All of the Cards, Not a Royal Flush

In a seemingly never ending quest to find the perfect financial organisational tools, I’ve gained one or two (handfuls of) cards along the way. I’m sure I’m far from the end of my journey as there seems to be a new bank with new promises appearing each week. I’m still not holding my breath for a Royal Flush.

I don’t see that I’ve failed in this process, but I still haven’t found the one bank to rule them all. Along with doing my own research, I’m constantly reading reviews and and comments online about these new banks and what they can offer us as customers.

A lot of these financial tools offer incentives to switch to them. Even just for trying them out with no commitment, Monese or Curve will dish out £5 to new customers willing to try their service.

Everyone is different though, my requirements might be very different to yours. While I might love my Curve card, meaning that I only need to carry that in my slimmed down minimalist wallet at any one time, others might not trust the technology and would be happy to carry multiple cards around in their bulging wallets or purses.

Honestly, I’m finding it hard to find the right selection of tools to use to manage my money. I’m a little overwhelmed by them all. Starting out on this adventure, I thought it’d be easy to switch banks or change services.

What Services Am I Using Most?

Lloyds Bank

Lloyds Bank is still where I deposit my salary and pay my bills from. Their website is easy to use and have setup multiple accounts that are accessible from the one login (Personal, Joint, Matched Betting, Car Savings, General Savings). I rarely use the cards attached to these accounts though.

Tesco Bank

I still use my Tesco Bank Credit card to ONLY pay for fuel. I pay it off in full each month to avoid any interest charges. I get extra Clubcard Points each time I fill up the car, top that up with my occasional Tesco shops, the points soon add up and can be worth triple the value to pay for days out with the kids or for if we fancy a posh meal out. I’ve also Just signed up for TescoPay+.. that’s just an app.

Curve

My Curve Card is amazing! It should mean that I don’t have to carry ANY cards in my wallet except this one. I add the details of the physical cards in the app and select the one I want to use at the time, then Curve do some magic that mean I pay from my selected card/account. It has worked flawlessly, except for my Tesco Credit card and Paying at Pump. This week I was upgraded to a Curve Mastercard Debit Card though that I hope will resolve that problem. Keep an eye out for an update on that!

Oval Savings

Oval Savings. I have to admit, I signed up to Oval with a referral offer to get a free £5, attached it to my bank, and pretty much forgot about it. It offers multiple options for saving small change, such as rounding up your purchase costs. It seems that just rounding the change up adds up quickly. Try it out!