MoneySaving Poll: How do you rate your bank account's service?

Former_MSE_Sam_M

Poll started 15 February 2016

How do you rate your bank account's service?

We run this poll on big banks' current accounts every six months to see how the experience changes. We’d love your feedback.

Please vote based on CUSTOMER SERVICE for your main CURRENT account over the last SIX MONTHS. Please ignore rates or any other products, or service from more than six months ago.

Click here to vote in the poll

Did you vote? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below. To see the results from last time, click here.

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Thanks!

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Li0nhead

Just switched in the last two weeks from my 0% interest account i have had since 16 to one paying a decent rate of interest so voted on my previous banks service.
They did nothing wrong just better was available elsewhere.

As for switching under the new guarantee scheme it was simple.
Unhappy with your bank then switch.

AndyBSG

Think i've tried most of thebig banks out there in the last 20 years.

Nat West were particularly poor with lousy service, outdated systems and excessive charges. Barclays were good but just too expensive.

Co-op were OK but getting progressively worse when I finally left them.

Halifax and Lloyds were OK. No real complaints or praise.

Have now been with Nationwide for 4 years and they are just so much better than anyone else i've dealt with

Broadwood

We've been with Barclays since before we got married (37 years) mainly because they still have a local branch and there hasn't been a good enough reason to change....yet.

I particularly like Barclays online banking. It works well and so far has been very reliable. However their savings rates are very uncompetitive so we are forced to stash spare cash elsewhere.

The recently introduced Barclays Blue Rewards scheme has only postponed our plans to look into changing banks to get some decent credit interest maybe with a Santander 123 account or three.

Better the devil you know, but never say never!

pollypenny

We've been with Nationwide just over a year now, took their credit card a few months ago, too.

Very pleased with them and the Flex Plus Account, which costs us £5 pm net. They've opened a branch in our town, but call centres are in the uk and online banking is easy.

crmism

Barclays is about to close its branch in the market town where I live, claiming that the turnover makes it no longer economic to operate, in spite of the fact that there are some 20 food outlets, ignoring four pubs. There is often a queue in-branch, with two cashiers normally.

We are informed that the nearest branches offering similar services are between 9-10 miles distant, and some customers don't have a car. Public transport is, like most other parts of the country, fragmented at best.

I think I can exchange accumulations of loose coins with local retailers who often need a healthy float, but dealing with cheques is another matter. I believe Barclays employs superior technology at branches in large towns and cities enabling a system which can deal with them electronically by photograph, so why hasn't it rolled this out to the rest of the country?

Martinslovechild

I'm always amazed that First Direct score so highly in polls of this nature.

Their security would fail most internet security company tests.

e.g. if you enter an invalid ID on their online banking portal (which is a popup, by the way - web developers have not implemented popups since around 2005), then the message "Your username is invalid. Please try again" is immediately displayed.

If you enter a valid ID, then you're guided through to the next page - which displays two GENUINE questions.

Try it - ASMITH is invalid, but ASMITH1 is valid and it prompts for 3 characters from ASMITH1's password along with their maiden name.

Proper security implementation dictates that you give NOTHING away, so the page should accept an invalid ID such as 'ASMITH' and then proceed to the next page and offer two random questions. Only after this should a warning message appear saying something like "One or more of the items entered are invalid. Please try again" - up to a maximum of 3 attempts, at which point the user is forced to wait 15 minutes before attempting to login again.

Don't even get me started on First Direct's online banking portal - it's around 10-12 years out of date.

NickCa

I'm glad to see poll gave Nationwide such a good positive percentage. They are so much better than any other provider I've used. Technology, service, knowledge have all been flawless...and their rates are good.

On the other hand, Barclays have been useless with every single issue that we've had. They have no idea about Power of Attorney, Probate, ISAs, Security...the list goes on. Not to mention the call centre, which are almost completely unintelligible and useless. Want to open an ISA? You need an appointment...on a Saturday? That'll be 4 weeks. Want to do various things online or on the phone? Can't, need to go to branch. I could go on...but you get the picture.