Savings accounts were invented to help us earn some money. (Although currently we might consider ourselves lucky if we just manage to protect our savings from erosion by inflation). But you can make a little extra with a current account as well.
So, lets have a look at how the banks lure new customers and what you can earn by switching your bank account.
Student finance is a delicate matter and comprises such matters as obtaining a student loan to finance your studies, opening a student bank account and managing your resources reasonably during the period of your studies. A number of banks offer special student current accounts, but it pays to shop around for the best deal before taking out one.
The main feature that traditionally interests a student is the biggest possible interest-free (authorised) overdraft. Most banks offer free overdraft of up to £1,000 to the first-years, but bigger overdrafts can also be found. Continue Reading
Graduation is a good moment to sit and think about one’s finances (try non to start weeping at this point, please!) and to decide whether it is time to open a new graduate current account.
First good news to the lazy new graduates is that most banks will let you keep your student account with the overdraft limit, available during your last university year. This offer would usually last for one year, sometimes more, but not more than three years reducing your interest-free limit in gradual steps.
But what is even better – you don’t have to stick to your student account after graduation. Switching a current account is not as difficult as it may seem, and graduates can normally count on being offered attractive deals by the banks. When you are moving from student to graduate current account, it might be with the same provider, or with a different bank. Continue Reading
A system of faster payments, which allows to make money transactions between different banks within one working day might be a real blessing – unless you get caught out by different day amount limits, implemented by the banks.
Here is a table with amount limits per day on fast payments for single payments and standing orders, processed as faster payments. (Information is refers to individual customers, as corporate clients may have higher amount limits).
| Name of the Bank | Phone or internet Faster payment limit | Regular standing order faster payment limit |
| Lloyds TSB | £25,000 | £1,000 |
| Northern bank | £10,000 | £100,000 |
| HSBC | £10,000 | £50 |
| RBS | £10,000 | £2,500 |
| Bank of Scotland | £2,500 | £1,000 |
| Co-op | £2,500 | £5,000 |
| Nationwide | £1,000 | £1,000 |
| Clydesdale and Yorkshire | £1,000 | £25 |
| Santander | £300 | £10,000 |
| Citibank | For corporate customers only | For corporate customers only |
| Northern Rock | Service not available | £100,000 |
As you can see from the table, Santander, Nationwide, Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks have the lowest limits on single immediate payments, while Northern Rock and Citibank offer faster payment facility only to their corporate customers.
Make sure that you know your bank’s limit on the amount of money that you can transfer under the Faster Payments Scheme. If you exceed these allowances, the transfer will be made in two parts – everything that is over the limit will take several days to arrive at the account.
Faster Payments Scheme is a system that allows to make money transfers between different banks and it was launched 5 years ago. Faster payments can be divided into several basic types:
- ➢ Single immediate payments are requests for transactions that are made by customers via internet or by phone and which are carried out immediately
- ➢ Forward-dated payments are one-off payments with the instruction to the bank to carry out a transaction at a specific future date
- ➢ Standing orders are regular payments of the same amounts on pre-established days of the month to a specific beneficiary. This service is only available on working days. Continue Reading
