opening an account

[ginger 69]

My friend has just got ten thousand pounds. Her partner says if she took the cash/cheque to her bank, where she has a basic account and asks to open a full current account they will snap her hand off!! Even though she has been refused before. Is there any truth in this.

[stevie21]

Maybe.
Who's to say that she isn't going to deposit the cheque and then spend it all within a month? What benefit to the bank is there in giving all the extra facilities to someone who, even in the short term, isn't going to have any extra income and (more importantly) isn't going to generate any extra profits for the bank?
There's lots of "ifs"

[WendyS]

I suspect all banks would rather have the money invested in one of their own products rather than in their competitors.  However, if your friend intends to save this money rather spend it she would be well advised to ask the bank what their best interest rate is and then compare it with others available via the internet.   Generally the High Street banks don't pay a competitive interest rate and if she can find an account which pays an extra 1% over her bank's interest rate she will gain �100 a year on this amount. And if she hasn't invested in an ISA this year, �7,000 of her investment can be tax free.

[Sammy Snake]

I don' think they would.  There must be some reason why they wouldn't open a full current account in the first place - bad credit score, CCJ's or something.

The fact that she now has �10K won't change whatever reason it was for refusung her before so although they may allow a savings account, they probably won't upgrade to a full current account.

After all, as has already been pointed out, what is to stop her from opening the account with the 10K, waiting till she gets the switch card / cheque book etc and then withdrawing the inital deposit and running up a huge debt?

[Sixtus]

My daughter had a cheque for nearly Ten thousand pounds - the proceeds of her house sale - which she paid into he  Deposit Account.  I discovered later that she then drew out the maximum cash (�500) each day from the machine to buy drugs - is it any wonder that the banks are cautious?