5 reasons to consider getting a second bank account

Some people seem to think you can only have one bank account at a time. But you can actually have multiple current accounts with various banks.

Having more than one bank account shouldn’t affect your credit score (unless you try to open loads of new ones in a very short space of time). And if you open a new account, you can keep your existing ones open if you want to.

There are a few reasons why opening another bank account can be useful.

To open a bank account with Monzo, just download the app to get started 👇

There are lots of banks out there, and each one offers something different. But we tend to stick with the same bank for ages. In fact, 75% of people said they’d never switched bank accounts at all!

Using different banks and trying out different bank accounts can help you see if the features, products, or services of another account suit you.

Whether the app's easier to use or the customer service is better, you might have shopped around and found a new account you like.

You could switch over to the new bank straight away (the Current Account Switch Service makes this easy). Or if you want to, you can get a new account and keep the old one open too.

You might find having different bank accounts can help you budget. Use one account for your salary, bills and rent. Put your savings in a separate account. Then use another one for fun money and day-to-day expenses like food and travel.

Separating your money like this is useful, but it can mean lots of shifting money between accounts. So we’ve also made it easy to do this all from your Monzo account! We’ll sort your salary between bills, savings and spending and help you manage and pay your bills when they’re due. Then you can set budgets and see all your spending too.

Some banks offer cash back or short-term deals to encourage you to switch, so you can make a bit of cash when you open a new account.

But just remember, to try and stop you opening new accounts just to take advantage of signup offers, some accounts will have certain requirements. Some accounts need you to pay a minimum amount of money in or out each month, others might ask you to set up a Direct Debit.

These requirements might might make multiple current accounts difficult to manage. So if you’re thinking of opening a new current account to take advantage of an offer, make sure to check you can meet all the requirements first.

Your bank might charge you extra when you spend abroad, or add markups to the exchange rate that make things more expensive for you.

So if you're travelling abroad, you might want to open a bank account that helps you avoid these extra costs.

If you have a Monzo account, we pass the Mastercard exchange rate directly onto you, and don't add fees or additional charges.

You can pay in shops, restaurants and online, anywhere in the world and in any currency, with no fees. And you can withdraw up to £200 every 30 days for free. If you've used your free allowance, there's a 3% charge on withdrawals after that.

You can usually open a new account online, through the app, or by going into a branch.

Signing up for Monzo only takes a few minutes, and you can do it all from your phone. Just download the app and follow the instructions to get started!