Royal Bank of Scotland Current Accounts

Royal Bank of Scotland, or RBS, is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland and offers a full range of banking services to businesses and consumers in the UK, including current accounts, loans, savings products, and mortgages.

RBS’s Select Account is an everyday bank account that doesn’t charge a monthly fee. Therefore, it can be a free account, but this depends on how you use it, as some services may carry a charge and overdrafts on the account do carry interest charges.

As well as the RBS Select Account, which offers everyday banking services for no monthly fee, RBS also offers various Reward Accounts. These accounts carry monthly fees and offer account holders a range of ‘rewards’, including money back when you pay bills through direct debit, insurance cover and breakdown cover. These packaged accounts are not always suitable for consumers and can end up costing you more than you can save, so make sure they are right for you before you apply.

Yes, you will most likely have your credit record checked at the time of application. Banks usually check credit files, along with other financial information provided by the applicants before deciding whether a certain bank account is right for a consumer.

Those who are not able to open a Select Account with RBS may be offered a Foundation account. This allows account holders with bad credit to access most banking services, including paying in, withdrawal with a debit or cash card, transfers, standing order and direct debits. Foundation Accounts, however, do not offer account-holders access to overdrafts.

Yes. RBS, along with many other banks, is signed up to the Current Account Switch Guarantee scheme. This means that all your transactions will be transferred to your new account by a dedicated team within seven working days of you providing the required information.

RBS and other banks may offer cash incentives to switch from your existing account to a new account, but it’s important to check the latest offers before applying as they can change regularly.

Most RBS current accounts give you the chance to apply for an arranged overdraft. Providers will usually check your financial situation along with your credit report to help decide whether to offer you an overdraft or not. Overdrafts can be useful in helping account holders to meet expenses, but they do cost money, either in the form of interest charged as a percentage of the amount borrowed, or as a set amount each day you are overdrawn.