Living without banks

As a child I remember the thrill of being taken to open my first bank account. I must have been about 7 and my parents took me along with my pocket money to open a modest little childrens saving account. It came with a little porcelain piggie bank in the shape of a baby pig, and as the balance of the account increased, further piggie banks would be provided, thus encouraging saving. I maintained this bank account throughout my childhood and into adulthood until just last week in fact, somewhere in the region of 32 years. I no longer have this bank account, which is somewhat upsetting. I had, several years ago, so long ago that I had forgotten about it, upgraded my basic current account to a packaged account, with a monthly fee of £12.99. This fee was taken from my account when there wasn't enough to cover it, causing me to go overdrawn without an overdraft facility. Six weeks later the £6 per day unauthorised borrowing fees and other charges had increased my debt to approaching £600 and a quick visit to my branch later, the debt had been written off, which was nice, but my account had also been closed, which was not so nice as it was of the few things I still had from childhood.

Yes, I am aware that I should have monitored my account more closely, but having some financial issues currently, my thoughts were elsewhere. What grates somewhat is that my particular bank currently has a tag line to its adverts "helpful banking". I guess, to an extent, writing off the debt could be construed as helpful, but ramping up the debt to ridiculous levels and the consequential stress I would argue is not particularly helpful, and neither is leaving me without a bank account. Of course, having a poor credit rating means that I am not considered a good customer, as I am unlikely to take out credit and therefore won't be paying their excessive interest rates. So, the upshot is that I am having to learn to live without a bank account. I have arranged to be paid in cash, I have arranged with creditors and suppliers that I will pay cash into their bank accounts directly, using their own banks to avoid any bank charges, and I now have a much lighter wallet thanks to the removal of all of the debit and credit cards.

My intention is to spend the rest of my life bank free, but for now I am just taking it one day at a time....