Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced during his recent Budget speech last week that every adult in The united kingdom should be entitled to open a basic bank account.
According to the British Bankers Association – (BBA), around eight million adults in the Uk currently have a basic bank account. Recent plans announced in the UK Budget could see an additional 1Million starting a bank-account over the coming five years.
A spokesperson for the British Bankers’ Association said: "Everybody can have a bank account if they want one, unless (and this is rare) the law says they can’t.
Recently Banks within the UK have worked with the UK Government to cut financial exclusion, halving the number of households dont have a bank account. Every 4 weeks 40K a lot more people open basic accounts."
Bank such as these are targeted at families on low incomes, or who have poor credit ratings who not get a normal bank account.
These accounts have been designed allow the user to have control of their own finances and open services such as online retail, direct debits (DD) and internet banking.
A basic bank account has a prepaid mastercard, the works in the same manner as any other which is accepted at over twenty eight million outlets worldwide. It allows the account holder to upload cash onto the account and then spend as they wish. The nature of the account means that it is impossible for the holder to go overdrawn. The account is suitable for those who may have been rejected access to a bank account in the past.
The prepaid MasterCard also acts as a simple means of money transfer abroad; for example, when the account holder has family abroad, or even a child at university, the account holder can send them an additional prepaid MasterCard fully loaded the financial amount cash you wish to send to them. It also opens up the world on online banking, eCommerce and online retail to people who would otherwise be excluded.
