Forced to move bank - help much appreciated!

somechap

Hello all,

I need to close of our family's Natwest accounts for professional reasons*. Where do you all think I should move to? (UK based!)

The most important single feature we need is to quickly and easily grab an OFX file of a couple of months' transactions from the website (for pulling in to software we use for budgeting). Natwest's websites are great for this; I can download all four of my accounts in a single file and it automatically gives me everything since the date of the previous download I did, so I don't have to do any deduplication of transactions down-stream. Also you can do this without 2-factor login which I find quick and easy.

I wish the banks did 'sample' previews of their online banking interfaces so we can easily see what they're like to use without opening up an account (pigs might fly). Anyway, to save tonnes of research I hoped this group might easily know which other UK banks allow similar functionality off the top of your expert heads!

Ones I already know about:

- I know HSBC does allow OFX export but only for (?) the last fortnight or so, and not for its credit cards, and more generally I don't like their website / apps at all.

- I think Monzo and Starling don't do OFX export (am I wrong?)

Thanks for any help / insights. TBH I really don't want to leave Natwest!

SC

ps. This is my first post but I am a long-term lurker and lover of this forum!

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* Background - I work for a professional services firm with a stringent personal financial independence rules; as a result of a recent departmental transfer, my spouse and I are no longer allowed to have any financial interest at all in the RBS group (even on a BAU / high-street customer basis!).

eskbanker

Re two-factor logins, bear in mind that all banks are moving to this between now and the implementation of Strong Customer Authentication as part of PSD2 in September, so don't see a lack of this currently as signifying that it'll stay that way!

Just had a quick trawl round some online banking and see that Tesco and Nationwide offer OFX exports if they're important to you, whereas those not offering this include Lloyds (probabably Halifax/BOS too), TSB, Santander and Clydesdale....

xylophone

https://community.freeagent.com/freeagent/topics/im-having-problems-uploading-my-hsbc-statements

Seems to suggest that HSBC offer OFX - you might check?

As for 2F LI - on the way for all?

eskbanker

xylophone wrote: »

Seems to suggest that HSBC offer OFX - you might check?

OP has already checked!

somechap wrote: »

I know HSBC does allow OFX export....

somechap

Thanks for responses so far! I'll start looking into Tesco and Nationwide.

Re 2-factor - I could have been clearer; I'm not against it per se and naturally it makes sense to require 2F for risky stuff like adding a new payee. I just prefer not to need it for read-only access (this is how Natwest and HSBC do it at the moment). Actually my sense is the banks are moving toward supporting the Open Banking API which I believe is 1F once set up - indeed it only requires a password every 3 months?

Now I come to think of it, does anyone know of any 3rd party Open Banking-compatible software which supports OFX export? That could be a work-around. (I know Yolt doesn't, for instance.) Open Banking is sort-of my achiles heel in this; all the banks want to be in on it, but all the downstream apps want to be data destinations, not conduits.

somechap

eskbanker wrote: »

Tesco and Nationwide offer OFX exports if they're important to you, whereas those not offering this include Lloyds (probabably Halifax/BOS too), TSB, Santander and Clydesdale....

That's extremely helpful thank you; can you point me to where/how you found this info? (Teach a man to fish [...] and all that!)

eskbanker

somechap wrote: »

Re 2-factor - I could have been clearer; I'm not against it per se and naturally it makes sense to require 2F for risky stuff like adding a new payee. I just prefer not to need it for read-only access (this is how Natwest and HSBC do it at the moment).

The subject of a two-tier approach to security (i.e. a less secure read-only option) was discussed in this recent thread, in the context of First Direct withdrawing theirs, and Nationwide also apparently planning to do likewise:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6018369/first-direct-withdrawing-limited-access-online-banking

Perhaps some banks will continue to offer this but best not to rely on it, or at least to research it in more detail and ascertain exactly what their plans are post-September.

somechap wrote: »

That's extremely helpful thank you; can you point me to where/how you found this info? (Teach a man to fish [...] and all that!)

I did it longhand, logging in to each one's online banking individually and looking at the transaction export options presented once within that - perhaps someone else will post a more efficient way of finding out!

sal_III

Barclays have .ofx export for at least 6 months back, I assume it works for even longer but never tried it.

somechap

eskbanker wrote: »

I did it longhand

Wow, thank you!



It looks like Monzo offers QIF which might also be an option.

eskbanker

somechap wrote: »

Wow, thank you!

It looks like Monzo offers QIF which might also be an option.

I'm not planning on revisiting them all again to check, but am pretty sure that the vast majority do QIF exports, it's probably the second most popular option offered after CSV/XLS.

colsten

How about using one of the budgeting apps that can pull transactions not just from current accounts but also from savings and credit card accounts? There are quite a few of them - Yolt, Money Dashboard, YNAB, to mention but a few. Some are free, some are chargeable.