First Direct

colsten

jsmith9 said:

Yes give them a go I don't think you will be disappointed. we are very lucky in this country having such a choice with bank accounts 

British/English exceptionalism at work.

username

They're alright, I've been with them for 10 years plus, very few complaints. They're pretty spot on with detecting unusual transactions which do not fit the normal pattern of usage and texting or calling to verify. Also handy that you can use the parent group's (HSBC) branches, so if you need to deposit cash/cheques/get statements you can do so.

VXman

colsten said:

jsmith9 said:

Yes give them a go I don't think you will be disappointed. we are very lucky in this country having such a choice with bank accounts 

British/English exceptionalism at work.

Difficult to comment without having lived/worked and banked in a range of countries. But as someone who lived worked and banked in Hong Kong (supposedly one of the key financial centres of the world) I'd agree about the quality and choice in UK banking on this point. Rewards on credit cards are better in Hong Kong though.

NottinghamKnight

VXman said:

colsten said:

jsmith9 said:

Yes give them a go I don't think you will be disappointed. we are very lucky in this country having such a choice with bank accounts 

British/English exceptionalism at work.

Difficult to comment without having lived/worked and banked in a range of countries. But as someone who lived worked and banked in Hong Kong (supposedly one of the key financial centres of the world) I'd agree about the quality and choice in UK banking on this point. Rewards on credit cards are better in Hong Kong though.

Yes, I worked there about twnety years ago so things may have changed. They were very much ahead in automatically having multi currency accounts but few choices in account providers, I was originally with Standard Chartered but when I changed job my new employer insisted I had to bank with HSBC (and they were a French multi national!).