Passbook Savings Accounts

This topic will seem very out of place for a Fintech orientated forum but I can’t be the only one who thinks this way.

I’m a big fan of passbook savings accounts because of the way the money is ‘locked away’. It’s so easy to access online ‘easy savers’ and withdraw/transfer money using ATM cards or online banking.

I like the idea of having money in a bank account and not being able to access it without making a trip into town to the bank/building society and handing over the passbook. It makes you think twice about using the money.

My two questions are:

  1. Is it just me that thinks this way? Am I just too fond of the memory of being 5/6 years old and going into The Derbyshire Building Society to pay money into my ‘young saver’?

  2. Does anybody know of any banks or building societies that still offer passbook accounts? My last one was with The Derbyshire until they transferred it into Nationwide.

Please be easy on me, I’m 5/6 years old at heart! :laughing:

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I believe the Nationwide still offers them. I still have a passbook-based ISA with them.

Completely get where you are coming from and agree!

I loved my ‘Little Xtra’ passbook from the Halifax as a kid. My Mum used to pay £5 a week into my account. I would go into the branch every couple of months and the printer buzzed away updating my passbook. Loved it!

I do miss a bit of ‘friction’ to make me pause/make do before hitting my savings. I use Chip savings, a major plus for me is that the withdrawal isn’t instant it may happen later in the day or the working say after and that helps a lot.

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Really? I’ve tweeted them to ask! :smirk:

That’s exactly what I mean! That thing that makes you go ‘Hmm, do I need to withdraw this money? What about my holiday/car/house/wedding?’

It’s getting that bad, people are resorting to this!

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I’ve got a child isa with Nationwide that has a passbook but that is for the kids

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When I signed up for a help to buy isa with nationwide last year they offered me a passbook… i thought the member of staff was joking. She couldn’t understand why I laughed.

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For anybody actually interested:

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My memory of passbooks were annoying for withdrawals (want to buy that birthday phone you’ve been saving up for? Time to run to the bank and carry cash to Argos!) and the ink smudged for records. Plus they don’t “update” until you go into branch (which for me was a car ride away).

Good for kids, but not so much for teens upwards.

I find if you want to make it harder to access a saving account, just open it with a different bank and don’t install the app or carry the card. It’s easy to transfer into, but you’d have to make a conscious decision to withdraw.

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I’m a terrible person, I’ll just register for online banking eventually :joy:

I actually find achieve this by dumping my savings in products like Ratesetter. Then I can’t touch it for X days :joy:

I used to go to university in Chester and after I graduated I opened a passbook account at the Principality Building Society to save up for a Masters degree. I lived in north Manchester at the time so visiting the branch was a day out to Chester (the nearest branch and I didn’t drive). In the end, I can’t remember how I closed it. I’m sure it was over the phone but it could have been in writing as I don’t have the passbook. I did hit my Masters degree fee target this way.

I now use Regular Savers online to save money. The ‘fear’ of losing the 5% interest rate by withdrawing keeps me from withdrawing it. I’ve also invested in Nutmeg which takes time to get it back. Oh and the Lifetime ISA I have just transferred my HTB ISA into.

Having a dedicated spending current account, which I send fixed weekly spending money, helped me save over £10k in 12 months (my salary is £30k). I was never good at saving until this change in my banking last Christmas. I was trying to imitate squirrel.me without actually paying or using their service.

[Edit 4 years later in 2022: Since this post the Squirrel website is now defunct and the above link does nothing. See web archive link for previous information about the site → Squirrel - The simple way to create then stick to a budget ]

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I’ve had too many emergency reasons to dip in to my savings account that this level of friction would cause anxiety! Like a cross country trip to the Royal Veterinary College for emergency surgery on my cat. A stop at the bank wouldn’t have been feasible :smile:

I have money in various places like NS&I and ISA’s with other banks to help hide money away from my immediate line of sight.

Edit: But I totally get the nostalgia. It was fun to save away as a kid.

2024 now. I’ll try to open Passbook account in building societies as mentioned in link below that even Nationwide no longer offers passbook. Will update here later for the results!!

As much as I love fintechs, I still believe in an “unseen” and untouchable savings of passbook in the era where withdrawing your money is only a click away :sweat_smile: