Atom bank

badger09

Only problem I ever had with Atom was its failure to recognise my face while wearing my glasses. As a fellow silver surfer, I'm useless without my glasses, but managed to peer vaguely in direction of screen long enough for it to let me in

inspectorperez

Have been with Atom virtually from the beginning. Have always found the app very easy to use and if there ever was an issue, the customer phone contact was always excellent with friendly staff based in the North of England. You might think the app is a little bit quirky when you use it for the first time as it is definitely not like an online bank account in terms of structure and layout, but I found once I understood the way it worked, it was excellent.

db3745

I'm actually trying to decide how/where to save the money I've just pulled from years of cash ISA saving, and I'm looking at a mix of easy access with N.S.&I., and fixed rate elsewhere. Cutting to the chase, I was disappointed that Which were still showing the outdated 1.45% Ford Money 1 yr as best buy; googled Ford Money just out of interest to see how low it was now, only to run into a blizzard of terrible 1* reviews on Trustpilot. Given the alternative choices available, no prospective new customer would touch Ford Money with a bargepole at the moment. On their site now Ford have withdrawn all their rates except a Flexible Cash ISA.

soulsaver

Things I don't like about Atom:
They don't send you paper anything - so no welcome letter, opening statement or deposit acknowledgement - all things you'll likely be used to filing somewhere safe... but in their case it'll be only on your phone.
So you'll say - 'no prob with that, just print them off...'
 or send them to your PC etc. ..
...well there was problems with tha tfor me,  but it's too long a story and, as it was early days, I'll give them 'teething problems' benefit of the doubt.

There is no alternative to phone & app - ie no presence on the web as a line of communication in the event of app problems. They've been saying for over a year that they're looking at this... 

So in short, unless there was a significant advantage with Atom, personally, I'd be looking at a more traditional solution.

colsten

Silverbird65 said:

Thanks for the response I have Android 10 pie. Also some of the fixed rates are 18month prefer 1yr Colsten.
Cheers

I know some are 18 months. Most are 12 months though. Apologies if I have confused you, I won't do it again.

AllAboutAlice

inspectorperez said:

Have been with Atom virtually from the beginning. Have always found the app very easy to use and if there ever was an issue, the customer phone contact was always excellent with friendly staff based in the North of England. You might think the app is a little bit quirky when you use it for the first time as it is definitely not like an online bank account in terms of structure and layout, but I found once I understood the way it worked, it was excellent.

Me too. I'm also a member of the 'Gah, now what have they done to the App?' brigade! I did a hasty, fingers-crossed type of installation of the App to my iPhone 7 early today, since the (easily visible) iPad option was no longer compatible with my vintage device. I found no issues and Simon from Live Chat was brilliant. I can understand the panic of discovering mobile platform issues, though. They have been efficient and delivered the service they offered. I would go back.

AllAboutAlice

soulsaver said:

There is no alternative to phone & app - ie no presence on the web as a line of communication in the event of app problems. They've been saying for over a year that they're looking at this... 

Yes, that is worrying. Fortunately I never had an issue, but valid point!

ZeroSum

Apps only supported on previous 2 operating systems. So if you don't upgrade your phone every 2 years, you may find you can't access your account
I'd avoid them for this reason alone

AnotherJoe

ZeroSum said:

Apps only supported on previous 2 operating systems. So if you don't upgrade your phone every 2 years, you may find you can't access your account
I'd avoid them for this reason alone

If by "upgrade" you mean "replace" then that isn't the case with Apple phones since you'd usually get 5 or more years before the latest  release isn't supported. With Android, yes manufacturers have a poor record with updates for old phones abandoning them quicker than Prince Andrew dumps girl friends. 

It is however a downside with Atom that you do need to have relatively up to date software on a smartphone. OTOH older s/w more likely to have security vulnerabilities so there is that.