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Why do you bank with your bank?

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  • RG2015
    RG2015 Posts: 5,951 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 20 January 2023 at 6:41PM
    Eco_Miser said:
    Perksy5 said:


    So, why do you bank with your bank?  Sentimental reasons? A feature you like? Maybe it's the UI of their app? 

    Back in 1955 the Yorkshire Penny Bank ran a school bank in the primary school I'd just become a pupil of. That account is long closed, but the current account I opened with them in 1970 is currently paying 2%, with access to a 3% flexible cash ISA. So sentiment or good returns or laziness?
    I've opened, and often closed, many other accounts with many other banks, for higher interest and or switching bonuses or other rewards, but I've kept that first proper adult current account, sometimes with only a nominal amount in as some other bank was paying more.

    It seems a shame that the great legacy of the Yorkshire Bank has all but been lost in bank mergers and takeovers. At least the brand is still used. Somehow though it does now seem to be lost in the Virgin Money ethos.

    My Dad was with the National Provincial, which merged with the Westminster bank over 50 years ago. I have been with NatWest for just under 50 years.

    Curiously the intended name of the National Provincial Bank in 1828 was the Royal Bank which is how the RBS in Scotland is now being rebranded (still under the NatWest Group banner).

    https://www.natwestgroup.com/heritage/companies/national-provincial-bank-ltd.html


    NatWest for me still offers the best banking system and functions.

    That said I have 10 other current accounts for different offerings such as cashback (123) and top interest rates. Santander, Barclays, Lloyds, First Direct, HSBC, Virgin Money, Chase, RBS and Nationwide all have top rates.

    The other is TSB which is now redundant awaiting a switch.
  • We have banked with Barclays, Alliance and Leicester, Nationwide, Lloyds, First Direct, Santander and now Starling. 

    Our current bank we chose because  we were travelling abroad for a month and foreign transactions paid via Starling incurred no Forex charges. However we were so impressed by them we closed our Santander and now use Starling as our main current account. I like the pots features and budgeting information. I also like the way they notify us whenever a transaction goes through. Some of the features we could get through other bank accounts too  though. 
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • 35har1old
    35har1old Posts: 1,476 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    mgdavid said:
    I've been with Barclays for my main accounts since the 1960s. I stay with them because they've never effed anything up, they provide simple mainstream banking services with no gimmicks, and I've never paid them a penny in charges.
    Poor online service can't do a switch to them online. Blue rewards cost you £5 to get £5 Back with 2 direct debits and until recently they had no savings accounts worth having, Now they have one their rainy day account
  • 35har1old
    35har1old Posts: 1,476 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 21 January 2023 at 12:35AM
    Rob5342 said:
    My main account is with Monzo, I use them because they have a good app with lots of budgeting features likes having pots you can split money into and have direct debits come out of. Some of the other banks apps are archaic in comparison, despite having been around for far longer..
     Their savings accounts don't have the best interest rates i think
  • 35har1old
    35har1old Posts: 1,476 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Nationwide for the regular saver
    Lloyds for the monthly savers, £50 0% overdraft and the free magazine
    Halifax for the regular saver and the £15/mth for making debit card payments to myself
    TSB for the £5/mth for making debit card payments to myself
    Natwest and RBS for the digital regular savers plus the £3/mth (post fee) for logging into the app and paying out 2 DDs
    Santander for the free railcard and £1.5k 0% student overdraft
    Bank of Scotland for the regular saver
    Virgin money for the exclusive cash ISA and 2% interest on the current account so ideal for paying out cheques.
    HSBC for the regular saver
    Co-op for the refer a friend bonus
    Amex, Tesco bank and Capital one credit cards for the direct debits they provide.
    Hull and East Yorkshire credit union for the £25 bonus on their Christmas saver.
    Metro bank for completeness seen as I've banked with pretty much every other bank so thought, why not? Now it gets used as a nominated account for some savings accounts.

    7 of the above I've had switching incentives out of as well.

    I have savings accounts with about a third to a half of Britain's building societies, largely because of decent paying savings accounts and the fact that many offer the best rates to existing customers and customers with however many year's continuous membership. Plus I have a few savings accounts because they let me make deposits by direct debit or debit card and another load because they offered decent interest rates but have fallen behind so now contain minimal balances in case the rate rises again.

    Used to bank with Barclays for the rainy day saver but they closed my account just weeks after I opened it. I've had a card reader out of them though.

    I am mainly driven by money when it comes to my banking choices so am not too fussed about sentimental reasons/app layout etc. At the end of the day I'll bank with whichever banks gives me an incentive to bank with them.
    Nationwide regular saver restricted to £50 month 5% .How about Hinckley & Rugby £500 Month 4.75%
    LLoyds will soon need funding of £2000 a month to avoid the fee
    Halifax OK 3 payments of £500 requires £1500 x3 times funding
    TSB Making those 30 payments to get you £5 Taking that you likely to spend 5 min per transaction times 30 = 2.5 Hrs per month
    Plus it only last 6 months. That's why i named mine Mickey Mouse
    Nat West and RBS require funding of £1250 per mth its only recently they have increased the total you can saver to £5000
    Santander Same's a good deal 
    Bank of Scotland requires £1500 funding interest rate on current account poor. Regular saver good
    Virgin ISA rate OK  No more than one current account is worth holding for Interest on a £1000 dep
    HSBC Requires Funding of £1500 per month Regular saver 5% why not use First Direct Regular Saver 7%
    Co-op Refer a friend no longer available
  • Bridlington1
    Bridlington1 Posts: 2,990 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    35har1old said:
    Nationwide for the regular saver
    Lloyds for the monthly savers, £50 0% overdraft and the free magazine
    Halifax for the regular saver and the £15/mth for making debit card payments to myself
    TSB for the £5/mth for making debit card payments to myself
    Natwest and RBS for the digital regular savers plus the £3/mth (post fee) for logging into the app and paying out 2 DDs
    Santander for the free railcard and £1.5k 0% student overdraft
    Bank of Scotland for the regular saver
    Virgin money for the exclusive cash ISA and 2% interest on the current account so ideal for paying out cheques.
    HSBC for the regular saver
    Co-op for the refer a friend bonus
    Amex, Tesco bank and Capital one credit cards for the direct debits they provide.
    Hull and East Yorkshire credit union for the £25 bonus on their Christmas saver.
    Metro bank for completeness seen as I've banked with pretty much every other bank so thought, why not? Now it gets used as a nominated account for some savings accounts.

    7 of the above I've had switching incentives out of as well.

    I have savings accounts with about a third to a half of Britain's building societies, largely because of decent paying savings accounts and the fact that many offer the best rates to existing customers and customers with however many year's continuous membership. Plus I have a few savings accounts because they let me make deposits by direct debit or debit card and another load because they offered decent interest rates but have fallen behind so now contain minimal balances in case the rate rises again.

    Used to bank with Barclays for the rainy day saver but they closed my account just weeks after I opened it. I've had a card reader out of them though.

    I am mainly driven by money when it comes to my banking choices so am not too fussed about sentimental reasons/app layout etc. At the end of the day I'll bank with whichever banks gives me an incentive to bank with them.
    Nationwide regular saver restricted to £50 month 5% .How about Hinckley & Rugby £500 Month 4.75%
    LLoyds will soon need funding of £2000 a month to avoid the fee
    Halifax OK 3 payments of £500 requires £1500 x3 times funding
    TSB Making those 30 payments to get you £5 Taking that you likely to spend 5 min per transaction times 30 = 2.5 Hrs per month
    Plus it only last 6 months. That's why i named mine Mickey Mouse
    Nat West and RBS require funding of £1250 per mth its only recently they have increased the total you can saver to £5000
    Santander Same's a good deal 
    Bank of Scotland requires £1500 funding interest rate on current account poor. Regular saver good
    Virgin ISA rate OK  No more than one current account is worth holding for Interest on a £1000 dep
    HSBC Requires Funding of £1500 per month Regular saver 5% why not use First Direct Regular Saver 7%
    Co-op Refer a friend no longer available
    I originally opened Nationwide for the Flex Regular saver (£200/mth), the £125 switching offer and the 0% overdraft. Even then 5% on £50/mth is worth having if it''s easy access IMHO.

    I already have about 2 dozen regular savers including H&R at 4.75%.

    I just send £1.5k of my easy access savings bouncing through my accounts to meet the monthly funding requirements

    TSB payments takes me about 30 seconds per transaction so 15 mins per account or £20/hr if it was paid work. Once the 6 months is over you can upgrade the account into a spend and save plus account, then downgrade it again to restart the 6 month cashback period.

    Natwest/RBS can be topped up using round ups, which don't count towards the maximum monthly limit.

    Bank of Scotland vantage is used as a spare account for switching purposes so has 2 DDs going out of it each month. It doesn't cost me anything to have vantage enables so decided, why not?

    I never normally keep anything in the VM current account but if I am opening a savings account by post I send a cheque, so Virgin's 2% interest is better than a normal current account if funds are waiting fo the cheque to clear.

    HSBC doesn't require any funding. I don't use fist direct because I am waiting until I become eligible for their next switching offer.

    Co-op refused to pay me the switching incentive for my last switch so have taken them to the FOS.
  • penners324
    penners324 Posts: 3,112 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Starling- great app, notifications (especially the 1s the day before DDs are going out), pots (Inc have DDs come from them).
  • 35har1old
    35har1old Posts: 1,476 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    35har1old said:
    Nationwide for the regular saver
    Lloyds for the monthly savers, £50 0% overdraft and the free magazine
    Halifax for the regular saver and the £15/mth for making debit card payments to myself
    TSB for the £5/mth for making debit card payments to myself
    Natwest and RBS for the digital regular savers plus the £3/mth (post fee) for logging into the app and paying out 2 DDs
    Santander for the free railcard and £1.5k 0% student overdraft
    Bank of Scotland for the regular saver
    Virgin money for the exclusive cash ISA and 2% interest on the current account so ideal for paying out cheques.
    HSBC for the regular saver
    Co-op for the refer a friend bonus
    Amex, Tesco bank and Capital one credit cards for the direct debits they provide.
    Hull and East Yorkshire credit union for the £25 bonus on their Christmas saver.
    Metro bank for completeness seen as I've banked with pretty much every other bank so thought, why not? Now it gets used as a nominated account for some savings accounts.

    7 of the above I've had switching incentives out of as well.

    I have savings accounts with about a third to a half of Britain's building societies, largely because of decent paying savings accounts and the fact that many offer the best rates to existing customers and customers with however many year's continuous membership. Plus I have a few savings accounts because they let me make deposits by direct debit or debit card and another load because they offered decent interest rates but have fallen behind so now contain minimal balances in case the rate rises again.

    Used to bank with Barclays for the rainy day saver but they closed my account just weeks after I opened it. I've had a card reader out of them though.

    I am mainly driven by money when it comes to my banking choices so am not too fussed about sentimental reasons/app layout etc. At the end of the day I'll bank with whichever banks gives me an incentive to bank with them.
    Nationwide regular saver restricted to £50 month 5% .How about Hinckley & Rugby £500 Month 4.75%
    LLoyds will soon need funding of £2000 a month to avoid the fee
    Halifax OK 3 payments of £500 requires £1500 x3 times funding
    TSB Making those 30 payments to get you £5 Taking that you likely to spend 5 min per transaction times 30 = 2.5 Hrs per month
    Plus it only last 6 months. That's why i named mine Mickey Mouse
    Nat West and RBS require funding of £1250 per mth its only recently they have increased the total you can saver to £5000
    Santander Same's a good deal 
    Bank of Scotland requires £1500 funding interest rate on current account poor. Regular saver good
    Virgin ISA rate OK  No more than one current account is worth holding for Interest on a £1000 dep
    HSBC Requires Funding of £1500 per month Regular saver 5% why not use First Direct Regular Saver 7%
    Co-op Refer a friend no longer available
    I originally opened Nationwide for the Flex Regular saver (£200/mth), the £125 switching offer and the 0% overdraft. Even then 5% on £50/mth is worth having if it''s easy access IMHO.

    I already have about 2 dozen regular savers including H&R at 4.75%.

    I just send £1.5k of my easy access savings bouncing through my accounts to meet the monthly funding requirements

    TSB payments takes me about 30 seconds per transaction so 15 mins per account or £20/hr if it was paid work. Once the 6 months is over you can upgrade the account into a spend and save plus account, then downgrade it again to restart the 6 month cashback period.

    Natwest/RBS can be topped up using round ups, which don't count towards the maximum monthly limit.

    Bank of Scotland vantage is used as a spare account for switching purposes so has 2 DDs going out of it each month. It doesn't cost me anything to have vantage enables so decided, why not?

    I never normally keep anything in the VM current account but if I am opening a savings account by post I send a cheque, so Virgin's 2% interest is better than a normal current account if funds are waiting fo the cheque to clear.

    HSBC doesn't require any funding. I don't use fist direct because I am waiting until I become eligible for their next switching offer.

    Co-op refused to pay me the switching incentive for my last switch so have taken them to the FOS.
    Have you raised the issue with the Co-op as a complaint and got their final letter refusing to pay
  • Edi81
    Edi81 Posts: 1,462 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 22 January 2023 at 3:42AM
    Pay goes to Lloyds as I work for them. 
    I the transfer a chunk to Starling to pay all my house DDs knowing that when I go abroad I have free transactions. 
    It’s nice and simple and works for me. 
  • Bridlington1
    Bridlington1 Posts: 2,990 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    35har1old said:
    35har1old said:
    Nationwide for the regular saver
    Lloyds for the monthly savers, £50 0% overdraft and the free magazine
    Halifax for the regular saver and the £15/mth for making debit card payments to myself
    TSB for the £5/mth for making debit card payments to myself
    Natwest and RBS for the digital regular savers plus the £3/mth (post fee) for logging into the app and paying out 2 DDs
    Santander for the free railcard and £1.5k 0% student overdraft
    Bank of Scotland for the regular saver
    Virgin money for the exclusive cash ISA and 2% interest on the current account so ideal for paying out cheques.
    HSBC for the regular saver
    Co-op for the refer a friend bonus
    Amex, Tesco bank and Capital one credit cards for the direct debits they provide.
    Hull and East Yorkshire credit union for the £25 bonus on their Christmas saver.
    Metro bank for completeness seen as I've banked with pretty much every other bank so thought, why not? Now it gets used as a nominated account for some savings accounts.

    7 of the above I've had switching incentives out of as well.

    I have savings accounts with about a third to a half of Britain's building societies, largely because of decent paying savings accounts and the fact that many offer the best rates to existing customers and customers with however many year's continuous membership. Plus I have a few savings accounts because they let me make deposits by direct debit or debit card and another load because they offered decent interest rates but have fallen behind so now contain minimal balances in case the rate rises again.

    Used to bank with Barclays for the rainy day saver but they closed my account just weeks after I opened it. I've had a card reader out of them though.

    I am mainly driven by money when it comes to my banking choices so am not too fussed about sentimental reasons/app layout etc. At the end of the day I'll bank with whichever banks gives me an incentive to bank with them.
    Nationwide regular saver restricted to £50 month 5% .How about Hinckley & Rugby £500 Month 4.75%
    LLoyds will soon need funding of £2000 a month to avoid the fee
    Halifax OK 3 payments of £500 requires £1500 x3 times funding
    TSB Making those 30 payments to get you £5 Taking that you likely to spend 5 min per transaction times 30 = 2.5 Hrs per month
    Plus it only last 6 months. That's why i named mine Mickey Mouse
    Nat West and RBS require funding of £1250 per mth its only recently they have increased the total you can saver to £5000
    Santander Same's a good deal 
    Bank of Scotland requires £1500 funding interest rate on current account poor. Regular saver good
    Virgin ISA rate OK  No more than one current account is worth holding for Interest on a £1000 dep
    HSBC Requires Funding of £1500 per month Regular saver 5% why not use First Direct Regular Saver 7%
    Co-op Refer a friend no longer available
    I originally opened Nationwide for the Flex Regular saver (£200/mth), the £125 switching offer and the 0% overdraft. Even then 5% on £50/mth is worth having if it''s easy access IMHO.

    I already have about 2 dozen regular savers including H&R at 4.75%.

    I just send £1.5k of my easy access savings bouncing through my accounts to meet the monthly funding requirements

    TSB payments takes me about 30 seconds per transaction so 15 mins per account or £20/hr if it was paid work. Once the 6 months is over you can upgrade the account into a spend and save plus account, then downgrade it again to restart the 6 month cashback period.

    Natwest/RBS can be topped up using round ups, which don't count towards the maximum monthly limit.

    Bank of Scotland vantage is used as a spare account for switching purposes so has 2 DDs going out of it each month. It doesn't cost me anything to have vantage enables so decided, why not?

    I never normally keep anything in the VM current account but if I am opening a savings account by post I send a cheque, so Virgin's 2% interest is better than a normal current account if funds are waiting fo the cheque to clear.

    HSBC doesn't require any funding. I don't use fist direct because I am waiting until I become eligible for their next switching offer.

    Co-op refused to pay me the switching incentive for my last switch so have taken them to the FOS.
    Have you raised the issue with the Co-op as a complaint and got their final letter refusing to pay
    I raised a complaint and received a final letter from them over a month ago.
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