New Current Account - which is best??

PROLIANT

Halifax Bank of Scotland

SparciaM

I banked with FD and had nothing but trouble with them. I think they're a love/hate bank. The best thing is speaking to someone straight away without pressing buttons and their mostly mediocre Internet banking, but when they get it wrong or mess up they do it to the best degree ever.
I switched to Lloyds and have had no problems at all. Account was opened up within 3 days of going in. Card and PIN arrived in 3 days (took FD 4months!) and DDs/SOs switched in 1 week, FD quoted me 54 days. If u get a Plus account u also get 3.5% interest on credit balances.

System

I recommend Cahoot - part of Santander. I have banked with a great many banks, including all those listed in this thread so far, and I find Cahoot's service exemplary. You get a good overdraft rate of 9.8% (1st £100 free of interest) and 3.75% on in-credit balances.

A good example of their service - one Friday evening I was checking my finances and discovered a six-monthly direct debit had gone through my account which would have meant I would go over my overdraft limit within a couple of days. I sent Cahoot a message, and within the hour they had replied, suggesting that they increase my overdraft to allow for the unexpected direct debit. That's what I call service!

To be fair there are people on this forum who have not had a good experience with Cahoot - they used to have two loan products, variable and fixed rate. Some customers took at a loan at the variable rate and some time later Cahoot increased the interest rate dramatically. I took out the fixed-rate loan and am still paying 5.8%

You might be interested to know that Cahoot won the Which? 'current account of the year 2008'

Cahoot is fairly 'no-frills' - if you want loans or a credit card they now direct you to Abbey, their parent bank. Those of us who already had credit cards with them still have that facility at a very competitive rate of interest.

missgiggles2008

Scgf very interesting...

I have my credit card already with Egg, and use Nationwide as my second kind of bank account, and good when withdrawing money abroad...

one question I have got is, Cahoot is obviously not a high street kind of bank that you can physically actually go into, do you think this matters?

LittleMissRolo

apt wrote: »

I'm not that keen on Martin's current account article because it ignores customer service and emphasises what will make customers the most amount of money in the short-term. While it is certainly possible to change your current account every year there are many practical disadvantages to this and most people would be well-advised to have at least one current account which they are happy with and keep over the longer term. Which one this is will be depend on circumstances. Some particularly value the service at First Direct or Smile. If you use a lot of foreign currency transactions Nationwide is a good choice, for credit interest Halifax has been better than Alliance and Leicester over the long term etc. etc.

If its good custoemr service you're after steer clear of NatWest and go for Halifax. After NatWest gave me horrific customer service i went straight to the Halifax, opened a current account with them and i also have my ISA with them.

Customer service is second to none, they have all the time in the world for you and don't pester you to have add on or switch to different products. They take no as no unlike other banks that will ignore you and continue to mither

PROLIANT

LittleMissRolo wrote: »

If its good custoemr service you're after steer clear of NatWest and go for Halifax. After NatWest gave me horrific customer service i went straight to the Halifax, opened a current account with them and i also have my ISA with them.

Customer service is second to none, they have all the time in the world for you and don't pester you to have add on or switch to different products. They take no as no unlike other banks that will ignore you and continue to mither

I will second that!

storminbalder

apt wrote: »

I'm not that keen on Martin's current account article because it ignores customer service and emphasises what will make customers the most amount of money in the short-term. While it is certainly possible to change your current account every year there are many practical disadvantages to this and most people would be well-advised to have at least one current account which they are happy with and keep over the longer term. Which one this is will be depend on circumstances. Some particularly value the service at First Direct or Smile. If you use a lot of foreign currency transactions Nationwide is a good choice, for credit interest Halifax has been better than Alliance and Leicester over the long term etc. etc.

I would agree wholeheartedly. Banking is one of those things where service and reliability are paramount.

I always recommend Yorkshire/Clydesdale as I like there old fashioned branch based style. Great website/telephone service too.

Also worth noting is that National Austrailia Bank (the parent bank) is the bank least affected by the "credit crunch".

System

missgiggles2008 wrote: »

Scgf very interesting...

I have my credit card already with Egg, and use Nationwide as my second kind of bank account, and good when withdrawing money abroad...

one question I have got is, Cahoot is obviously not a high street kind of bank that you can physically actually go into, do you think this matters?

Not a problem. Cahoot supply you with post-paid envelopes so that you can send them cheques to deposit and cash can be paid in at the post office. The Cahoot debit card is a Link card so can be used to withdraw cash practically anywhere.

System

I forgot to mention one really cool feature of Cahoot - the Webcard.

You download a small app from Cahoot which opens a virtual debit card on your computer. You tell it how much the transaction is, and it creates a unique card number valid for one month for a maximum of the amount you entered. The number will simply expire if you don't use it.

The card number can be used for any transaction but can be used only once and for no more than the amount you specified. If anyone gets hold of the number subsequently it is useless to them.

The other advantage is that it will stop a retailer debiting you twice or more money than you have agreed.

I have never understood why Cahoot is the only UK bank using such a wonderful feature - in these days of credit card fraud it seems to provide an ideal solution.

missgiggles2008

Wow that sounds good!

I'm really confused though now, a few sound really good!