Can I Have More Than One Bank Account?
The more the merrier
You may have noticed that banks, building societies and credit card companies are crying out for your money as long as you have an income. All financial institutions have a duty to lend responsibly. Do they, and does having several bank accounts make a difference to the way banks treat you?
Commercial practice
Banks are businesses, there’s no getting away from that simple fact. They are one of the few business organisations where they seem to be able to treat their customers with disdain and get away with it. They would argue of course that it is our perception of the treatment that labels it as disdainful as each the actions we refer to in this way are the implementation of charges and fees that we have incurred by operating the account outside of the agreed terms and conditions.
If we were able to manage our accounts in good order and stuck to all the conditions of the account then we would find there were no charges and fees. Our perception would then be that the banking system treated us wonderfully.
However, we digress. Whether we like the banking system or not many people can, and do, open several bank accounts.
Different banks for different reasons
People who have several bank accounts often open them with different banks. Often this is because there is a particular aspect of an account that appeals to them, for example, the bank may offer a relatively high interest rate on balances kept in credit.
Often a couple will open a joint account so that joint bills are kept in joint names and paid from that account. The choice of bank depends entirely on personal choice, quite often though a joint account will be held with a bank that one of the couple already banks with. Research has shown despite customers moaning about their banks, they still maintain a surprising amount of brand loyalty to them.
Mean Business
If you are self employed and have a business account then there is no reason why that second account shouldn’t be opened with the bank that you already hold your current account with.
It’s worth remembering, however, that a bank will have access to all your accounts and so if you are perhaps running up an overdraft in one account or appear to be in trouble in that account the bank may step in and transfer funds from your other account completely without your knowledge. This means your bank can step in to take control of a situation without consulting you first.
Interesting
You may be a parent who wants to open a savings account for your children. In which case you can open several accounts, but usually these will be in the child’s name and quite often that will be a condition of the account.
Some people find the easiest way to manage their money is to open several different accounts for different purposes, if they are saving for holidays or some other large purchase then it often pays to open a separate account to keep those funds apart from daily finances.
As many as you see fit
Banks will let you open as many accounts as you want, as long as they can see they may make some money from you. If an account falls into inactivity they may start pestering you to re-activate it with more funds as these idle bank accounts cost them money to keep open.
Always look carefully at the terms and conditions of the accounts that you open, be particularly wary of any minimum sums that need to be paid in each month. Otherwise you may find yourself charged for a breach of terms and conditions.
Other Recommended Sites:
- Bank and Savings Accounts – Information from the FSA
- ISAs – Information on ISA’s from FSA
