Best bank account for internet banking + general service

Old_Wrinkly

Where's the option for 'none'?

Premier_2

Old_Wrinkly wrote: »

Where's the option for 'none'?

As the OP is actively seeking a bank account with internet banking and advice on which is best, none is not an option.

Cloudane

Old_Wrinkly wrote: »

Where's the option for 'none'?

Keep it under the mattress? Didn't have room for that!

Thanks for the comments all. Most interesting that the co-op (which looked the most promising in some ways) hasn't had a single mention.

TBH I'd still need a very good reason to go with FD - as I said and rb10 re-iterated, it's difficult to justify £10/month just for a decent support line when I only call them maybe once a year. I like the idea of transferring in and out as a loophole (I earn a figure which is neatly placed between the £1000 and £1500 marks) but I think "hassle free" is the way I want to go. Hence looking to leave A&L - I do understand how their online banking works, and that the most up-to-date balance is {available - overdraft} but I think I have a little bit of OCD in me and hate having to wait between 1 and 5 days for it to sort itself out

izools

Cloudane wrote: »

Keep it under the mattress? Didn't have room for that!

Thanks for the comments all. Most interesting that the co-op (which looked the most promising in some ways) hasn't had a single mention.

I banked with the Co-Op briefly and found them to offer a good service.

The local branch was understaffed however and took a long time to get anything done. Never had a single problem with them, online account servicing is simplistic but complete and reliable, and inland call centres.

I personally rate Lloyds TSB very highly.

UK Call centrs open 24/7, never waited to get through, fast snappy reliable online banking, which is fully featured, a great range of accounts, and in my home town at least a superb face to face service with clean looking brances and negligible queues.

I've been with a lot of banks in my time (Including HSBC) and consider LTSB the best out of the bunch. IMHO, of course.

blueberrypie

Cloudane wrote: »

TBH I'd still need a very good reason to go with FD - as I said and rb10 re-iterated, it's difficult to justify £10/month just for a decent support line when I only call them maybe once a year. I like the idea of transferring in and out as a loophole (I earn a figure which is neatly placed between the £1000 and £1500 marks) but I think "hassle free" is the way I want to go.

You can avoid the £10 fee with FD by having certain other products with them, like a savings account. Put £1 in it, leave it there. That's fairly hassle-free ;-)

FD on-line banking...well, it's not pretty, and it's maybe not the most intuitive of systems, but if you can work with A&L's, you can certainly cope with FD's, which is vastly better.

I've never had an account with Co-op, but the relatively low FP limit (£750) would put me off opening one.

Chadsman

I used to have a FD current account but closed it when their interest rates plummeted and opened an account with Nationwide, only for NW to similarly slash their rates.
I found the internet service of both FD and NW to be very good with only a couple of very minor problems on each. I have just opened a Lloyds current account to get the 4% interest rate but it is unlikely I will want to use it as my main current account and move any funds away from that rate.
With Faster Payments 'supposedly' going to be implemented by Nationwide soon I will probably stick with them in the medium term.

stella2009

stephane wrote: »

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

'stephane'

I bank with First Direct and I find them absolutely fantastic.

I have to say though that the internet banking is a total disgrace by today's standard. It looks, feels and operates like it was knocked together in a teenagers bedroom for a college assignment.

That said they will have to update it sooner or later and I am prepared to wait for that to happen. The overall service cannot in mu opinion be matched by any other bank out there at present.

SG_Guy

Love LTSB. Great interest on their current accounts, have consistently had good service over the phone when I needed to call. Faster Payments-ready with excellent sending limits.

first direct is over-rated. Most people don't need to call their banks; instead, online banking is critical and fd's is rather primitive and clumsy. They are one of the biggest culprits in slashing interest rates after the first year of just about any savings product they have. This I find highly hypocritical to the extent that they keep touting that they put customers first. Yeah. Right.

Halifax - surprisingly good. Online banking easy to use and complete. Great Faster Payments, too. Call centres generally good.

FATBALLZ

Co-op online banking looks like it was written in 1997 by a work experience student.

hippey

Lloyds tsb, a real good Internet bank with easy to use sections and almost idiot proof processes.

Contrast that with Nationwide which really is getting left behind. With them you can do a faster payment as long as it's for a bag of sweets, any more and your stuffed!