Personal finance - WJECAccounts

Choosing an account

When you start work you may need to open a bank or building society account to ensure that your money is kept in a safe place. Most banks have offers to entice people to choose their accounts. Some banks offer accounts with benefits but you may have to put a minimum amount of money into the account each month. This is usually your main source of money, normally your pay from your job.

Nia is looking to open a bank account. She has £1,500 which she plans to keep for her holiday next year. Her job pays £1,200 every month. Let’s work out which bank account would be the best deal if she kept the bank account open for a year.

Bank A

5% of £1,200

= £60

Bank B

Nia doesn’t earn enough money to get this account.

Bank C

There are 12 months in a year and each month she gets £7.50. So 12 × 7.50 = £90

Bank C would be the best deal for Nia.

Statements

Bank statements show how much money is going into and out of your account and are also a record of where you are spending your money.

You can access these statements at a cashpoint, through online banking or choose to receive paper statements through the post. The statements will show codes that mean different things.

Here are some of codes found on bank statements:

You will also see numbers on your statement - usually your account number and/or sorting code numbers.

Example

Here are Claire’s recent bank transactions:

1. How much is Claire’s salary?

Her balance has increased from £400 to £2,963. If we find the difference we will know her salary.

£2,963 - £400 = £2,563. This is Claire’s salary.

2. On 6 June Claire buys a car for £3,000. By what amount will she be overdrawn?

She has £2,596 in her account, She pays out £3,000.

The calculation we need to work out is:

£2,596 – £3,000 = £-404

So now she is £404 overdrawn.