www.iva.co.uk

FYI - Secure Trust are closing current accounts from 120916 in response to the basic accounts that have been launched by main stream providers since January 2016.

They do not believe that they can offer an account that is value for money given that they charge £12.50 a month.

A pity - the system worked and you did not have to rely on a mainstream bank.

Thanks for that - plus you couldn't go overdrawn either if I remember correctly.

Means a lot of people are going to have to source other accounts quite quickly.

Afternoon everyone! We got our letters from Secure Trust Bank this week and we're gutted! Such a great bank, customer service people have so much understanding and compassion, there's no way we would have changed banks, but we have to! Friends of mine were horrified to learn that we banked with them, but the £12.50 a month fee could easily be got back with rewards, and if I'm honest, even without the rewards I would have still banked with them. At the start of our IVA, when we were so bewildered and scared, they showed such kindness and understanding, and that has continued throughout the 7 years we've banked with them. So, anyway, me and the other half have an appointment with Barclays on the 27th June. I was fretting as I don't have a passport or driving licence, but for anyone else in the same boat, Barclays will accept your birth certificate and another document (utility bill, mortgage thing) as long as it has your full name on it. I used my CRB check from work. I also rang up HMRC and they've put a reminder of my National Insurance Number in the post, as your full name is printed on that, so theres another option for people who are short on ID!

Lou

That's good - there's also the Co-op or Nationwide to try.

I agree with Kallis - try Nationwide, you can mostly do this on line , and if they need extra ID, you can go into a branch, there are also very quick about making decisions

Barclays will open a Basic account for you, even if they were one of your creditors. You do have to go to a branch to do it though.

Yeah, all we want us a bog-standard basic account and we have a Barclays really close by to us, so we're trying them. I did wonder whether IVA (completed last year) would be an issue, so reading MerlinL14s post has eased my fretting a bit!
It was the strangest thing when I read the letter from STB, that terrible feeling you get in the pit of your tummy, took me right back to the very start of sorting the IVA!

Lou

If you have your cc should not be an issue. Was accepted by nationwide on line straightaway.

Do you think I should take CC with me?

Lou

Nationwide won't need it but if you are applying for a Co-op account (basic) you will need to do it either on the phone or in branch.

Hi MelinL14

I was just wondering.. was Barclays one of your creditors previously and perhaps you've gone back to them?

as I was thinking of doing just that!

please let us all know.

Good luck with your new account application and what a shame as what I've just read, sounds like a good thing coming to an end that suited many. All the best.

There's always NatWest as well - I believe Lesley was with them.

Halifax are giving £100 to switch. you apply online and they do the rest, it's very easy. I did mine last week, after I'd made sure my Credit report was ok. I completed in April so am happy I could do this so quickly!

You could also try Santander as well.