Anyone work in a bank?

[Big Sig]

Right, so does anyone work in a bank?

I need to know if you have a right to open a new account with the most basic facilities that that bank offers - ie no debit card/cheque book etc?

Or does the bank have the right to refuse any sort of account what so ever????

Thanks all

[Deztroyer]

Banks are commercial firms and no bank is obliged to open an account for anyone. If the bank has based its refusal on information about you from a credit reference agency (for example, discovering that you had been taken to court for non-payment of a debt), then they should tell you which agency they used. They do not have to tell you what the agency said.

[Duncan]

As above, you've got no 'right' at all to open a bank account - it's entirely at the banks discretion. So if they're only offering an account with debit card or cheque book, and you don't want either, then they simply don't have the product you want.

Just thinking, how would you get money out anyway without a debit card or cheque book? Some places offer an account that only has an ATM card if that's any help?

[Big Sig]

Its not for me but aparently the bank said they don't have a legal obligation to open more than one account for anyone. Reading between the lines it sounded like thay have to offer a basic account but only one.

Otherwise how would foreign nationals get paid when they first enter the country? They must be able to get bank accounts with no history what so ever. Maybe this is a bad example. Couldn't find anything on the FSA website.

[ukanalyst]

This may help if you haven't seen it already:

http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk...k_accounts.pdf

... even with basic bank accounts my experience of writing a payment system to pay young people & parents to engage in positive activities is that some banks are more flexible than others in terms of ID they'll accept etc

Dave

[vxvirgin]

Right, so does anyone work in a bank?

Don't be silly - nobody works in the bank - not in mine whenever I go in in it seems.

And:

Banks are commercial firms......

Don't us taxpayers actually have an ownership stake in the banks now?

[ade0303]

there are plenty of accounts for people with little or no credit history, good bad and ugly credit scores even people who have been declared bankrupt

[Big Sig]

This may help if you haven't seen it already:

http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk...k_accounts.pdf

... even with basic bank accounts my experience of writing a payment system to pay young people & parents to engage in positive activities is that some banks are more flexible than others in terms of ID they'll accept etc

Dave

Thanks dave

there are plenty of accounts for people with little or no credit history, good bad and ugly credit scores even people who have been declared bankrupt

Got any links?

[ade0303]

Got any links?

http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/se...urrentAccounts
http://www.barclays.com/internationa...cash_card.html
http://www.natwest.com/personal/curr...p-account.ashx
http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/curren...ounts/key.ashx
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_...rd_account.htm
http://www.bankofscotlandhalifax.co....s/easycash.asp
http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_acc...sh_account.asp
there are also managed accounts out there where you can have your income paid in, they hold the funds you need to pay your bills and put the rest on a cash card so you can never be over drawn... Managed bank accounts usually have set up fee of £20-£30 and will have a monthly fee

[Big Sig]

Thanks for the links