I’m trying to sort out my finances, I currently have 4 current accounts with 4 different banks. I would like to use just one bank for all but I know people say “don’t have all your eggs in one basket”, reason I have 4 for different purposes. I like having my money in a current accounts as I keep the cards with me, just in case.
Chase
*-Day to day - Family Fun - Car Repair/M.O.T - Birthdays - Christmas - Holiday
Santander
Bills
HSBC Advance
Savings (Immediate Access)
Nationwide
Emergency (Immediate Access)
I’m just looking to see if I’m missing out on things, if I should try anything new, do I have too many accounts or even the set up I have is good?! I like hearing how other people set up their finances to give ideas, anyway thank you in advance
I have several current accounts, savings accounts, and emoney accounts. Largely out of curiosity. Probably many on here are the same.
But if I was trying to minimise complexity I’d go with current accounts from 2 banks. One of these would be for my day-to-day current account and the other would be a bills and backup current account. I’d also have a savings account to hold my emergency savings. This might be at one of the above 2 banks but more likely it would be at a dedicated savings bank or marketplace and would occasionally shop around to see if I could better interest rates on the deposit.
Dozens -
Salary
Personal Budget/Spend
Personal DDs
Bonds (which will eventually mature without renewal)
Gold Investment
Revolut -
Household Spend/Group Bill feature
Some Recurring CPAs/SOs via Pockets
Instant Access Vault for Emergencies
Playing around with stocks
Travel/Multicurrency (I’ve also booked with Stays once)
Savings are with Tesco/YBS but consider this a seperate realm less part of a considered infrastructure. Same goes for some shares with Equiniti (albeit all accessible online).
Lloyds main account
Chase - daily spending
Metro bank - Joint
Halifax - For their reward of £5 per month and for drawing money for remittances abroad
TSB - Dormant
Nationwide- Dormant
First direct - Back up and for Paypal purchases
I have my Starling current account for all my banking… wages, bills, spending, etc. I still have my Nationwide FlexPlus that I pay for purely for the travel, mobile and breakdown insurance - I don’t use it as a bank account at all. Other than that, I have a Chase account that I signed up for purely out of interest, though I’ll likely close that soon as I have no need for it.
HSBC (recently opened and now my main account)
Monzo (previous main account now using for Flex, mainly)
Starling (dormant at the moment but was using it to pay in the occasional cheque)
Chase (may close this if they don’t make it a proper current account)
Investments
Hargreaves Lansdown (ISA, GIA - the bulk of my investments)
Vanguard (GIA)
Freetrade (GIA - a small amount of “Monopoly money” for playing with shares)
Savings
Marcus (instant access emergency funds)
Raisin (the bulk of my savings - fixed and notice accounts)
Credit cards
Amex (was my main spending card until I realised I wasn’t going to reach the minimum spend to get cashback)
Barclaycard (main spending)
Sainsbury’s Bank (using a long 0% interest period for a few large purchases)
Tesco Clubcard (use with Tesco only occasionally)
Do you know if FlexPlus provides cover for a trip where you can’t travel due to countries requiring covid vaccines be given within 6-9 months of traveling ? Asking for a me
So do you just have the 2 accounts? I really want to cut down on my accounts and keep it to a minimum! It’s just you keep hearing “don’t put all your eggs in the one basket” that’s the only thing that puts me off going with one bank
Thinned mine out a bit(but probably still have too many)
Current Accounts
Nationwide Flex Account - main account held for over 30 years and perhaps to lazy to change.
Nationwide Flex Plus - used for the insurance/breakdown cover and a little bit of emergency cash (£10 a week paid in)
Starling - Travel savings
Chase - currently almost not used due to lack of functionality (D/D’s, etc)
Investments
Trading 212 - Regular ISA investment, plus a bit of extra for playing at share dealing
Credit cards
Nationwide Select - longest held and biggest credit limit
BA Amex - On a mission to collect enough Avios for free flights lol
Tymit - just because I wanted to give a fintech credit card a go.
E-Money
Revolut - for when forex rates are favourable (and when we are actually allowed to travel again)
Monese - No idea why I still keep and use this apart from I just have a bit of a soft spot for the brand.
Curve - dormant
Dozens - dormant
Tally - dormant
I pay my Tymit bill via direct debit from Monese, but I do think that once Chase offer these, they may be consigned to the dormant section.
As for the other dormant accounts, they’ll probably just lapse as the cards expire.
Think how worrying it would be if something did happen to your one and only account, that’s why it’s better to keep at least two.
Personally, I have way too many so you probably don’t want to follow what I do, but two (or three) accounts is still quite tidy and makes sure you never get left without access to money.
Yes, though I only actively use my Starling account. I suppose if there was ever a major problem with Starling, then I could use my Nationwide account as a backup.
Current
Lloyds: salary and DD’s
Chase: day-to-day spending
Savings
Nationwide: Cash ISA
Shawbrook: Cash ISA
Virgin Money: minimal for the 2.02% interest
Tandem: main easy access savings
Marcus: dormant
Starling: dormant
Atom: dormant
Current
Starling: Pension, personal direct debits and all foreign transactions abroad (I’ve now resumed travel external of the U.K.)
Chase: All personal U.K. debit transactions
Nationwide: All shared household expenses and direct debits (utilities, mortgage etc)
RBS: Salary in only. Will likely CASS to Chase once Chase offer a standard banking suite.
M&S Credit Card: Long interest free (23 months) for expensive one off purchases
BA Amex: Occasional purchases to increase my Avios points
Savings: None, interest rates not worth the effort for such small returns imo
Investments: None, not interested in taking the risk. My biggest return will undoubtedly be on my own home judging by the ludicrous increases in value I’ve seen in I’ve seen in the 7 months since I moved back here on nearby properties fuelled almost entirely by Londonites exporting themselves to my lovely part of the South West.
1 Club Lloyds for salary and have Odeon cinemas tickets offer
2 Classic - for DD’s and other bills
Chase: spending and savings - I expect to use this as my main bank once DD’S are activated
Barclays: was for salary and blue rewards but now just for travel pack
Starling: don’t really use on a day to day basis - just have one personal DD coming out
Starling Business : for my counselling work and associated DD’s
Santander: credit with £1 each month to keep active
Monzo plus: should really down grade as I don’t use the full benefits and joined only really for the blue card
Dormant:
Virgin money two current and two savings - opened really just to see what the app was like but I’m not impressed.
Nationwide: dormant
NatWest - dormant
HSBC - 2 accounts - dormant
RBS- child & co - I have two current and two savings with them now. Don’t really use but I like the debit card.
TSB: dormant
Savings:
Marcus - just to see what the app was like
Other:
Revolut- don’t use
Tesco bank - don’t use
Cash app - don’t use
As you can see I have quite a lot of accounts. I just get this urge to open more and more but should really put a stop and close some of them as it feels like an addiction. This typically happens when I get stressed and then I end of moving direct debits form one account to another….
So I’ve now started closing one at a time, first is TSB and I’ve switched that to Starling should completed tomorrow…
I think a lot of us have been there - I cut everything down to 3 (not including savings or credit cards which I have two of each respectively atm) and feel pretty good for it
Others are quite comfy with having current 10+ accounts open - horses for courses!
