From bill-splitting to paying in cheques: best banking features you can do on your phone

Banks may be closing their branches, but there are plenty of features being added to their websites and apps which make managing our money more straightforward.

Branches closing

Banks are continuing to close branches across the country. Just this week it was announced that 44 more branches owned by the Lloyds Banking Group are to shut.

While we would obviously like to see more branches protected to help those who absolutely need them, we thought it worth pointing out that there are a number of banking tasks you can do yourself – provided you're comfortable using a laptop or smartphone.

Paying in cheques

Paying in cheques to my bank account is not the regular task it once was.

Whereas once I was heading to my local branch a couple of times a month to pay in money, these days it’s something that happens at most a couple of times a year, usually when my kids get sent money for their birthday from relatives.

Thankfully, now I don’t actually have to go to the bank in order to pay them in.

A host of banking apps let you pay in the cheque simply by taking a photo of the cheque itself. Generally, you just have to log into the app, enter the details for the account you want to pay the money into, and then snap away.

Be warned there may be limits on how much you can pay in each day. At NatWest, for example, you can’t pay in more than £750 a day through photos of cheques.

Available from: most high street banks

Rounding up to help you save

Getting into the saving habit can be easier said than done.

There are always so many bills and subscriptions to clear that by the end of the month there may not be much money left over to stick in an ISA.

Thankfully there are now plenty of apps that help you save without even realising you’re doing it. The idea is incredibly simple ‒ every time you spend with your card, the purchase is rounded up to the nearest £1.

The extra money, rather than going to the retailer, is then stuck into a savings account.

What’s great about this setup is that in all likelihood you won’t even notice the extra money being taken when you shop.

But over time the money that’s put aside as a result of rounding up will grow, leaving you with a decent savings safety net to turn to in future.

There are all sorts of ways to take advantage of this feature ‒ some banks, like Starling Bank, have it as part of their regular account, while there are also additional accounts, like the new Clubcard Pay from Tesco Bank, which employs it when you spend with the attached prepaid debit card.

It’s a good idea to check exactly where your money is saved though, as sometimes the rates of interest on offer are fairly uninspiring.

Available from: Most app-based banks

Bill splitting

There are plenty of occasions when you will need to split a bill with your friends or family, whether that’s following a nice meal out or in order to pay for a holiday.

And let’s be honest, the process of getting that money from your friends and family can be a touch stressful.

There are lots of banking apps that take over the heavy lifting here though. With Monzo for example, you simply pick a payment within the app.

You then have the option to split the bill, and you can then select who you want to split that payment with from your contacts. You can split it equally or into varying amounts. 

That contact is then sent a request to pay their portion, and you’re notified when it happens.

It’s a similar process with Starling Bank, where you select how many portions you want a bill to be split into, and then send out the requests to your contacts.

They can then pay through a secure web page or through the Starling Bank app itself if they are also a customer.

Available from: Some app-based banks

Pay your friends nearby

There might be times when you don’t even want to do something as formal as split a bill, and simply pay one of your friends who you are with.

Perhaps they’ve bought an extra round at the pub, or you owe them for a payment they didn’t make with their main bank account. 

You don’t need to head to the cashpoint though, as a bunch of apps make this easy. Starling is again one worth a mention here, with its Nearby Payments facility.

You don’t need the phone number, or even the bank details of the person you’re paying. You simply fire up the app and locate the person you want to pay through Bluetooth. 

Obviously, there is a slight catch here in that you both need to be Starling Bank customers, but if you are then it’s an easy way to pay your friends.

It’s another feature that Monzo also offers, in a clear demonstration of the way that these app-based banks are finding new ways to make managing our finances that little bit easier. 

Available from: some app-based banks