Have you opened a basic bank account in the last three months ?

[Amethyst]

The OFT are currently looking heavily into transparency of cost information of personal and basic current accounts.

They have asked us to pass on details of consumers experiences of opening basic accounts to assist with a report and work with the banks in improving these accounts.

1: Were the terms and conditions of the account given to you in advance ?

2: Were the costs/charges applicable to the account explained to you ?

3: Were the available facilities on the account explained to you ?

4: Did you have any problems opening the account ?

5: Was there any sales pressure to take out other products / lending / upgrade your account type ?

6: After opening your account what further information did you receive ?

7: Have you had any difficulties with your account since it was opened ?

8. Why did you chose to open a basic as opposed to a full current account ?


You can either email us basicbank@legalbeagles.info - send a PM to Amethyst, or post on this thread,


We are looking at this from a transparency of information angle as per the OFT PCA Market Study and also from the point of view of Financial Inclusion - ie the government making holding a bank account a necessity rather than a choice.

Any information and experiences, good or bad, would be gratefully received.

We don't need any personally identifiable information and any responses will be passed to the OFT anonymously.

Please remember to tell us WHICH BANK you are talking about.

Many thanks

Ame
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[archer_66]

Re: Have you opened a basic bank account in the last three months ?

i opened a basic account with the co-op. the terms were not given in advance. it ook ages of them umming and arring before they finally gave it to me. but if i have bounced direct debits they shut my account down... this was supposed to happen the beginning of the yr. my card was rejected when it had money in it and when i queried it ,i was told the account had been closed. i told them i hadnt received notification and was told that a letter had been sent out. i asked when and then after he looked at my notes he said...it looks like we didnt send one, on this occasion we'll give you a second chance but you are on probation on the account and cannot use direct debits for 3 months....... that was january... still no offer of direct debits being re-instated though..
also my son has applied for an account with them and has been turned down. he has no account anywhere, as he is finding it impossible to open one.

[Flangies]

Re: Have you opened a basic bank account in the last three months ?

Hi Ame

I opened a new NAtwest basic account about 8 weeks ago; no problem at all opening this; I did it online and had it confirmed, followed by the paperwork about 2 weeks plus later, that did take ages and I never thought the stuff would arrive.

I dont think the terms & conditions were given in advance; but as it was a basic account and I knew what to expect anyways, they are all aload of pain in the rear ends, all the banks.

There was no pressure to take anything with them.

The costs were not explained when applying on line; but were witht he paperwork when it arrived.

I have had no problems with Nat west as yet, but account not been open very long

I chose a basic account as I didnt think I would be able to get a current account to be honest.

Hope this helps
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