Who is your main bank (August 2022)

I’m surprised that there are seemingly folks here that claim they never use a debit card. I’d wager that the vast majority of the common woman/man in the street uses a debit card linked to a current account for their day to day spending. Fintech enthusiasts such as found here I suspect, are the exception. Personally, I use a debit card for spending from a current account for almost all daily purchases. The credit card only comes out for purchases of over £100 and for paying for items over longer periods, interest free on the credit card.

I’d further wager, that out of the fintech scene, many people will never have even heard of the likes of Curve, Revolut etc. When I talk to family/friends about fintech matters, many are completely in the dark. I took my Chase card out at work the other day to pay for items and my colleages remarked about the Chase card because they’d either not heard of Chase Bank (yes difficult to acknowledge for some here I guess!) or they thought it was some form of credit or pre-paid card.

We should remember, that the methods that some folks here use for spending, will be either out of reach or just not practical from a budgeting perspective for lots of people doing their best to get by in everyday life.

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Unfortunately, my error. But hey, it’s just a bit of fun! :sweat_smile:

From memory, if I try and add them to the list now it removes all existing votes, so would rather let this poll run its course and see what we can do next time around.

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I work with for an alternative finance provider (product development) - Monzo started to become relatively common about a year ago in terms of account usage. Revolut moreso the last 6 months.

The main high street accounts are still prevalent.

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Especially as they stopped providing current accounts in November 2021 :slight_smile:

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HSBC.
If I leave them it will be for Santander.
I really wanted to like Chase but to me their product is nowhere near ready.

Monzo for my wages & pots, then Amex BA/Virgin Atlantic credit card for everything else

FD. Donkeys years. R-

Barclays for me. Salary in one current account. Direct debits and recurring card payments from a second current account.

I switched my Monzo account to Santander for £175.

I’m currently using chase for cash back and use Yonder for my credit card spends and rewards.

Interestingly, this thread also shows how folk utilise said accounts.

Very common, these days, to see several accounts used for very specific purposes: one for income, others for specific outgoings or outgoing types (per @JonasP above).

I imagine some do it just because they can, while others because it enables better visibility?

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I honestly don’t know how I ever survived on one current account, one savings account, and one credit card before now tbh :rofl:

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I was full Chase (only account) until recently. I didn’t think I’d need CHAPS and International Payments until I needed both in the space of a month and suddenly realised Chase is half-baked.

The nightmare of trying to get my money out of Chase also left a sour taste. Several days of security checks, questions and requests for documents to prove the recipient account was in my name (if they supported Confirmation of Payee, they’d have known it was in my name).

I was also interrogated as to why I’ve chosen my new bank and forced to provide a full explanation as to why I consider my new bank to be a better option than Chase. I totally get the need for security checks and KYC but it really wasn’t a nice experience.

I’m now with HSBC, the app isn’t great but it’s alright and the Customer Support has been exceptionally good so far (at least with Premier but I’m guessing it’s the same for all customers).

I won’t be returning to Chase.

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Ouch. What are they thinking? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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In what way were you forced ?

Were they refusing to give you access to your money unless you disclosed that information?

If that were the case, I would be inclined to lodge a formal complaint. The reasons why you choose to bank elsewhere is not relevant to you being allowed to legally close your account with them.

Just like they would not have to give you a reason had they decided to ditch you as a customer :person_shrugging:

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Yes. It was one of the questions I had to answer before they would release the transfer. They even went as far as to ask me about the interest rate on my new account and why I chose HSBC over other banks.

I guess I was too compliant. In hindsight, I wish I had argued with them, but I didn’t want to risk them refusing the transfer and then having to wait weeks to go through a complaints process to access the funds.

I think you might be right though… I may still submit a complaint, now that they no longer hold the funds. The whole experience just felt wrong to me.

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