Quality of savings apps / sites

dont_use_vistaprint

Does this affect your decision much?

I notice Leeds site is down again and Cynergy & Others feel really badly designed compared to Chase, Chip , Barclays, HSBC  etc 

Do you worry they could lose your money or get taken down and go for better apps  even with protection it would be a nightmare I expect to recover your savings 

Bridlington1

It doesn't affect my decision much at all. As long as the provider is covered by the FSCS I will base my savings decisions pretty much solely on what will earn me the most interest.

If a savings provider decides to offer me a decent savings rate I'm more than happy to use them, even if the website seems a bit basic/glitchy here and there, so long as it's at least usable, which Leeds and Cynergy are, I don't really care how the app/website is designed to be honest. 

wmb194

dont_use_vistaprint said:

Does this affect your decision much?

I notice Leeds site is down again and Cynergy & Others feel really badly designed compared to Chase, Chip , Barclays, HSBC  etc 

Do you worry they could lose your money or get taken down and go for better apps  even with protection it would be a nightmare I expect to recover your savings 

No. A website going down for a while it doesn't mean a company's bust, that its back-end systems aren't working or data aren't regularly backed up. Also, we're talking about important, highly regulated businesses covered by the FSCS. 

Does it really affect you, though? I thought you'd moved to Dubai?

jaypers

Not really but what does affect my decision is the availability of a very quick Faster Payments service to enable me to access money if I need it virtually straight away. Saying this, I do like Charter Savings and have a number of accounts there, but I’ve balanced this with some accounts that have immediate access as well. Some of the quickest I’ve found (rates not necessarily top at present):-

Investec
Atom
Marcus
Zopa
Chase
Virgin Money

i know there are some others that I’ve not used…….Cynergy for one I believe.

VNX

Depends for me on the type of account.

I have numerous fixed rate bonds and ISAs, as long as these are FSCS protected I am not worried about websites or apps.

I have one easy access account and for this I want the best rate I can get but I don’t have a huge sum in there and ease of use and speed if transfers here would come into my decision process. 

dont_use_vistaprint

wmb194 said:

dont_use_vistaprint said:

Does this affect your decision much?

I notice Leeds site is down again and Cynergy & Others feel really badly designed compared to Chase, Chip , Barclays, HSBC  etc 

Do you worry they could lose your money or get taken down and go for better apps  even with protection it would be a nightmare I expect to recover your savings 

No. A website going down for a while it doesn't mean a company's bust, that its back-end systems aren't working or data aren't regularly backed up. Also, we're talking about important, highly regulated businesses covered by the FSCS. 

Does it really affect you, though? I thought you'd moved to Dubai?

It does affect my decision sometimes because quality of the UX and adoption of best practices in security is an indicator of other things such as investment in systems and the right kinds of IT leadership.

I know there is protection, but i also know how incapable the government / public sector in the uk is  of getting anything right. I’ve also seen many vases in the last 5 years  where ABTA and ATOL type protections didn’t come through,  there’s always a first that no one saw coming and then there’s the x number of years of whatever to get it back and all the stress along the way 

wmb194

dont_use_vistaprint said:

wmb194 said:

dont_use_vistaprint said:

Does this affect your decision much?

I notice Leeds site is down again and Cynergy & Others feel really badly designed compared to Chase, Chip , Barclays, HSBC  etc 

Do you worry they could lose your money or get taken down and go for better apps  even with protection it would be a nightmare I expect to recover your savings 

No. A website going down for a while it doesn't mean a company's bust, that its back-end systems aren't working or data aren't regularly backed up. Also, we're talking about important, highly regulated businesses covered by the FSCS. 

Does it really affect you, though? I thought you'd moved to Dubai?

It does affect my decision sometimes because quality of the UX and adoption of best practices in security is an indicator of other things such as investment in systems and the right kinds of IT leadership.

I know there is protection, but i also know how incapable the government / public sector in the uk is  of getting anything right. I’ve also seen many vases in the last 5 years  where ABTA and ATOL type protections didn’t come through,  there’s always a first that no one saw coming and then there’s the x number of years of whatever to get it back and all the stress along the way 

We're all on the outside so we cannot know for sure but, over a long period of time, as we're not hearing many stories about security problems with these institutions I think you're worrying too much. However, if e.g., Leeds BS makes you anxious because its online banking looks dated then just don't use it. There's so much competition in Britain that it's easy to take your money elsewhere.

It's easy enough to find the annual reports of these companies and have a go at assessing how strong they are as businesses and there's no evidence that that FSCS is failing in its duties or that the government's will to backstop it and the banking sector more broadly is waning. However, if you think the government is useless in general then don't use UK banks. Given you're abroad that should be easy for you.

rabbituk

wmb194 said:

It's easy enough to find the annual reports of these companies and have a go at assessing how strong they are as businesses and there's no evidence that that FSCS is failing in its duties or that the government's will to backstop it and the banking sector more broadly is waning.

Whilst it may be possible to look at the accounts, practically I don't agree that the lay person has the time or expertise to do this.

A few years ago I had a chimney liner installed by an at-the-time HETAS registered installer and there were leaks afterwards. Installer ignored me and deregistered from HETAS. I then complained within 2 years to HETAS and they did nothing because installer had since deregistered. I took installer to small claims. Installer then went bankrupt. So I don't rely on these schemes and agree with OP that it pays to be mindful of who you do business with to avoid problems later. I'm sure none of the Northern Rock depositors were glad they had their savings with them despite getting their money back.

wmb194

rabbituk said:

wmb194 said:

It's easy enough to find the annual reports of these companies and have a go at assessing how strong they are as businesses and there's no evidence that that FSCS is failing in its duties or that the government's will to backstop it and the banking sector more broadly is waning.

Whilst it may be possible to look at the accounts, practically I don't agree that the lay person has the time or expertise to do this.

A few years ago I had a chimney liner installed by an at-the-time HETAS registered installer and there were leaks afterwards. Installer ignored me and deregistered from HETAS. I then complained within 2 years to HETAS and they did nothing because installer had since deregistered. I took installer to small claims. Installer then went bankrupt. So I don't rely on these schemes and agree with OP that it pays to be mindful of who you do business with to avoid problems later. I'm sure none of the Northern Rock depositors were glad they had their savings with them despite getting their money back.

But it's not hard to have a look and see whether they're profitable or not and what they say about their capital position. Thankfully the world's moved on and regulators are much hotter on these things than they were but Northern Rock *was* a weak bank and lots of people were worrying about its minuscule capital levels - for some reason the Bank of England didn't worry enough - but of course the backstop was that deposits there were insured so everything worked out. That's what it's there for and, like I said, there's no evidence at the moment that we need to worry about the FSCS.

I agree though and as I wrote, if something makes you uncomfortable about depositing you money with a particular institution then just don't. If you're really nervous buy gilts and/or only use NS&I.

dont_use_vistaprint

wmb194 said:

dont_use_vistaprint said:

wmb194 said:

dont_use_vistaprint said:

Does this affect your decision much?

I notice Leeds site is down again and Cynergy & Others feel really badly designed compared to Chase, Chip , Barclays, HSBC  etc 

Do you worry they could lose your money or get taken down and go for better apps  even with protection it would be a nightmare I expect to recover your savings 

No. A website going down for a while it doesn't mean a company's bust, that its back-end systems aren't working or data aren't regularly backed up. Also, we're talking about important, highly regulated businesses covered by the FSCS. 

Does it really affect you, though? I thought you'd moved to Dubai?

It does affect my decision sometimes because quality of the UX and adoption of best practices in security is an indicator of other things such as investment in systems and the right kinds of IT leadership.

I know there is protection, but i also know how incapable the government / public sector in the uk is  of getting anything right. I’ve also seen many vases in the last 5 years  where ABTA and ATOL type protections didn’t come through,  there’s always a first that no one saw coming and then there’s the x number of years of whatever to get it back and all the stress along the way 

We're all on the outside so we cannot know for sure but, over a long period of time, as we're not hearing many stories about security problems with these institutions I think you're worrying too much. However, if e.g., Leeds BS makes you anxious because its online banking looks dated then just don't use it. There's so much competition in Britain that it's easy to take your money elsewhere.

It's easy enough to find the annual reports of these companies and have a go at assessing how strong they are as businesses and there's no evidence that that FSCS is failing in its duties or that the government's will to backstop it and the banking sector more broadly is waning. However, if you think the government is useless in general then don't use UK banks. Given you're abroad that should be easy for you.

Thanks I probably am working by a bit too much , it’s more when moving everything into something better, but that looks and feels awful  ,  and advising kids to do the same etc . it’s less concerning when it’s 10 or 20 here etc 

With  the protection from FSCS , I expect that if sine kind of vulnerability with a site or app lead you to make a mistake and lose money or sone kind of system admin internal issue etc  they would not be much help , they will help if the overall business fails only - is this right ? 

dont_use_vistaprint

rabbituk said:

wmb194 said:

It's easy enough to find the annual reports of these companies and have a go at assessing how strong they are as businesses and there's no evidence that that FSCS is failing in its duties or that the government's will to backstop it and the banking sector more broadly is waning.

Whilst it may be possible to look at the accounts, practically I don't agree that the lay person has the time or expertise to do this.

A few years ago I had a chimney liner installed by an at-the-time HETAS registered installer and there were leaks afterwards. Installer ignored me and deregistered from HETAS. I then complained within 2 years to HETAS and they did nothing because installer had since deregistered. I took installer to small claims. Installer then went bankrupt. So I don't rely on these schemes and agree with OP that it pays to be mindful of who you do business with to avoid problems later. I'm sure none of the Northern Rock depositors were glad they had their savings with them despite getting their money back.

Companies like HETAS and ABTA May not great examples I hope FSCS works differently 

They are worth nothing to consumers, they actually allow the worst kind of traders into the market , they will ignore you , they will support the members always and they are not legally binding. It’s like a car warranty from a used car salesman, worth even less than your statutory rights