Can anyone recomend a good current account - I have had it with hbos

[mummytopebs]

Hi seem as both me and my husband will be getting charged £1 a day fo every day we are in our overdraft i am going to change banks.

Can anyone recomend a good current account?

Also does anyone know if i move our accounts away from halifax will it effect our mortgage as this is with the halifax

Shouldn't affect your mortgage unless its an all in one account where your mortgage comes out of same account as everything else.

I would recommend Lloydstsb.Quick easy service in branch, on internet and telephone. I can't remember what the overdraft rate is but i know as long as its an agreed overdraft they charge a monthly fee, under £10 I think but you'd have to check. The advisors seem really helpful.

Abbey/Santander seem to charge about £10 per month from what I can gather (the charge applies to the account though not each person, so if its a joint account you only get charged once)that is for an agreed overdraft- they will hammer you if you go over the agreed limit. The down side of Abbey is that the internet banking is quite complicated and the branch here is always under-staffed and busy but as far as charges go sound better than where you are.

BTW if you feel the charges are excessive, you can get advice (look it up on internet). Apparently it is illegal for banks to penalise customers unless there is a corresponding bonus so the charges they make should reflect their actual costs rather than be a punishment. I can't remember all the details but I wrote to the chief executive at Abbey a couple of years ago when we were charged excessively when we didn't have an agreed overdraft. I threatened to take them to the small claims court. Hey presto- money from charges was reimbursed in full on the condition that we took no further action!

Alliance & Leicester is good for me - easy internet banking, free account, pays a massive 6% on balances up to £2,500, always seems to be easy to get them on the 'phone too. Goodness, I sound like I work for them! Changed from HSBC a couple of years ago after some shocking customer service. Barclays, for example, is a twat too!

There is a free account at Abbey/Santander and it pays interest. No one, IMO, should be paying for a current account.

Lloyds and Halifax are currently the same company so I'd suggest voting with your feet.

Can't beat First Direct for service and you get £100 if you switch over to them. They are my faves and I love them

Only prob with your mortgage would be if it was off-set, but as you're using an o/d I'd think it was unlikely it is as you wouldn't be getting the benefit of the offset.

There have been loads of threads about this with lots of advice. Have a look back