Which bank has the best online banking services?

HappySaver1968

Hi, the reason for my asking is this: my bank, "Bank of Scotland" doesn't seem to update my available balance on line as/when I make a purchase or use my card and because of that, there have been times when I've ran dangerously low on funds in my account! does anybody else have this problem? it can take a few days for transactions to show on my account whereas I expected everything to be in real-time which would probably be a whole lot easier. Can I also ask why my account has an available balance of say 457.64 and an overdraft balance of 556.64 (my overdraft is £100) and why has there been a pound missing from my account for the last 7 days? it's like it hasn't updated or something since I made a purchase online.

John.

Mupette

I'm with natwest (not sure for much longer tho)

if i buy anything today (example) it will show up as outgoing just not where for a few days..

i think mine is instant..

i've had my dad put money from his bank to mine which can take upto 2 hours, turn up within a few mins (he is not natwest)

same with ds differnet bank but instant transfer

property.advert

The £1 is a pre authorisation (Amazon do this) which falls off after X days, perhaps a week.

Nationwide shows two figures. The first figure is a statement balance at start of business today, after processing everything from last night and the second figure is a live available balance for all items including the pizza you ordered 2 minutes ago.

steve1980

Santander take approximately 3 working days to show ANYTHING outgoing.

Gromitt

Your not going to get instant from any bank as some transactions are not pushed through until a few days after you have paid for them. They could wait a month before taking payment if they wanted to.

So you need to stop thinking about what you bank says you have and install some financial package onto your PC.

King_Weasel

To answer the question, I would recommend First Direct. They started with phone banking and are very helpful with any problems you may have on-line. You can normally get through immediately, too. There's a charge for people too stupid or too lazy to meet their simple criteria for avoiding it. You should get a reward for transferring. No interest paid but you can run a permanent £250 o/d without charge. But I'm not sure how fussy they are now over accepting new customers.

Although I keep my own spreadsheet you don't really need one eg cheques paid in appear straight away, before they have cleared. You certainly don't need a £ package.

System

IMO
RBS Group

Scottish branch if RBS or English branch if NatWest

Never had any problems with their online banking.

But, as others have already mentioned, a transaction only appears on your account when the retailer asks for the money.

R34GTT

I have used a number of different online accounts and rank them in terms of ease of use / function / layout:

1. Halifax / Bank of Scotland / Lloyds
2. First Direct
3. HSBC (if not for annoying secure key they would be 2.)
4. Natwest
5. Co-Op

OP, you are already with my personal favourite for online banking so maybe someone else can recommend others? Sometimes it's personal preference though. Either way which ever you go with, no transactions will appear immediately but available balance should decrease straight away.

Hydromancer

It's a matter of personal preference but I'd rate them so:

1. HSBC/First Direct. I don't really mind the HSBC secure key...far better than the card readers some others use. Excellent website and I find their layout the most intuitive and straightforward with everything very easy to access. You can do lots of things online from requesting/amending overdrafts to requesting your PIN. I also like how you can send them a secure message to deal with fairly straightforward queries, e.g. order extra statements etc.
2. Natwest. In my experience, the quickest to update. Generally well laid out but you need to search around for some options.
3. Lloyds/Halifax. Interface feels a bit cluttered and not a fan of how they verify details when you set up a new payee but you can do most things online
4. Santander. You can do a lot of things online and the interface is pretty ok even though you need to search around for some things. I find their log in routine to be tedious and payments take relatively longer to show up.
5. Barclays. PINsentry is annoying. You have to search around for practically everything. It is not very intuitive to use in my opinion and feels really cluttered.
6. Co-op Bank. Very basic feel and too minimalistic. Doesn't "feel" as secure as rivals as I've made transfers of several hundred pounds but never been asked to go through the card reader routine. I am uncomfortable of the fact that the person you talk to when setting up the online banking knows some very personal details and could easily log into your account if they wanted to.

pmduk

Gromitt wrote: »

So you need to stop thinking about what you bank says you have and install some financial package onto your PC.

Actually, the old way is still the easiest, pen and paper,

JacksterD

HappySaver1968 wrote: »

Hi, the reason for my asking is this: my bank, "Bank of Scotland" doesn't seem to update my available balance on line as/when I make a purchase or use my card and because of that, there have been times when I've ran dangerously low on funds in my account! does anybody else have this problem? it can take a few days for transactions to show on my account whereas I expected everything to be in real-time which would probably be a whole lot easier. Can I also ask why my account has an available balance of say 457.64 and an overdraft balance of 556.64 (my overdraft is £100) and why has there been a pound missing from my account for the last 7 days? it's like it hasn't updated or something since I made a purchase online.

John.

I find RBS and Natwest have an excellent online banking system - although I'm surprised to hear that Bank of Scotland don't update their available balance straight away - it did on the old system when I was with them. No banks post transactions on your online transaction list immediately (although RBS's Revolve youth account does post all pending transactions immediately which was nice).

A nice thing about RBS and Natwest is they have an excellent iPhone app, and apparently they have an Android and Blackberry app available too.