Good internet banks

pfpf

i already have a Cahoot savings account!! would i be able to open a current account but via a cashback site but have the current and savings accounts linked in the same "online banking" area?

Jays

Another vote for First Direct.

Easy to use website, fantastic and responsive telephone service (UK based).

We've not experienced any problems in the 2 years we have been with them, we have 5 accounts plus an off-set mortgage so it was important we could 'juggle' them easily, which it is!!

inmypocketnottheirs

Personally, I would try and stay away from the big boys, abbey, nationwide, smile, cahoot etc. Hence my recommendation to https://www.npbs.co.uk

Bernie

...now on statement 96! Without a doubt, this bank has provided us with an excellent service for years. Access through the Post Office, particularly when abroad with the military, was a massive boon - including Saturdays.

Smile still provide postage-paid envelopes as an alternative to handing in deposit envelopes over the PO counter.

Actually, we have current accounts with Cahoot, a Nationwide FlexAccount, ICICI and lately IF. Each of these accounts were opened for good reasons and we've never bothered to close them.

Cahoot is used for internet dealings (eBay transactions and suchlike) and never has much cash held over. We happily give out details of this account for taking and making payments - it has a nice interface for just this sort of stuff.

The FlexAccount we use for holidays - no transaction fees as some-one has already mentioned.

IF is where we parked our ISA when their rates were best, now they are used to significantly offset our mortgage. Other deposits make up the whole total offset. We never use the accounts other than to pay off the capital of the mortgage. Each month, as we pay down some capital, we transfer the fresh surplus to ICICI (good interest), just maintaining the offset required to avoid interest. We were originally planning to move all our banking from Smile to IF but in the end decided there was no imperative to do so and it would be nice to keep our day-to-day banking separate from the mortgage/ISAs/offset malarkey.
As we build up sufficient cash in ICICI to "redeem" each of the ISAs, we intend to pay cash into IF and transfer out the ISAs to a more suitable home.

We have a raft of credit cards too - GE Money is tops, £66 cashback this month! Smile Gold and American Express have been relegated to the back of the safe.

Thank you for the guidance MSE.com...

:beer:

anniecave

pfpf wrote:

i already have a Cahoot savings account!! would i be able to open a current account but via a cashback site but have the current and savings accounts linked in the same "online banking" area?

I tried to do this but my application got lost in the system as their system had got confused as I already had a username and password and my application never went through. It might be worth a try though, it might just have been me!

With regard to a cahoot current account, the time taken to clear cheques paid in at a post office was the thing that put me off, it looked like to me that the post offices don't send things off everyday for processing, so the times seemed far too long. maybe I was missing something there?

I like a bank that is a clearing bank. I'd recommend first direct for generally being excellent, or Lloyds TSB for having a good internet banking service, a good rate of interest on current accounts, good existing customer deals (regular savers, credit cards) but I don't like their foreign call centres!

Fill_7

does anybody know if the smile current account needs a minimum deposit each month?

tia

CopperPlate_2

It used to be that you had to have a regular deposit, e.g. wages or pension or BACS transfer in from another source with a min transfer of £1000 a month. That said, I can't see anything on their site about this now, so they may have got rid of these requirements.

http://www.smile.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?cid=971088186700&pagename=Smile%2FPage%2FsmView&c=Page

HTH

kitster_2

i've tried a few but smile is way ahead of the others for ease of service imo.

squashy

inmypocketnottheirs wrote:

Personally, I would try and stay away from the big boys, abbey, nationwide, smile, cahoot etc. Hence my recommendation to https://www.npbs.co.uk

Sorry to be ignorant but can I ask why? Cheers.