Favourite Bank Account

irelavv

Title says it all. Mine is the Lloyds Classic Bank Account. Call me old-fashioned but this was my first ever account before I started gaining advantage from switch incentives.

It's my favourite because it's straightforward, easy to use, has a money manager tool and it comes with the classic green striped card with black stallion.

I remember going in branch for the first time. Paying in my first cheque. Depositing cash via cashier. Seeing the face on the poor cashier lady who I'd given £10 in unsorted coins. I didn't know basic rules or depositing coins back then but he was very nice about it and explained how to do it properly next time. Transfering and withdrawing money over the counter. Having to bring a letter from branch to show the University staff I had a bank account set up in order to comply with something - I forgot why we (students) had to do it really - was a long time ago...

So many memorable purchases throughout the years. I've even kept the old - now void of use - Lloyds TSB cheque book, just to remind me where I began my financially independent journey from my parents :j

So if you have a favourite bank account - what is yours?

username901

I've had accounts with pretty much every major bank when doing the old switcheroo.

First direct only bank to not pay me my switching bonus, and then they cocked up my regular saver by 'forgetting' to pay me interest, so they're at the bottom. Been with Barclays the longest (20 years), not had a problem with then other than no local branch anymore.

So far, starling are my favourite. Took less than 24 hours to open a business account and receive my card - RBS took 3 weeks and countless forms which I struggle with. Plus theyre giving me £1500 to switch (technically RBS are)

p00hsticks

irelavv wrote: »

it comes with the classic green striped card with black stallion.

I've never understood why the design on the card matters to some people. As far as I'm concerned, as long as I can easily identify which card is which and it functions correctly I really don't care what it looks like.

penners324

My current bank, Starling.
Very easy to use, love the instant notifications, the list of DDs going out the following day is very helpful and love the travel element of the card.

surfsister

monza all the way easy, secure and works! Nat West was ok until it started all the extra online checks, texting you etc before you can use the account.

yes also tried most banks for the cash incentives had the most trouble with HSBC and First Direct; the easiest was TSB!

surfsister

p00hsticks wrote: »

I've never understood why the design on the card matters to some people. As far as I'm concerned, as long as I can easily identify which card is which and it functions correctly I really don't care what it looks like.

everyone loves the black horse!!! I love the advert too and I hate adverts!

System

When I started teaching some 40 years ago I opened a Bank of Ireland current account in their Leicester, Narborough Road branch. I loved it because it was different. Unfortunately they closed their mainland UK branches and apart from a brief flirtation with the Post Office, now only offer current accounts in Northern Ireland.

username901

p00hsticks wrote: »

I've never understood why the design on the card matters to some people. As far as I'm concerned, as long as I can easily identify which card is which and it functions correctly I really don't care what it looks like.

Barclays let you design your own card too.

zerog

Lloyds has always been happy to take reasonable amounts of unsorted coins from me. But they refuse old coins, so I go to HSBC if I have any (however they makes you handwrite those silly forms and count it in advance).

I recently opened a Natwest account for the switching incentive and they have a machine that credits coin deposits instantly, so I now use them unless I have old currency.

My favourite "bank" account is Nationwide as they are the only bank to have never !!!!ed me off with overzealous "fraud" detection algorithms, and never had any problems making large payments with the card reader unlike others which randomly decide to force you to phone them up or suspend your account.

blue.peter

I'm not convinced that this is a terribly meaningful question. Different people look for different things in their bank and different people will have different experiences of the same bank. Even large surveys don't give terribly meaningful results for these reasons.

I'm afraid I'm rather jaded. I don't really like any bank, and I've used several over the course of about 45 years.

For these reasons, my comments should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again: service from all banks has deteriorated since the crisis ten years or so ago as they all try to pare costs to the bone. Banks are commercial organisations that seek to maximise profits for their shareholders. This means that there is no alignment between their interests and customers'. (The honourable exception to this rule is Nationwide, which is a building society and not a bank.)

In no particular order:

I'm currently with Royal Bank of Scotland, which really is the worst I've experienced. In six months or so, I haven't had anything worthy of a complaint, but there's a been string of minor irritations. Their service is generally awful. On the upside, their online banking system is pretty decent (apart from the lack of secure messaging). I'll definitely be dumping them in the summer, when they've paid me the promised £50 for staying a year.

A few days ago, I opened a second current account. This is with the Nationwide. It's early days yet, but my experience so far is definitely favourable. I'll tentatively give them the "favourite" rating, but I'm waiting to see how things go over the longer term.

First Direct had my sole current account for 25 years (1990 - 2015). This is, by a long margin, the longest I've ever stuck with one bank. Phone service was almost always excellent - quick to answer, very polite, always did exactly what I wanted and what they promised. They were, however, pretty slow to offer any online banking. Savings interest rates were poor. I had an Offset Mortgage with them (until I paid it off), and thought this an excellent product. However, their product development generally is poor. They seem to have no interest in competing on that front.

Santander have a pretty good product in their 1-2-3 current account, and a decent online banking offering. Phone service, however, is dire. Very slow to deal with online secure messages.

Barclays: I dropped them in 1990 after some unpleasant experiences. Nothing I've heard since leads me to think that they've improved.

Lloyds/Halifax: I have to deal with this pair as my mother's attorney. Branch service I've found to be poor, and I dislike their online banking system.

p00hsticks

surfsister wrote: »

everyone loves the black horse!!! I love the advert too and I hate adverts!

Not me - although in this household we do admire the life-preserving tactics of the older horse when it waits for the little one to go out on this ice to see if it falls through