Smile - Are they any good?

hansi

I agree with you that Smile are good but I have had problems recently in logging on to their site with "This page is not available" being displayed.

JollyNolly

kittie wrote:

jollynolly you can download statements. Logon to your current account and it says `previous statements` at the top.

I know you can view your current statement online - but that's a pretty basic requirement for online banking. What I meant was that you can't download your transactions as a file, the way you can with other banks. For example, with my LTSB accounts I can download a file which I can load into Excel and use for tracking my spending. People who use MS Money can download files to load into it for the same reason. I just find the smile online software a bit basic, which is a pitty as it's really a good account, and I like the smile/Co-op ethical way of doing things.

frivolous_fay

Hello, here's my two penn'orth.

Have been with smile for several years and I'd recommend them. My boyfriend and I now have a joint account.

Good things:
- 24/7 UK phone support (although you don't really need it as the private message service is very efficient... but it's good for those middle of the night panics)
- Phone support is also excellent - very knowledgeable, helpful and polite
- You can use the post office for a lot of your banking. You can also pay in crossed postal orders over the counter direct into your account at the PO just using your card
- I've found them to be very obliging and understanding with urgent problems... for example I set up a transfer to a savings account and then realised that the funds wouldn't be in place in time - I asked for a temporary £1500 overdraft facility and it was actioned that day.
- The 'smile more' account has a lot of benefits; I think it's worth the £10 a month for the pretty comprehensive travel insurance alone.
- I think the ethical policy is a big plus

Bad things:
- Slow processing time for cheques paid in at the PO. I get around this by paying in over the counter at my local Cooperative branch at the weekend.
- 0870 number for customer support - but you can find the cheap alternative on Say No to 0870

Please PM me if anyone needs any more information

frivolous_fay

hansi wrote:

I agree with you that Smile are good but I have had problems recently in logging on to their site with "This page is not available" being displayed.

I had that problem for a while - it turned out that our Netgear router had taken a disliking to the website for no reason, and blocked it. Resetting the router sorted the problem.

Just a thought.

CopperPlate_2

The one thing I hate about their site is that when you amend SO's the change doesn't take effect automatically. You have to wait until the next day (or sometimes longer) for someone at the other end to make the changes and then send you a secure message to tell you its done. I find it a bit inconvenient as I've had SO's not changed at all and the old amount paid, and I had updated it, but obviously it got lost somewhere at the other end. Not a major catastrophe, but a bit annoying nonetheless. Nationwide and FD seem to change the details immediately you amend them, which is really helpful. Other than that, no problems with smile, although from their previous track record, I'll be interested to see if they increase any of their interest rates now that rates have gone up. I'd say 0.15% onto the savings and ISA accounts, and no increase to the current account?

[Deleted User]

I received my egg money card today and that gives me cashback of 1% so from today I will be using egg for purchases. Smile will be my main bank ie salary, direct debits etc but I will now transfer any cash for general monthly spending to my egg money card. I will be getting interest of 4% on credit balances with egg.

I also found nationwide and have started putting money into their e saver at 4.55%

I have used smile for current account, savings and cc for the twenty years but they are no longer the best for my own personal money management. The last e mails were the ones that made me decide to look around

EagerLearner

Kittie - I do the same and transfer £350 to Egg Money each month for spending and this averages £2.50 a month cashback and £0.80 interest I think. However, any savings from my First Direct account go to ICICI which I'd recommend - they pay more than Nationwide so you'd earn 5.03% instead...

CopperPlate_2

Was hoping to be able to transfer my Gold visa account to their Classic visa account and get the cashback. Was told that they couldn't do this and I'd have to re-apply for the classic card. Then was told by a different person that they would just transfer my balance and credit limit across and I didn't have to re-apply. Wish they'd make up their mind. Now have a John Lewis card instead giving me exactly the same deal as smile, but the vouchers come every four months instead of monthly rebating. Pity they didn't get their finger out sooner or I'd have probably stayed and taken the classic card.

Am on the move from smile for my main current account - I've been disappointed with their interest rates recently, and the sleight of hand when it came to the ISA last year when they reduced the rate even though the BoE had been static for months. Not that there's much in it between all the competition, but better in my pocket than the banks.

gallygirl

I LOVE Smile. I know others pay slightly higher interest rates, but in all honesty if you're running a current account efficiently you shouldn't have spare cash in there anyway.

I had to phone last week as I needed to extend my overdraft temporarily (forgot to transfer money from savings account to pay mortgage ), whole phone call took less than 3 minutes, great!

As for not being able to download file - didn't know you could do this elsewhere..... interests the geek in me, but have my lovely coloured spreadsheets to fall back on.