Selecting account type at ATM (UK)

[Dave Noble]

There is indeed a lot of misinformation about UK banking going on. I agree with Simongr that banking is one area where UK has been ahead of AU. No monthly fees for accounts, no limitation on number of transactions, much fewer cases where get charged for using another bank's ATM.

There has never been such a peculiar concept of cheque/savings/credit on ATM's or in shop credit card machines. Use a credit card and it will be credit , use a debit card and it will come from the associated bank account. Write a cheque and it will come from the same bank account; indeed, unlike Australia, write a cheque and use the cheque guarantee card ( part of the debit card ) and the cheque can be guaranteed to be paid as long as within the cheque card guarantee limit ( GBP50,100 or 250 depending on card ).

There is no need to use a cheque to withdraw funds from a cheque account; cheques can be used to withdraw from a current account, but so can ATM and debit

Opening a bank account is not a tortuous activity in the UK and and simply needs proof of identity and proof of address; not much different to what an Australian bank will ask for.

One difference is that they do tend to credit score for bank accounts and without any credit score, may be unable to get a proper debit card until the account has been active for 3 months and be limited to a card like Solo or Electron ( electronic use only card )

As far as withdrawing funds from an Australian cheque account; when I am over there I use my visa debit card which is tied to my cheque account with no issies whatsoever ( other than the bank charging a fee for use of the foreign ATM )

Dave

 

[medhead]

Thanks to Simongr and Dave for all the useful information.

It all sounds very straight forward. I would also add that for me, my "cheque" account is just a label. I have 2 accounts link to me card, neither of them is a cheque account, but one is labelled savings and one is labelled cheque. So at least in my case, the use of the word cheque is only because of some legacy account type, that is irrelevant to me.

To the OP, Tell us is it refusing to give you money? Or are you cancelling the transaction when you see the words savings account?

 

[trippin_the_rift]

As far as withdrawing funds from an Australian cheque account; when I am over there I use my visa debit card which is tied to my cheque account with no issies whatsoever ( other than the bank charging a fee for use of the foreign ATM )

Dave

This would work because the ATM see's it as a Visa card. EG: Both credit and cheque transactions use the same balanace. The ATM interprets the card as Visa and your bank has the two accounts linked as if they were exactly the same.

If you were to use a Visa Credit card - all your UK withdrawals would come from the credit balance and you would never have an option to take funds from the cheque account.

The problem arrises when using a standard maestro/cirrus card with NO savings account, and ONLY a cheque account.

The ATM flat out DENIES the transaction and returns the card.

 

[Dave Noble]

The problem arrises when using a standard maestro/cirrus card with NO savings account, and ONLY a cheque account.

The ATM flat out DENIES the transaction and returns the card.

I also have a cirrus card which is linked to a cheque account only and it works perfectly too in UK ATMs. I have it as a back up in case of problems with the Visa Debit. There is no concept of cheque/savings or credit so it cannot default to to savings. I think that the problem is not the UK ATM per se but something else to do with the card.

Dave

 

[tuapekastar]

My input is quite dated (~9 years) but my debit card (and that is all it is - I have a separate credit card) is linked to a couple of different cheque accounts (business and personal), and I don't recall any problems withdrawing cash from ATMs in the UK. Your mileage may certainly vary though!

 

[Mal]

Old thread... But I did get stung by this recently. Have now requested my bank give me a maestro card.

They are also waiving cash advance and interest fees.

(And yes... I should have remembered seeing I posted in this thread).