Best Internet Bank?

Rich1976

SparciaM wrote: »

Have you received any secure messages from them?

I always use secure messages to do things, simple and complex things and in the last month I've never received a reply to setting up a new s/o or closing an e-savings account.

Either they are really getting bad at replying to their messages or something really odd is happening at FD Headquarters.

When you send the secure message do you tick the box to confirm how you want the message replying to eg by text, phonecall, secure message?

I have sent FD a few messages since I have been with them and aprt from once which was also to do with cancelling a SO they have always responded within 48 hours maximum.

I agree with all the posts, FD is by far and away the best bank in terms of service and for the internet.

rb10

7sefton wrote: »

All things considered, I think Halifax and Nationwide have the best internet banking systems. Both are easy to use and pleasant to work with. You can switch off paper statements on both if you do not need/want extra post through your letter box, and of course can always drop into a branch/speak to someone on the phone should you wish to.

They differ in one crucial area. Nationwide has the facility to send 'secure messages' to the bank to operate your account; Halifax do not. HOWEVER, Nationwide uses a card reader device for a lot of transactions which may cause you inconvenience.

I think that there are more differences between them, that affect the way I use it...

With Halifax, you can choose to just get statements electronically, or to get ALL mail electronically. Nationwide will only do statements.

Nationwide's statements are pdfs that are downloaded to your computer. I expect that some people will end up unknowingly having these in their downloaded files, hidden away on their computer, but there for anyone to see.

Although Halifax don't have a secure message facility, they will call you back, instantly, for free, which I personally prefer, as you get an instant answer, and there's less chance of misunderstanding. The only thing is that you don't get anything in writing.

Altarf

Never seen the point with the secure message facility with FD. The vast majority of things can be done online, setting up, changing, cancelling standing orders, cancelling DDs, setting up, amending and making payments. So it has to be pretty specialist to not be able to do it online, and in that case I probably would prefer an answer now. So either I can message them and get an answer within 48 hours, or I can phone them and have the whole thing done inside a couple of minutes.

I can see the point in secure messaging with all the other banks where you could die waiting for them to answer the phone, but with FD for me it is superfluous.

noh

rb10 wrote: »

I think that there are more differences between them, that affect the way I use it...

With Halifax, you can choose to just get statements electronically, or to get ALL mail electronically. Nationwide will only do statements.

Nationwide's statements are pdfs that are downloaded to your computer. I expect that some people will end up unknowingly having these in their downloaded files, hidden away on their computer, but there for anyone to see.

Although Halifax don't have a secure message facility, they will call you back, instantly, for free, which I personally prefer, as you get an instant answer, and there's less chance of misunderstanding. The only thing is that you don't get anything in writing.

I use both Halifax and Nationwide.
I prefer the Nationwide electronic copy statements for the very reason that they are .pdf and can be copied to and stored on my hard drive.
The other reason I prefer Nationwide is because they archive six years of statements. Halifax statements are erased from the archive after two years.

But none of them are perfect. I use Nationwide, Halifax. First Direct, Nat West, Barclays, Lloyds and Alliance + Leicester all work some have individual features that are better than others.

rb10

noh wrote: »

I use both Halifax and Nationwide.
I prefer the Nationwide electronic copy statements for the very reason that they are .pdf and can be copied to and stored on my hard drive.

The Halifax ones can also be easily saved as .pdf on your hard drive. Download something like Cute PDF (freeware), and this will save it as a .pdf. The formatting of the Halifax statements comes out perfectly with this.

The other reason I prefer Nationwide is because they archive six years of statements. Halifax statements are erased from the archive after two years.

Agree 100%. You wouldn't have thought it would be too difficult to keep them a little longer. But if you save them as pdfs, then there's no problem.

Bernie

97trophy wrote: »

Bernie, what do you like so much about Smile?

Cheers

Ex-military, Smile gave us constant access wherever I lay my head via the Post Office even on a Saturday (you even have a BFPO in the desert to access your cash), in and out of the country, living abroad, Smile gave my family and I a constant source, immediately available. They were ahead of the field.

Now our Smile account just chugs on doing banking things without a fuss. The internal message system and self-service customer service are now the norm and they've paid me interest throughout the years while doing our banking admin for nowt. Smile never bother us with sales pitches either.

Other banks may now match or surpass Smile's service indeed a change of Visa Card to one that paid cashback from another that didn't was painful in the extreme and took untold weeks to complete - but Smile have been consistently good over the years providing good solid service.....

Mizer

Does anyone know a bank that has full bugeting facility online or that has compatabilty with a good family bugeting software package.

I am with LlyodsTSB we can download but not into MS office spreadsheet format.
if I copy paste to spreadsheet I have t actually copy (retype) numberxs before I can calculate with them.

just want to run a look ahead [package to plan the years expenses, and see what we got left at anytime

Baldur

Mizer wrote: »

Does anyone know a bank that has full bugeting facility online or that has compatabilty with a good family bugeting software package.

I am with LlyodsTSB we can download but not into MS office spreadsheet format.
if I copy paste to spreadsheet I have t actually copy (retype) numberxs before I can calculate with them.

just want to run a look ahead [package to plan the years expenses, and see what we got left at anytime

You are obviously not selecting the correct download format - Lloyds TSB offers .CSV format which opens directly in the Excel spreadsheet.