Best online banking interfaces?

edbyford

Hi all,

I've got two accounts, one with Nationwide and one with Lloyds TSB and find both of them easy to use, with lots of features (especially Lloyds TSB's Money Manager - Nationwide is due to upgrade its interface with similar features soon). As I hardly ever go into the bank this is a very important feature for me when choosing a bank account.

However there is usually no option to test drive online banking accounts, or even see screenshots. When I saw my girlfriend using her Barclays online banking I was shocked how unclear and clunky it was!

This got me thinking - are you satisfied with your online banking interface? If so, why? Maybe your advice can help my girlfriend when I persuade her to change bank account!

Hank_Marvin

Halifax and Nat West are both very good looking and easy on the eye. They would get my vote.

Gromitt

My FD account seems clear and the point, at least for me. Nationwide isn't far behind, apart from their insistance to have online statements in the same format as printed ones (ie, the newest transactions are at the bottom). People obviously get confused as they have to include an arrow pointing at the bottom that says "Top".

(Yes, an arrow AT THE BOTTOM that says "Top")

Barclays gives me adverts as soon as I login and then plasters my account page with text such as "Upgrade! >>" and "You can upgrade this account!". Horrible.

jen245

Another vote for Natwest, excellent online banking. Halifax will be good once all the glitches from the Lloyds transfer are sorted

samwsmith1

I would say First Direct or HSBC, they both have a good feel and a wealth of features that I haven't come across in any other platform (and I have used just about all of the main high street bank ones).

rb10

Personally I dislike onlinw banking with Natwest and Barclays - both are somewhat clunky, and focus too heavily on advertising for my liking.

Halifax, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide and (slightly less so) Santander are all good.

anjak-j

Halifax's online banking is great once you're signed in - aside from the loading issues there seem to be right now with the recent transfer. Everything is pretty clear and easy to find.

My one big complaint with Halifax's interface is the sign in with the memorable information. Drop-downs are not particularly accessibility friendly - I find them quite tricky on days my hands are sore and shake a lot - and the placement of the 'continue' button on the far right is counter-intuitive. I much prefer the systems I've seen on other sites where the memorable information characters are typed into input boxes instead.

baby_frogmella

Personally i find N&P's IB the best. Very user friendly, clear and best of all, no ads

http://ibdemo.nandp.co.uk/

My ratings:

1) N&P
2) Nationwide
3) HSBC
4) Halifax
5) First Firect

System

I've used online banking with : RBS, NatWest, Santander (A&L), Sainsbury's Bank and Standard Life (Barclays) and have found them all fairly good.

My order of preference would be mainly due to the most often used since that is what I am most familiar with ....

1) RBS
2) NatWest (Same interface style as RBS)
3) Standard Life
4) Santander (A&L)
5) Sainsbury's

Several years ago, many of the bank's offered an online interactive demo, but it seems they have stopped doing interactive demos and just show a few screen shots instead.

callum9999

Gromitt wrote: »

My FD account seems clear and the point, at least for me. Nationwide isn't far behind, apart from their insistance to have online statements in the same format as printed ones (ie, the newest transactions are at the bottom). People obviously get confused as they have to include an arrow pointing at the bottom that says "Top".

(Yes, an arrow AT THE BOTTOM that says "Top")

Barclays gives me adverts as soon as I login and then plasters my account page with text such as "Upgrade! >>" and "You can upgrade this account!". Horrible.

Lot's of sites have "top" buttons on the bottom, in fact this very page does. It's not telling you where the top is, it's just a shortcut to get back to the top of the page.

anjak-j wrote: »

Halifax's online banking is great once you're signed in - aside from the loading issues there seem to be right now with the recent transfer. Everything is pretty clear and easy to find.

My one big complaint with Halifax's interface is the sign in with the memorable information. Drop-downs are not particularly accessibility friendly - I find them quite tricky on days my hands are sore and shake a lot - and the placement of the 'continue' button on the far right is counter-intuitive. I much prefer the systems I've seen on other sites where the memorable information characters are typed into input boxes instead.

I don't use the drop downs, I navigate through the whole page using the "tab" button, and when a drop down is highlighted you can just press the keyboard button and it will be selected.

I imagine they use drop downs to protect against key loggers.

skid112

I have Halifax and Nationwide as the best I use,
Saffron Building Soc the worst as that resizes your page which is exceedingly annoying or maybe thats just me!