who to bank with?

jonesMUFCforever

OP if you have had good service from RBS why change at all?
Sometimes it is better the devil you know.

If you want to know about other banks why not just open a separate account with one and see how things pan out?

Ellierose1

Read about Isa rates at santander. 123 looks to good to be true and looking in guardian if you have 123 account you can transfer 2 other isa account elsewhere and put £5640 for this tax year. I have read about santander customer service but must comment on the reduction of negative reviews compared to 2011 when I thought about and santander premier account.

innovate

123 is what it says on the tin and operates fine. Look for the 123 threads.

chili1496

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

OP if you have had good service from RBS why change at all?
Sometimes it is better the devil you know.

If you want to know about other banks why not just open a separate account with one and see how things pan out?

i totally agree with you, however it maybe a late life crisis, the branch just seems to get on my nerves and irritate me i may just open an account with nationwide and throw some money in there for a rainy day.

Montmorencymon

If you like the idea of an ethical building society (rather than a bank), then I'd give the Coventry my vote, but it might only be of use to you if you have a branch somewhere near you. I don't think they have as many branches as, say, Nationwide.

My only slight negative comment on them is that their online banking system is a little "clunkier" than some others, but it's usable.

As a family, we actually have accounts with Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, and the Coventry, and of the online systems, I'd say LTSB is the best, Nationwide's seems much improved since a few years ago (I used to find it slow and clunky), and Coventry comes in 3rd of those 3, which is not saying it is actually bad.

At one time, it did not seem to be able to originate Faster Payments (although it could receive them), although I think this may have changed now. Also, you had to phone up to make a new payments "arrangement". Perhaps that is not necessarily a bad thing though.


I'd say have a look online at their offerings, and see if they seem OK for your requirements. From my p.o.v. they've always been very fair and OK to deal with, and to me, feel more like a proper bulding society than Nationwide, who (it seems to me) would nowadays prefer to be a bank really (ironic in view of their one time anti-bank advertising).

Figgerty

First Direct is terrific for telephone banking. I moved to them about 15 years ago and have never looked back. You phone them day or night and a person answers you after a few rings. This same person deals with your request and you do not have to press 1 for this and 2 for that, then hear how important your call is to them. The people dealing with you are all friendly individuals and make me feel that I am important to them.

I tried internet banking with Barclays before I moved to First Direct and was not impressed. I was trying to pay off several credit cards at the time and wanted to pay extra payments on each card each month in addition to the minimum amount. I would enter the additional payment on line but the previous amount would still show until the payment was processed. Things may have changed since then but to be honest I love banking with First Direct and would not change if their CS remains as it is.

Best of all you can have an annual regular saver account where you can save up to £300 per month at [STRIKE]8% interest[/STRIKE] now 6% interest .

PS. I don't think they (FD) have invested much in Internet Banking because their Telephone Banking is so good. Barclays probably had no choice as they had terrible customer service when I left them to go to First Direct. Barclays had just started a system where you had to make an appointment to see a Personal Banker and because I wanted to set up several standing orders to pay off varied amounts on my credit cards, this system did not suit me. That was when I tried their internet banking and I found that inflexible for my purposes.

dtaylor84

I think you mean (for new accounts) ...6% interest....

Figgerty

persa wrote: »

This interests me. I've been recommended First Direct, but good online banking is key for me. I'm leaving HSBC because I hate their version. Nationwide is IMHO easy to use and has great functionality. Santander is easy to use, but doesn't do nearly as much.

Anyone else have any comments on the internet banking of a particular bank or building society?

dtaylor84 wrote: »

I think you mean (for new accounts) ...6% interest....

I renewed my regular saver in November (I think) and it was 8% then and the previous year. It may well be 6% now but that is very good considering the interest you get with other institutions.

mumbles87

First direct have OUTSTANDING customer service. I used to bank with them. However the reason why its Used to and not currently do. Is the online banking. yes they now have an app which is ok but the small thing i didnt like was there is no way of deleting past payees!! I know this sounds stupid but if im transfering money between accounts to myself (my name is Paul) and I accidently hit Paul d who was this guy I bought concert tickets off at work.. Id transfer to him! i know I should carefully select blah blah but I dont like to even have the risk.

Anyways I currently have 3 banks (2 banks 1 building s) that I use. (Nationwide. Halifax. Barclays)

Nationwide I have had since I was like 10 and im now mid 20s. No reason to leave them. Good simple online service that works well. uses the little PIN Sentry system. Easy to use. I have kept this account on going litterally as a golf expenses account so that I can set myself a limit each month and anything golf related (membership. weekends. Society days) are taken care of there. Got a little App now aswell which is great. Carry cash on me. Say when im on the course I treat myself to lunch afters I simple log onto the app and move the money spent on lunch over to the credit card to cover the cost. App is simple it saves your detials and you just enter your online log on number (the digets it wants) and your done. (call centres have been good when I used to use them) overall rating. (7/10)

Halifax. Now this is where I get paid. However as I am lucky (and unlucky in a way) to be paid 4 weekly not monthly) this is where my wages go and all my direct debits etc come out of. But this isnt where I get my money to live off. To make sure I dont overspend or bounce a payment the money is transfered out automatically on the 1st of every month to barclays. Meaning I get 12 pay days a year like a normal person however at christmas I get a whole pay packet to spend with and my car insurance is due in jan so this proves very useful. Anyways I cant fault their online service at all. Works well. Can easily set up new direct debits and edit my budget within minutes. doesnt use PIN Sentry or simular. Just calls your phone and checks through things. Good system. The call centres are ok. Nothing special but not bad. The app for the phone is good. Does almost the same as the online service and simple to use. Log on process for the app is more fiddly (like that as its my main bank! stops people getting on easy) you have your cust numebr saved you enter password then next screen you do your mem word. Overall rating (7/10)

Now Barclays. they use the PIN Sentry system (btw I have found barclay cards and nationwide cards work in either nationwide or barclay card readers! small tip if you have both there..) It has the Best online service and Best app of the 3 banks. Ironically the worst customer service centres. So ill start with the bad. Call centre is rubbish. However as its the least important thing with living account Im not fussed at all. Onto the good and the great. Good is the online banking. It is simple to use. Best feature is you dont have to remember your customer number. You can use your debit card number to log on! so easy to just enter that. Best banking layout and most control for the user. Now onto the best of the lot. The app. Its amazing. simple. Saves your details. You just enter a 5 digit code (that you set up) to log in. Then your in. shows all your accounts (unless you hide them. including barclaycard) then you can do all the normal features like transfer etc. However here is the clever bit. If your banking online you can use the app as mobile PIN Sentry! brilliant! Overall rating (9/10) would be 10 but for the customer service centres.