Banking - want to change accounts - suggestions?
Discussion
TL;DR - want to change bank accounts from HSBC premier & Halifax clarity - where would you go?
For various reasons - some self-inflicted - both HSBC and Halifax have managed to royally piss me off this week, as they’ve decided not to let me have my money, or do banking by my preferred method, only theirs. So I want to switch accounts.
I already had what was (to me) a good combination - the Halifax clarity card being probably the best solution for regular travellers with respect to exchange rates. HSBC visa debit for everything in the UK, and a further HSBC credit card for online/section 75 type purchases.
I’m pretty sold on the idea of using Starling as the main account, no real downsides that I can see to that, and I’ll get some interest too. As it’s commission-free, i’ll use that as the daily card for everything & this stops the need for the Halifax clarity, as well as being a current account. The fact i’ll be going from an ATM 1000/day to 300/day limit is not likely to be an issue.
However, I also want another form of payment - only having one type (just M/C) isn’t sufficient for those times when the system goes down (quite regular in NL vs. the UK). Ideally, I’d love a maestro card, but no-one in the UK seems to offer it anymore, so Amex or Visa it is. Don’t care especially about rewards, probably won’t use it regularly enough for cashback to matter. But I do want something with sec.75 security as the Starling offer doesn’t cover that currently.
I therefore ask the question before I start switching - as per the TL;DR at the top of the page, what’s the best current account / credit combination - in your opinion, please?
For various reasons - some self-inflicted - both HSBC and Halifax have managed to royally piss me off this week, as they’ve decided not to let me have my money, or do banking by my preferred method, only theirs. So I want to switch accounts.
I already had what was (to me) a good combination - the Halifax clarity card being probably the best solution for regular travellers with respect to exchange rates. HSBC visa debit for everything in the UK, and a further HSBC credit card for online/section 75 type purchases.
I’m pretty sold on the idea of using Starling as the main account, no real downsides that I can see to that, and I’ll get some interest too. As it’s commission-free, i’ll use that as the daily card for everything & this stops the need for the Halifax clarity, as well as being a current account. The fact i’ll be going from an ATM 1000/day to 300/day limit is not likely to be an issue.
However, I also want another form of payment - only having one type (just M/C) isn’t sufficient for those times when the system goes down (quite regular in NL vs. the UK). Ideally, I’d love a maestro card, but no-one in the UK seems to offer it anymore, so Amex or Visa it is. Don’t care especially about rewards, probably won’t use it regularly enough for cashback to matter. But I do want something with sec.75 security as the Starling offer doesn’t cover that currently.
I therefore ask the question before I start switching - as per the TL;DR at the top of the page, what’s the best current account / credit combination - in your opinion, please?
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