New user - Bank account problem

[ripro]

Originally Posted by tmastermind

Some do it because for example, I think it was santander or Halifax that gave a £100 bonus if you swapped your account with them. People do this to get the bonus which is normally paid after 3 months of opening an account and then they close the account and move elsewhere.

Was Santander but they usually require transfer of DD and some incoming funds from your old account.

[NoneOther]

Originally Posted by isitworththestress

Most banks will allow you to open four normal current accounts, as long as you are marked as working or looking for work or one of the other favoured options and have not messed up your credit rating,

Just heard on a radio show about money that a lot of people were doing that for maximum interest or something, so they would have four current accounts in each of the high street banks to spread their money and to gain better rates of interest.
No idea why they do it, as I doubt I will ever have the cash the people who were doing that had in each account.

Most banks have no hard and fast rules on how many accounts they will allow an individual customer to operate.

A banks major concern is that the accounts are being used for legitimate purposes and that the accounts are seen to be operated in an appropriate manner.

A lot will be determined by your 'relationship' with a bank. New customers opening numerous accounts in a relatively short time frame will draw attention and distrust. If questioned about your usage of accounts then you had best be well prepared to offer plausible explanations as to why you need them and how you operate them.

It takes time and considerable effort to build solid accounts with any bank.

[isitworththestress]

Originally Posted by tmastermind

Some do it because for example, I think it was santander or Halifax that gave a £100 bonus if you swapped your account with them. People do this to get the bonus which is normally paid after 3 months of opening an account and then they close the account and move elsewhere.

No but I did that with Halifax got a hundred quid for transferring my account to them from Barclays, as Barclays was being a pain and would not allow me to open more than one account, some of the banks are getting pissy over that, as they require you to have two direct debits, as part of the transfer.

These people were doing this as they owned large sums of money and there was something about the way banks pay interest if you have too much in your account, so they went round all the banks and opened four current accounts in each and they were ending up with better interest.

But the point was that four was the max they could open with normal currant accounts, at each branch.

I just wish I had the money they were talking about, as it was something like thirty something grand in each account. Four accounts in each branch and you consider how many high street branches there are and it gives you an idea how the other half live.