Best bank account for internet banking + general service

Cloudane

Hi

I realise it's not exactly "moneysaving" as I'm not after the best interest deal. Been there done that - went with A&L, enjoyed the year of 8.5% they were doing at the time (it's funny, even 0.85% is unthinkable now!) but I've always hated their internet banking system which is never up to date and the last transaction balance always disagrees with the current balance which always disagrees with (available balance - overdraft). I like to keep on top of things and it just makes it more awkward. Sometimes the "best deal" isn't, if you value your time and hair.

One thing I've been considering is going back to HSBC as they have a good online system (in comparison anyway!), I've been with them for the longest and never had a problem really. But.. meh... overseas call centre on the occasion that you do need to call them is a bit of an offput. They're one of the better ones, but it's still not ideal.

Considered First Direct but I'm not rich enough.. I'd have to pay £10/month, and I don't bank heavily enough to be able to justify £120/year for it really. It's a simple account for little ol' me to run a couple of direct debits and a card. I do want half decent customer service, as the once every year or two I might have to phone them, I still don't want to be wasting my time queueing for someone who knows less about their systems than I do. But based on how often I need to call them, I find it hard to justify basically paying £120-240 for a call.

Heard good things about Smile and the Co-operative (same company)... now I'm not normally a macho kind of person but the Smile site is a bit.... pink

So I'm leaning towards the Co-op, as "Which" gives them a very good customer service rating for internet and telephone banking and their everday current account is no-fee. Basically it seems to be the same as Smile but their image is a lot more professional than silly smiley faces and crazy colours.

Whichever I go for should have an internet banking system that stays up-to-date, same day where possible (HSBC did this, especially for Faster Payments), should have Faster Payments, and be reasonable to deal with when something goes wrong.

Not bothered about overdraft (I prefer to keep a positive buffer) or loan deals (if I need a loan, I'll come here and find the best deal long before considering the bank).

Any opinions? TIA

Lokolo

I like HSBC. But I agree, overseas call centres suuuuuck.

I actually got a nice american lass in the middle of the night. I would assume it depends when you call determines what sort of language you'd need to speak.

rb10

If you pay in £1000 per month, then go for the Halifax Reward account. They will pay you £5 per month, after tax. And that's ongoing, not just a short-term bonus (although you may be able to get a cash bonus on top of this if you apply in a branch).

All the call centres are in the UK, and you can get them to call you for free (here).

Internet banking is one of the best, always up-to-date, and very easy to use. They currently restrict Faster Payments to (generally) £2500, but this is likely to increase (in comparison, HSBC allow up to £5000).

stephane_2

Moved to First Direct over a year ago, excellent customer service, UK call centre, No fees if you pay at least £1500 per months, first £250 of overdraft is interest free & got £100 for moving my banking and was given their Gold Credit Card after only 6 months with them. I am so far very, very happy with them.

rb10

stephane wrote: »

Moved to First Direct over a year ago, excellent customer service, UK call centre, No fees if you pay at least £1500 per months, first £250 of overdraft is interest free & got £100 for moving my banking and was given their Gold Credit Card after only 6 months with them. I am so far very, very happy with them.

See the original post ...

Cloudane wrote: »

Considered First Direct but I'm not rich enough.. I'd have to pay £10/month, and I don't bank heavily enough to be able to justify £120/year for it really.

(Unless you are advocating transferring money to another account and back again each month to make it up to £1500 ... but as the penalty for missing a single month is £10 you'd have to be super organised).

nzseries1

First Direct's internet banking is truly awful. If you want a good internet banking, don't go there.

I would choose the Halifax account for the £5 each month.

dzug1

TBH I've never had a problem with the A&L on line system - IF you understand how it works and know what transactions are coming up you should never get caught out because something isn't showing yet. But if you just want to glance at and assume that WYSIWYG - then no. But that can be the same (in different ways) with other banks as well.

And logging on is a cinch compared to some.

They have a bad customer service image - but then I contact customer service so rarely I don't really care. I've had reason to call once in the past year (or more, probably - can't remember the time before that), the call was answered quickly and the problem (a duplicate authorisation resulting in an available balance of minus several thousand ....) sorted out overnight.

Unless Santander muck them up bigtime I'm probably staying. Free travel insurance (depends on account) helps.

My impression of HSBC (from being a Treasurer for club accounts) is good - but I've never used their internet banking.

You might as well go for whatever one has the highest interest rate.

stephane_2

nzseries1 wrote: »

First Direct's internet banking is truly awful. If you want a good internet banking, don't go there.

I would choose the Halifax account for the £5 each month.

Rubbish...you just don't know what you're talking about...give fact instead of a statement which does not mean anything...

rb10

stephane wrote: »

Rubbish...you just don't know what you're talking about...give fact instead of a statement which does not mean anything...

Have a search around this site, and you will find that many people share NZSeries' view. A lot of people have posted to say that the telephone service is excellent, but online could do with improvement.

Personally, I would not pay £10 per month just to get a decent telephone helpline (I rarely phone my bank), and would far prefer for my bank to pay me £5.

Premier_2

I have internet banking with both HSBC & Lloyds, and in comparsion Lloyds seems far superior.

The LLoyds internet banking appears fully automated and everything happens real time.

e.g. With Lloyds, if you revise a current standing order, it appears revised as soon as you authorise it. With HSBC, it is not real time as the original SO remains in place. Only later (perhaps the next day) does the revision display. Not sure if this is because it needs some manual intervention at HSBC end? This can cause all sorts of confusion if you try and revise it twice in the same day.

With HSBC, they have a bill payment service which allows customers to set up one off payments, up to a year in advance if required.
However, once set up, you can't see the pending transactions or amend them. The only thing you can do appears to be to completely cancel the recipient which will hopefully also cancel any future payments ... but we'll see if that's true if you then set up the recipient again.

Edit: I can now confirm that if you cancel the payee of a Bill Payment on HSBC online banking, any existing future payment to that payee is cancelled. You can then immediately set up the payee again and plan any future payments you want.
Seems rather primitave, but that just about sums up HSBC online banking.

nzseries1

stephane wrote: »

you just don't know what you're talking about...

I know exactly what I'm talking about.

The amount of times I saw the message "We are unable to process your transaction at present" was mind-blowing.

Having to change your address or other details required me to print out a form and post it.

Things such as standing orders were filled in using free-format text fields, and then done manually behind the scenes at a later time by the FD staff. What is this, 1997?

Are you happy now, stephane?

Perhaps things have changed since I was a customer, but since I took the £200 opening and closing bonuses off First Direct and ran, I won't be welcome back to find out