I’m very likely to be an outlier but I have a lot. Most are dormant accounts that I’ve not touched or logged into in years, but once I open an account with a bank, I don’t usually close it.
At one point or another I had several basic accounts open with Barclays purely for the process of taking advantage of current account switch bonuses.
Right now, I would say Monzo is my only active current, with Barclays ready to go if I ever need to fallback to a reliable traditional account.
I think for most people, just one current account is fine and will get the job done. Some may suggest having a second current account, just in case, especially if you’re primary account is with a fintech like Monzo or Starling. Ideally the second account should be using the alternative payment processing company, so if you’re with Monzo, who use MasterCard, you may want a second back that uses Visa. Personally, I use my Barclaycard credit card as my visa option.
I think it depends how many you need. For example, if I received a lot of cheques I’d probably open an account with somewhere that offers digital cheque imaging, or if I travelled abroad more often I’d look into somewhere that makes finances abroad cheaper/easier.
That being said, I think it’s very important to have at least two, with different banks. Preferably one with a visa debit card and one with a MasterCard.
I’d say the average person has more than one account.
I have two myself. Never saw the need to close my old account after opening Monzo (didn’t need to use CASS to switch anything), partially because at the time it made for a useful back-up (had a pre-paid account initially), partially because it still makes for a useful back-up now (a VISA card to go alongside the Monzo Mastercard), and partially because having a long-standing bank account helps a little with the credit record.
That said, the next card I’ll get issued from my other bank account will apparently be a Mastercard, so I will end up switching it at some point to an account with a VISA card again. But that won’t be happening until my card needs replacing or there’s a really attractive switching offer, whatever comes first.
If you mean current accounts I’d suggest having two, just in case you ever experience issues with one. Also if one of them is Monzo the second can be chosen to fill the gaps in Monzo’s feature set as a bank.
I have current accounts at five banks. This is to access perks at particular banks such as cashback on direct debits, access to savings accounts with high interest rates, and access to a flexible ISA.
But if you want to keep things simple I would suggest not going above two.
I think it depends on a few things. I’ll often change banks (new app features, offers etc) but will normally keep just two active, one for spending, one for saving. After the TSB fiasco when I had just the one account and no access, I’ve always kept a spare account active for emergencies.
Right now I have one for spending and the other for saving, as they have a preferential rate. I guess people could have more but I prefer simplicity
At first I thought it effected everyone even plus. But looks like the blog got edited and when I saw a few say plus I thought I’ll join it to save the hassle and worry
However Monzo is the only bank I got
Are you just lying in different threads to cause arguments?
@PeterG, standards are slipping. I vote we take away polling privelidges…
In any case! I had a quick count up of my personal current accounts, excluded Joint, and I think I’ve got 8 open today
Many of these are from the days of trying to get current account bonuses… And many are from trying out various Fintechs that popped up all around 2018.
I’m down to 2 currnet accounts. Up until a few months ago I had 4 for the bonuses, however the value of the bonuses just weren’t worth it anymore combined with jugling the funds between the accounts was becoming too much, especially with some of the restrictions that Halifax were introducing, so I switched them to Monzo. I rather like the visibility of direct debits a few days before they come out of my account.
