Opening a savings account by cheque

[Spaceman67]

Hi, is it normal procedure to open a savings account by cheque with the cheque being made payable to the name of the bank?

You would make the cheque payable to the account holder e.g. Mrs S Simpson. It would not be made payable to the bank itself

Which bank is it?

PCF Bank, London.

What sort of account? Can you open it online?

It's an 18 month fixed rate bond. I think it can be opened either online or by post. Because I hadn't heard of the bank before I asked them to send me an application form rather than putting my nominated account details online. I don't do online banking, too scared.

I just phoned them and asked who to make the cheque payable to and they said PCF Bank. I'm not sure whether to be suspicious about this.

I found their details on Money Saving Expert website and it was also on Daily Mail money page. Seems to be covered by FSCS.

For a bond, a cheque payable to the bank is normal as the bond cannot be opened without cleared funds. They will pay it into a holding account and when it has cleared they will open the bond.