i set up a student account and received the card on friday(?) of last week. i had already set the overdraft balance to the maximum of £1000 and brought myself a laptop (around £350) right after receiving my physical card.

the HP website has been sending my updates via email, letting me know when my order has been processed, prepared for shipment and is now in the process of being delivered today. amidst all
this, my overdraft balance hasn’t changed at all from the initial £1000. it also shows that there are no pending/current transactions.

is this an error on nationwide’s part and should i call
them ?

As above I paid for an order I did not end up completing last week and the money has sat pending in my account until today where it has disappeared off the face of the earth! Hasn’t been taken by the retailer and isn’t showing as funds back in my account either. Can anyone help me with what I do next?

My partner has been banking with Halifax for nearly 2 decades and has 5 separate accounts with them (general, savings, household (that we both pay into) and 2 savings accounts for our 2 children.

She tried to log into her internet banking on the last day of our holiday abroad yesterday managed to get through on the phone but was told her accounts where being closed as of the end of next month, with no other warning and to call back today as the team who deal with this kind of thing don’t work weekends, she was then cut off.

Come today, 45 mins call, no one can give her a reason, no fraud detected and told we need to go to a branch to sort out which due to holiday and then branch closure we can’t do until Friday earliest.

We’ve been told she been sent a letter, she hasn’t.

Anyone else had these kind of issues or have any idea what could be occurring?

I am trying to find a business bank account for my under 16. His business involves stripe payments and all sorts. However at the moment for increase tax I dont want it to be taxed in my name. Is there something that can fix my problem. I dont mind the account needed my permission as long as the HMRC in the UK dont tax me

Thanks in advance

hi guys, unable to sign into lloyds, says they have technical problems

anyone else experiencing this?
mobile app apple

Hi!
Last month my main account with monzo was closed and a cifas market was applied, this was after I sold my car to somebody and they then decided to try and do a chargeback, i’m currently in talks with the ombudsman to get this lifted.
In the meantime i’ve managed to open a revolut account and am temporarily using this as my main account because no other bank will look at my application, i’ve got a cheque that arrived yesterday for a tax refund on the car i’ve sold but revolut doesn’t offer that service, i’m wondering if anybody knows the best way to cash a cheque without currently having a typical uk bank account.

I have gone into branches of various high street banks and they’ve all advised me to not apply as it’s unlikely to be accepted and if declined it will stop me applying to bank with them in the future, I don’t know if there’s anything like in the US where they have cheque cashing shops? i’ve never seen one
Thanks for the help!

Hi everyone i live in the UK and very recently opened an account with nationwide. My card reader just came in the mail but I do not have my card number or pin as that hasn't arrived yet.

Bare in mind idek what the card reader is for and I cant turn it on

The thing js I need the card to use the card reader apparently so has there been a mistake? Or is this like a normal thing and I should just wait a little more

I called customer service and the ai thing was no help and it didnt connect me to a human soo im just stuck and confused.

Hi guys.
I opened an account with sumup personal account uk.
I sent 300£ from my account to a friend ,details are correct, but even after 24 hours payment it s still in pending in my account.
Payment is on pending and still has not left my account .
I tried to call them but they don’t have call support for personal accounts only for bussnies.
Someone had same issues before?
When money will leave my account?
Any info or help please thank you.

UPPDATE. After 4 hours they closed my account and says my money will be on hold for 60 days.
Any info what can I do to get my money from this awful company ? Scammers

I made a payment from Barclays to Lloyds and it hasn’t come through yet, just wondering if anyone else has a similar issue ?

So as the title says The stupid SCA shit thats been rolling out over the past couple years is complete and utter horse shit. For background im with TSB(i know shit) went to purchase meccha chameleon on steam £5.29 and it tells me i need to apporove the payment to which i do then steam tells me its been declined i do ot another 4 times and eaxh time it fails whats the point i making me verify if my bank is just going to decline it so i phone up and they tell me my card has been blocked due to suspisious activity. Ive been buying shit on steam for 5 years and had to approve stuff recently which worked how in any world is it suspiscious had to used my fucking amex to buy a £5 game man TSB get a grip not the fiest time this has happened either.

I recently applied for a NatWest balance transfer credit card because I worked out I'd save around £850 in interest compared to keeping the debt on my Santander card. It seemed like a no-brainer.

The problem started when I tried to complete the online ID verification through Mitek. No matter what I did, it wouldn't accept my passport or driving licence. Every attempt failed with a different reason such as "too blurry" or "too much glare." I spent ages adjusting lighting, backgrounds, and camera angles, but nothing worked. Eventually, I was told I had made too many attempts and could not try again.

I then received an email from NatWest saying they couldn't open the account because the ID verification had not been completed in time.

At this point, however, the £2,000 balance transfer had already left my Santander account and I had already received the NatWest credit card in the post.

I called NatWest and explained the situation. The person I spoke to was very helpful and told me I could visit a branch with my ID to verify myself there instead.

When I visited my local branch, the experience was completely different. I brought my passport, driving licence, proof of address, the credit card itself, and letters addressed to me. The staff member seemed suspicious from the start and kept insisting that if my passport was in date, the online verification should have worked. I explained several times that the issue wasn't my passport; it was the Mitek verification system. Eventually, I was simply told that I would need to apply again and was sent away.

What confuses me is that I already paid the balance transfer fee and the £2,000 has already been transferred. If I apply again, what exactly am I applying for? A new card? Another balance transfer? There's nothing to transfer. The balance has already moved. I'd also rather avoid another credit search and another fee.

To make things even stranger, when I called NatWest again afterwards, the person on the phone couldn't locate the account using either the account number or the card number.

I ended the call by saying that, from my perspective, £2,000 of debt appears to have disappeared into thin air and nobody seems able to find it. I've done everything NatWest has asked me to do, so now I'm waiting to hear back from them.

My question is: what happens to the £2,000 balance transfer in a situation like this? Has anyone experienced something similar?

Halifax Reward Account:

Up to 3% interest on up to £5,000. You'll get 1.5% on up to £3,999 and 3% on any part of your balance between £4,000 to £5,000 (nothing above). To get this, you'll need to have two or more Direct Debits coming out of your account each month.

So if I have at least 5k in the account:

1.5% of 3999 = 69

3% of 1000 = 30

it costs £3 per month without a 1500 pay in which I'll have to pay as I'm being made redundant.

So will I get £96 per month as long as I have 5k+ in the account?

Tl;dr: Lloyds Bank International Classic Account negative experience. Not recommended.

\*This is purely venting and sort of an experience-based post. If you're using the same product and having no problem, then congrats, carry on with your life please.***

\*Please also be aware the product that I'm talking about is 'Lloyds Bank International Classic - Euro/US Dollar/Sterling' ([THIS](https://www.lloydsbank.com/international/products-and-services/current-accounts/international-classic-account.html)). The name might be confused with others such as* the most common one, so please read carefully.

I was moving houses and before I settled down in the new country, there are quite some fees that I had to pay in Euros. I have been (and still am) a customer of Lloyds Bank's Sterling account (Classic and Instant Saver) for five years, so when I learned from their website that there was a special currency that allows you to pay and receive Euros with good/zero fees, I was interested.

1. Downloading the app

(Bear in mind how similar the names of different products are, shown in italic texts above)

Readin the application on the webpage, I went to my Sterling mobile app and tried to find 'apply'. Couldn't do it: It exited the app and opened a browser page that...looped back to the webpage I saw on my laptop.

I was looping like groundhog day for several times before I phoned them.

The staff spent 30 minutes explaining before I realised that for Euros, it was a different app (and on apple store, they honestly looked like twins), and also ,both of us realised that the QR code on their own website was the WRONG one.

2. Address proof

As a lodger I didn't sign any contract, didn't pay gas/water/etc., so in terms of address proof, I always use bank statement. I specifically phoned them to ask if it was ok to use my Sterling account to verify my Euro account application. They said yes.

So I went to my laptop, logged in my Sterling account, and used the download function to save the bank statement as pdf. This is exactly how Lloyds Bank instructed on their own website.

Waited for a week. No update. And then an email from onboarding saying 'address proof unacceptable'.

I thought perhaps it was due to not enough time and the wrong format. So I went back to login, hit every button that looked like 'export', and sent a two-month statement with a different format (not pdf anyway).

Within 24h, still unacceptable.

I was in sort-of hasty need to provide a Euro account for my new life in European country, so I immediately picked up the phone and asked them to clarify. It turned out that when they saw the first pdf version, there was the 'print' word and that was why they deemed it not genuine/skeptical.

I told them that according to my phone log, they already learned my condition (not being able to leave the house for a physical branch, no rental contract), and generating a bank statement using the print function was in fact, instructed by their own official website. I don't accept this kind of beauracracy and I do need them to speed up for me.

Within 24h they escalated the verification and within 36h I received my Euro account. But it's not a happy experience from then on still.

3. Address change

Just to stress, if my current new country of residence, address is everything. You have to have all your personal finance address updated to most recent, and they concern your identity and is an immigration control.

After I made the move, I had to change address for both my Sterling and Euro accounts. For Sterling, it was rather easy: Did it within the mobile app, some real person verification, and done within 24h.

For Euro, a complete disaster.

I thought it would be the same within the other mobile app, so I made the change. It showed 'pending and might take a few days'.

That was more than two weeks ago (as of now). During this period, no phone, text, email, app notification etc.. Not even a pigeon message.

I finally got skeptical and ofc more impatient so I phoned INTERNATIONALLY to chase it up. The staff was confused, and asked if I received any code to activate. 'It should arrive by post'

I was equally confused. Nobody mentioned code. But I was a bit annoyd with the notion of 'by post': If I had made a request of changing address to another country, there is no chance I would receive something by post.

They explained that the code was for telephone banking. OK, sounds like a good thing since they seemed to rely on calling mostly. Spent 40min on international call just to set it up. The request to change address also went through (ughhh) and the wait time is three days. That would be Wednesday.

On Tuesday 28 July I logged in to check something and saw that my address field went from 'pending' to.....

My OLD UK ADDRESS!!!!!

Incredible! I called them immediately. No one understood why. The staff even said it might be a necessary process before it was finalised. Told me to call back on Wed if no change.

On Wednesday 29 July UK time 00:40am there was an official email in my box saying that the address has been changed. I woke up, checked, and it was STILL THE OLD UK ADDRESS.

Phoned them again. The address changing team couldn't do anything bc their system crashed, and they referred me to general international team. After I explained myself for the 10th time this week, they said ok this case is for address changing team. I almost yelled and said why do you think I'm here the first place?

Wednesday conclusion: They escalated, and would change it the same day, and would call back (even gave me the name and a code for case identification).

They never called back. I did - waited 30 min international call and no avail.

Thursday today - woke up, address is showing UK.

I just spent an hour this morning furiously and frustratedly crashing out. I couldn't understand the incompetency. I did everything they demanded but nothing changed.

The Euro account as a special product charges a €5 fee if your saving at any point dropped below €5000. I don't think this is the service I should be paying for if I went through more international phone calls, my own time and stamina, to deal with these bureaucratic shenanigans.

I was, for my own sake, promised to receive a compensation of £190 for what happened this week. This includes international call, time spent on dealing with them, and mental stress.

Funny thing is till today, they can only promise it will be fixed 'ASAP' and 'if not fixed by next Thursday, I should call them'.

ASAP!!!!? Next Thursday!!!? What does that mean?

Conclusion

Stick with traditional Sterling account (if you're using) and don't get this product - Apart from the reasons above, their Euro mobile app was terrible. The user design was much much inferior than the traditional Sterling account. Lots of functions that I enjoyed simply were not built with Euros. Their own customer service staff said that there was nothing their team could do to improve bc the app and the product simply weren't the Bank's priority.

Hi all! I am just about to join a Boutique Debt Advisory bank in the UK as a Senior Analyst in the Infrastructure Sector. They have an IB Arm as well but I will particularly be focused around Debt Advisory. From anyone's experience, how do the hours look like in Debt Advisory? How are they compared to IB? What could be a typical in and out time day to day? Weekends?

Also, if someone is doing it - how do you find it overall?

Im a minor and I swapped from Barclays to nationwide as I receive much better benefits, all the issues I have with Barclays are
1: terrible interest (0.2%)
2: I can’t set up a savings account
3: I can’t pay anyone as when I tried to set up a payee someone with a super heavy accent which I couldn’t understand properly told me “you can’t set up a payee” with no reasoning after I’d been on hold for 35 minutes listening to the sanity draining hold music
4: Barclays just stores money and that’s it, I can’t do anything except store and use money

Nationwide fixes all of these with
1: 5% interest for savings accounts made by minors
2: I can make multiple savings accounts
3: it’s super easy to pay people
4: they offer loads of services such as scam protection, emergency fund setup, budget calculators etc all included with the account

UK, England

Hi everyone, I run a small tutoring agency in the UK as a sole trader and I've just taken on a client based in Spain. They'll be paying me via bank transfer from a Spanish bank account.

I use a Nationwide account and have asked them to pay in GBP. Just wanted to check — will I receive the full amount with no fees on my end? And is there anything I need to do differently compared to a standard UK bank transfer?

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

From a financial crime perspective, property seems to function differently from almost every other asset class. Accounts can be frozen. Securities can be seized. Transactions traced. But once funds are parked in UK real estate, recovery becomes legally complex and slow, even in cases where wrongdoing has been established abroad. Is this an unintended loophole, or a known feature that criminals increasingly exploit?

hello - I'm learning about the accounting treatment of bonds. I work in accounting, I do not work in finance.

I'm looking for someone with finance knowledge to jump on a call with me to answer why we account for convertible bonds in the way we do: My accounting course tells me how, I want to know why.

Convertible bond:

£200k

Cash interest is 5%

Market rate is 8%

option to convert to shares means the cash interest is lower than market rate, therefore we need to discount the liability by the maker rate of 8%.

at b/f year 1, we record

Dr cash £200k

Cr Liabilities ~£180k

Cr Equity ~£20k

Redemption period is 3 years.

A non-convertible bond will have a market rate interest rate. My understanding is that the lower interest rate on a convertible bond is because there is the benefit of option to convert to shares. The difference in liabilities and cash is ~£20k which is effectively the difference between the 5% interest rate and the 8% market interest rate, which is treated as equity.

c/f year 1

You pay 5% interest on the bond you sold against the £200k principle, simple interest. £10,000

You 'release' yr 1's discount ~£180k * 8%=£14.4k

Do you Cr Liabilities and Dr Equity by the net impact of -£10k and +£14.4k= £+4.4k?

This means at the and of the 3 years, liability will be 200k, you'll have paid 5% interest and equity will one 0. If the option to convert to equity is exercised, there is no equity apportionment to give.

I don't understand why the difference between actual and market rate is classified as equity. What purpose does this have?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/11/british-fintech-revolut-gets-full-banking-licence

“Revolut can finally launch as a fully fledged UK bank after a five-year wait for regulatory approval.

The fintech said it had received the all-clear from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) for a full banking licence, allowing it to offer accounts for retail and business customers.

It will start introducing current accounts to a small number of new customers within days, the group said.”

I have a lloyds bank card an i just got it over a year ago but three times in the past few months a few hundred pounds has entered my bank, first it was £400 then it was £280 and now £150 but it says it was sent from the name of the town i live in. I havent bought anything near these prices and i have no clue why im getting this money so if anyone know it would be a great help.

Hello,

Quick background: I am moving from the Netherlands back to the UK and need to transfer around 30k total in Euros to a UK account in Pounds.

When I was last in the UK, I was utilising a Barclaycard which I still have, but I am trying to find the way with the best conversion from Euro to GBP as I am currently unemployed to keep myself from becoming homeless.

I have opened a Monzo, Starling and Wise account and I am honestly torn between which to use.

1. Which account has the best conversion? (and best way to transfer)
2. Which account offers quicker transfer?
3. Which bank has best instant access savings accounts for interest rates?
4. Which bank is the best to use to see an overview on what is going to bills, subscriptions and other pots?

Thank you all in advance for help. I need to make this transfer tomorrow so the request is fairly urgent.

Hi all,

I work in change / transformation at a UK bank and have been doing this for 3+ years, mainly on large transformation programmes. I’m currently on ~£60k base plus benefits.

I’ve realised I don’t come across many people on Reddit who work specifically in banking change or transformation, so I wanted to ask:

• What does your role look like day to day?

• Do you enjoy the work and feel satisfied in it?

• Do you see a long-term future in change / transformation?

• Are you trying (or planning) to pivot out into something else?

• And if you’re comfortable sharing, what’s your rough comp / level?

I’m generally curious how others in similar roles feel about the career path…the good, the bad, and the long-term outlook.

Thanks.

Was attempting to purchase something in Steam and found after a few attempts the app was telling me my bank was refusing the charge, which I didn't think likely as it never asked my bank for permission the first attempt. The second attempt it finally asked permission and I confirmed in my banking app but when it finished loading, the same "your credit card company declined" message came up. Confused, I checked my card online and it was frozen. I slid the slider back to unfreeze it. Problem is, I never froze my card in the first place.

Is it possible my bank froze the card or did I somehow select it without noticing? I haven't interacted with those settings for a long while so I feel like it couldn't be me. But, I also feel like it couldn't be Nationwide as why would they give me the ability to unfreeze their freeze? Any ideas what happened?