Latest News and Advice from eccount money
View the latest news and advice from eccount money
Universal access and the eccount revolution
Most UK citizens take access to a bank account for granted. Who could blame them – it’s hard to imagine life without one. Accounts provide holders with the possibility of receiving wages, paying their bills, shopping online using the credit card associated with the account or shopping cashless with their debit card. Banks thus hold a significant responsibility: Some have argued that exclusion from these facilities considerably reduces the likelihood of finding a new job and increases the cost of living by as much as £560 per year by barring those without a credit card from buying cheap products and services on the web. Over the past few years, however, most banks have unfortunately used their power to protect their own interests, rather than those of society at large. More and more financially troubled households – bankrupts and unemployed in particular – are being rejected when applying for an account, causing them distress and further downgrading their credit rating. In the end, it was only a matter of time before something had to change substantially to improve their situation. Read more
Black Friday saved by the eccount
eccount money’s Will Thomas has stressed that switching to an eccount provides households with a powerful support tool against the averse impact of “Black Friday”. The term refers to the radical cuts in tax benefits for many part-time workers and low-income households in the UK which have come into effect in the new tax year. As part of these changes, low to middle income couples whose weekly workload is below twenty-four hours may stand to gain a bit from increases to personal tax allowances, but could potentially loose thousands of pounds each year as a result of no longer qualifying for working tax credits. The effects could be disastrous: With the overall economy already in a slump, the risk of excessive debts and eventual defaults was constantly increasing and further compounded by the danger of widespread unemployment. Read more
Why eccounts are guaranteed accounts
We’re happy to report that eccounts are today generally considered as being as valuable, useful and as widely accepted as regular bank accounts. We do take a bit of pride in this, as we have worked hard at establishing eccounts as a serious alternative to the services provided by conventional high street banks, which, from our point of view, are increasingly becoming unnecessarily inaccessible to most in the UK. An eccount offers you all but the full range of banking facilities, from sending and receiving money to online- and retail-shopping and from mobile banking to budget support functions. And yet, despite these benefits, we have nonetheless managed to keep our accounts “guaranteed”. How is this possible, you may ask. How can we provide this service without recourse to the usual ordeal of credit checks and unpleasant, inhuman questioning by badly humoured bank managers? Read more
