Bank account with good online records

CSMR

RG2015 wrote: »

NatWest has 7 years of history online. This can be accessed for any 365 day period with the 7 year window and can be viewed online and downloaded to...

Thanks: that's great info. Sounds like it's worth my switching to NatWest, unless other banks are equally good.

tempus_fugit

CSMR wrote: »

You are saying you do not have our problem because you are exceptionally well organized. Good for you. I am not exceptionally well organized, quite the opposite, and require computer systems to organize data for me with as little manual bookkeeping as possible. I also would like more computer-friendly protocols like csv or bank feeds to analyze data and potentially upload to accounting systems.

Pretty much all of the bank accounts I have or have had allow export of data in CSV format, along with other formats such as OFX or QIF - these allow for import into a plethora of finance applications as well as Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. Login is fairly straightforward, albeit there is the usual mixture of different user IDs, PINs and passwords, all of which are necessary to protect our accounts. So it's not just about being organised, most mainstream banks do provide what you appear to be asking for, so take your pick.

JSmith99_2

I just joined this forum to research the issue the OP raised, having spent several hours extracting the data from pdf statements for two HSBC accounts. Doing the same with my Halifax account took about two minutes. Providing no means of exporting directly to accounting programs or a humble spreadsheet is prompting me to change banks after almost 50 years. Tempus_fugit, would you care to list the accounts that enable sensible export and keep data available for several years at least? I don't love NatWest but this thread hasn't come up with an alternative as far as I can see.

gt94sss2

CSMR wrote: »

To get back on topic, the main thing I want clean access to data without a lot of administrative work. This could be via an online system that gives access to data. But even emails with statements attached would be an improvement. And export to CSV or other formats is very important and would mitigate the need for good statements as this process could be done quickly once a year. So I am looking for banks that have some of these features. HSBC does not.

Actually, HSBC does.

HSBC allow you to download the last 12 months of data in a .CSV format (look under the midata download option).

HSBC also keep statements online/available for download for 6 years. You are unlikely to find many banks which will keep them available online for much longer - and I believe if you have a paperless account, will send you paper statements free on request.

JSmith99_2

When I discovered MiData last year, I thought the problem was solved but Lo and Behold almost all the details in the Merchant/Description field are redacted using asterisks like this:

UV*VDZFG GBV********PLZGG PAYMENT CHARGE
******************************************************
************************************
******************
************************************
HALIFAX

so rendering it useless for almost everything as far as I can see.
Maybe I'm missing something?

JSmith99_2

...here is what I'd like my bank to offer:

For each selected account:

• The option to view pdf statements online, download, save and print them as most do now.
• The option to download statements for specific periods in files such as csv, Excel or other widely used formats. By specific periods I want to be able to choose two dates, a complete calendar or tax year from records that go back at least 5 years (although 7 would be better).
• Most importantly, the option to have statements sent automatically by email, encrypted with a key separate to the bank log in security. These should be either single monthly pdfs as we used to get in the mail or, most useful in my opinion, a cumulative one that would end up covering my choice of a calendar or tax year.
• And finally, this email option should also be available in popular file formats (csv et al) - just imagine the joy of being able to see your year to date statement just by opening one spreadsheet file! No wading through pages of cryptically named pdfs and trying to extract the details. No cutting and pasting months together. Wonderful.

Any bank that offers this level of customer access to their data would get my business in a heartbeat and I bet a lot of others too. :j

Plus

gt94sss2 wrote: »

HSBC allow you to download the last 12 months of data in a .CSV format (look under the midata download option).

That's a good example of why what banks provide isn't up to scratch. This week is tax return week. To fill in my tax return I have to go back and record all my income (including interest) between 6 April 2016 and 5 April 2017. Since it's now January, that means going back 21 months. If I could download 21 months of statements to CSV and filter them, calculating income would be easy - just a few clicks in the spreadsheet. If they provide me a PDF, or don't go back far enough, I can't do that. It then reduces me to lots of tedious searching and transcribing by hand. That wouldn't be so bad if I had one account, but I have dozens.

Open Banking, which banks are being forced to do, will hopefully make this easier. Though it is limited to FCA authorised app providers, so remains to be seen whether anyone will make a suitable app.

agrinnall

Plus wrote: »

This week is tax return week. To fill in my tax return I have to go back and record all my income (including interest) between 6 April 2016 and 5 April 2017.

But you could have done that any time after 5 April 2017 (indeed, you could have done it a month at a time during the previous year). It was your decision to wait until the absolute last minute to complete your tax return, no bank forced you to do that.

Plus

agrinnall wrote: »

But you could have done that any time after 5 April 2017 (indeed, you could have done it a month at a time during the previous year). It was your decision to wait until the absolute last minute to complete your tax return, no bank forced you to do that.

Well personally I did it months ago. But it's exactly the same problem: Unless you do it on the stroke of midnight. 12 months history doesn't cover an entire tax year, therefore is no good for this kind of common task. If you're super-organised and do your tax return month-by-month then you might not see the problem - but some of us have better things to do. In my case, it's a significant chunk of time having dozens of accounts that each need to be logged into, so I only want to do it once per year.