
In practice though it's not happened. Attempts to impose fees whether for admin or specific services like use of other banks cash points has been seen of by customer pressure/competition.
On fee paid accounts, Santander's 123 account has good write ups and they seem to have sorted out customer service since repatriating call centres from India.
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Most of us would probably be perfectly well served by a "basic bank account", which I believe was forced into the market by the Government wanting to cease cash payments to pensioners and benefit claimants.
All I want to do is to receive my pensions and pay my bills. I do not want fancy extras, which should they become necessary, I can perfectly well source in the open market, probably at less cost.
In the course of a month my bank has use of my monies and I believe, levies a charge on those organisations I pay by direct debit, for each debit processed.
Why else would incentives be paid to hold accounts subject to a minimum of 2 D/Ds per month being active?
Most instant access or sweep accounts pay a derisory amount of interest making it not worth while for those of modest resources to use them.
We are obliged , by the way we live today, to use one of the banks, simply to exist in the modern world. To charge us for a forced-upon-us service is adding insult to injury.
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>> We are obliged , by the way we live today, to use one of the
>> banks, simply to exist in the modern world. To charge us for a forced-upon-us service
>> is adding insult to injury.
Services int he modern world are much cheaper because no-one has to transport cash around the country. Armed robberies have decreased as well. You can also now buy things off the internet which you can't do with cash.
So we are not obliged, its a matter of convenience.
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"Services int he modern world are much cheaper because no-one has to transport cash around the country. Armed robberies have decreased as well. "
Interesting observation. I wonder how the amount currently lost in internet fraud compares to the past amount lost in armed robberies etc.
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the armed robbery losses - to banks - were not a financial factor, but a social one to society.
However the cost of transporting and securing cash however was HUGE
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 3 Mar 14 at 18:31
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I don't pay - yet. I have a small agreed overdraft but have only been overdrawn once (by a pound or two) in four or five decades with the same bank. I don't need any other add-ons. I had a "no publicity" notice added to my account many years ago so don't get pestered with bank mailshots or sales calls.
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I swapped to First Direct for the £125 joining bung.
Nothing special about them.
Am actively considering a further swap to Halifax for (a) First Direct's leaving bung, (b) Halifax's £100 joining bung + a fiver a month.
I have no loyalty to any bank - they are just commercial services and I will "shop" with the one which suits me.
I have all the (non-bank) credit cards I will ever need, I do not need an overdraft , I do not need a mortgage, so a long history with one bank is irrelevant.
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Same as RP and Zero only difference being the RAC, and also a free Will service which we must do. That's with barclays.
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>> also a free Will service which we must do.
You must, I speak from experience.
I've got a Basic bank account at the Co-Op. It comes with a debit card, internet/mobile app/phone banking, direct debits, Faster Payments transfers etc. The only things I don't have are an overdraft and a chequebook. Not sure I'd want to change it, even if anyone would let me. Since the end of in-branch bank managers with the discretion to look at individual cases, my previous credit history counts for everything and my current standing for nothing.
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"Do you pay for your account?"
Yes - we do now. Our old current account with A&L gave us free banking + free European travel insurance, and this carried on when Santander took over A&L.
More recently, Santander introduced their 123 account which offered cash-back and, more attractively, 3% interest on amounts over £3k. Initially, we were reluctant to change because there is a £24 annual fee, no travel insurance, and no guarantee that the interest rate wouldn't go down. However, Santander then pulled the free travel insurance on our current account (which, as someone else has pointed out, can be obtained relatively cheaply), so we bit the bullet and changed.
I have to admit, that so far, it has worked very well for us. Santander went through some problems after taking over A&L, B&B etc, but I believe that is all sorting itself out now. I can't really complain about their service now, and the 3% interest on a current account balance between £3k-20k is better than any (AFAIK) instant-access cash ISA.
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A Lloyds Vantage current account pays 3% for balances up to £5,000.
Why should I pay them when they pay me?
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>> A Lloyds Vantage current account pays 3% for balances up to £5,000.
>> Why should I pay them when they pay me?
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You can have up to 3 Vantage accounts in each name, plus a further 3 in joint names.
As the requirement is to pay in £1,000 each month, the bank will set them up with DDs to transfer the same £1,000 round all your accounts and back again.
My branch has urged me to do this to get some interest, and will set it all up including the DDs.
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We've just filled in all the bumph to switch from First Direct to Halifax. The £100 joining incentive was in our new account instantly!
We have written to First Direct claiming the £100 leaving credit under their "happy" pledge: we'll have to wait and see if they shell out!
If they do, that's an easy £200, now in total, plus another £60 a year from Halifax for paying in £750 a month, having at least two direct debits lodged and staying in credit.
Not too dusty!
Now we wait to see how seamless the new switch process is!
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Well - the answer - to my surprise - was nearly flawless.
The only slight problem was that my wife's debit card PIN did not arrive, (but mine did). A phone call to the Halifax help line sorted that and the new account is fully functional.
All our direct debits were relocated, to Halifax, as was our one standing order.
The first of my pension payments arrived safely, too.
Halifax credited our account with the £100 incentive, which was in the account before we arrived home after opening the account.
First Direct, after prompting, have confirmed that we are due their £100 service guarantee payment which should arrive as a cheque.
The process, apart from our having to visit our local Halifax branch - all VERY helpful - was much simpler than the last time we switched, as even the handling of incoming pensions etc. was done for us, rather than us having to write to our providers individually.
I find the Halifax internet banking website more user friendly than F.D. and I now look forward to a fiver a month entering our account, too. :-)
So - OK - so far!
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Result! :-)
A cheque for £100.00 was received from First Direct today!
That's £325 I've earned been paid for switching accounts, in under a year.
Last edited by: Pigs-Might-Fly on Thu 27 Mar 14 at 15:51
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Free banking ending? - Armel Coussine
