All banks have to offer a basic bank account that anyone can open one unless you are bankrupt.

I have a basic account with Halifax, they won't take your money at counter and you have to go to a machine, they take ages to process cheques - OK I know no one uses them now but I got one the other day.

Have a Nat West one too, basically because it is more convenient and I prefer them. I pay ?10 a month, get some insurance for my phone and travel, but what I like I can get money out from an ATM without a card.

I recently got a credit cardtoo, an Aqua card, they sent me one without asking.

Still wondering what you ladies ut as occupation on insurance products!

Quote from: CandyGirl on 02 February 2016, 11:46:19 pm

All banks have to offer a basic bank account that anyone can open one unless you are bankrupt.

I have a basic account with Halifax, they won't take your money at counter and you have to go to a machine, they take ages to process cheques - OK I know no one uses them now but I got one the other day.

Have a Nat West one too, basically because it is more convenient and I prefer them. I pay ?10 a month, get some insurance for my phone and travel, but what I like I can get money out from an ATM without a card.

I recently got a credit cardtoo, an Aqua card, they sent me one without asking.

Still wondering what you ladies ut as occupation on insurance products!

I agree with you. They all should offer a basic bank account - but in my situation they just asked too many questions and found me unsuitable for a personal account - they offered to open a student again instead of a personal account.
I will go tomorrow to NatWest and I will try to open a new bank account with them.

Thanks x

Open one on line,

Also Barclays are very easy going and you can open a current account with your NIN letter as proof of address and your ID card/passport.

Second that, I have an ISA with them to put away my tax money. I told them I was self employed and wanted an account for this purpose. Girl was really helpful.

These basic accounts are free because they want to sell you other things. They're like Facebook: they're really after your personal information and so they give you this "free" amenity to get you.

If they think that you are not going to be a lucrative customer who will take out loans with them, they're not going to want you.

Try another bank. Tell them that you are employed as a makeup artist. You don't even have to say that you are self-employed.

Thanks Fabulassie. I wanted to tell them that I am an employee but before to say this they told me that they would need the details of my employer. So this is why I told them about the fact that I am self-employed. Anyways, I will try to open a new bank account with another bank. Maybe they will be nicer.

Go to Metro bank.
Tell them the same, your current bank is not making you happy anymore. They'll love it.
Make sure your cover up story is "coherent", do not go into too many details. They'll open your account immediately and their hours are amazing. 8am-8pm plus open on Sun.

The only problem might be they just LOVE to be friendly and personal and pay a looot of attention to you. Like awfully lot. But as long as you are fairly organised it's ok.

They'll ask you
 1) if you want their help closing your current bank account and transferring everything to them. Tell them for now no thank you I'd like to see first how it goes.
2) they'll very possibly suggest a business bank account. Tell them you want a personal bank account first and yes of course a business account is on your to-do list for next month (year/century).

LOL... That's a great advice. Thanks a lot.

I will go tomorrow to few banks and I will try to open a new account. Hope I will be lucky 

I remember opening a second bank account for ease of accounting purposes. They wanted to know as much information as possible, however the only questions that didn't yield an answer of "none of your business" was; name, address, phone number. All the rest is for marketing guff to send you "targeted" junk mail.

Seriously, the amount of personal information corporations ask for is nothing short of obscene and the vast majority totally unnecessary.

This is my experience too, I find there's no need to explain yourself.

HSBC however were continuously digging for information, they didn't want to provide me with a basic account, they wanted to upsell and possibly identify a business account.

I've not had this with the other two banks I mentioned, and my job was only for statistical purposes. When I did explain what I do do, they didn't have a category for it so bunged in something that sounded vaguely similar.

HSBC did this to me as well. I have a current account with them and I went to ask for another for my taxes and she said she couldn't help me, that it had to be a biz account.  Then off the record she said that if I went to a different branch and asked for another current account without mentioning the fact that it was to make my business easier to run, they would give me one.  I decided this was too much aggro so I went to Nationwide. I just told them I wanted a basic bank account to help me with budgeting etc. It was all fine.

I think you have to be careful with non-business accounts for business purposes but in all honesty I doubt any of us would be earning the kind of amount, or running the kind of business, where a business account would be necessary.

Banks are nosey buggers and do not exist for the customer's benefit they exist to line their own pockets. I've got a current account with almost every high street bank and I opened them all on the same day, I figured it was best to have them and not need them rather than the alternative.

I told each one a different variation of the same story and didn't mention work etc. it was like a game to see if I got accepted or not. Only HSBC turned me down and I didn't like their attitude anyway so that was a blessing in disguise.

If you are requesting a holding cell for your money and no credit from them then they should keep their greedy little noses out of it. Same with up selling once you have the account, every time I deposit cash they attempt to sell me something, I just smile and politely decline. We deposit money and they give it back when we ask for it, if we want any other service we'll ask, banks seem to think we need them when it is and always has been the complete opposite.