I have recently decided to open a new bank account as I wasn't happy with the bank I was with and found out that banks seem to do credit checks no matter what account you want to open even a basic account.
They even want to do a credit check even if they are giving you no debit card or credit facilities just for a standard account with a cash card. I think that this is ridiculous. Fair enough if they are giving you an account where you could get into debt with credit facilities but just for a basic account where you can't even use a debit card I think that is just stupid.
How d they expect people with bad credit records to pay off their debts if they don't have bank accounts. Without a bank account how can you receive your wages to pay off the debts to sort out your credit rating. Even if your wages were paid by cheque you still wouldn't be able to cash them unless you took them to a pawn broker but then you would lose lots of your money. I think this is extremely unfair.
The banks say that they are trying to help people get out of debt but without letting them have even a basic bank account how are the expected to do this.
I think everyone should be allowed just a basic bank account and then once they have been proven to be able to keep it in good order for at least five years then maybe at least offer a small ammount of credit and then extend from there.