Worst Banking App in your opinion?

2319WeHaveA2319

I have been around the block when it comes to bank accounts, and credit cards.

 

Making sure to get the most out of the Switching Offers, I have found most banks to have a very similar generic banking app experience that has been somewhat fine to use. 

Chase being one of my favourite, but not having much to complain about.. that was until I had the experience of HSBC. 

I find their app so painful to use. I have a CC with them, and a Debit account with HSBC AU however both are the same app. 

Both of the apps, show options that you can't use, services you're not entitled to, such as “deposit a cheque” and “transfer money” on my credit card only account and then basic things such as setting up a direct debit for the CC has to be done on the main website on a computer, and the site only lets you set up a DD from a HSBC account (although on initial sign up you can use any),  You can't make a payment to the CC without bank transfers.

It feels so clunky and painful. The first direct app however feels more modern surprisingly, user friendly and a better layout.

CrickJon

I think the Chase app is poorly laid out and confusing. It's not obvious where you go to find out whatever you're looking for. I opened a HSBC account for the switch reward and it's not very appealing either. 

I've just joined Monzo and that's pretty good. NatWest and Barclays are fine.

wmb194

2319WeHaveA2319 said:

I have been around the block when it comes to bank accounts, and credit cards.

 

Making sure to get the most out of the Switching Offers, I have found most banks to have a very similar generic banking app experience that has been somewhat fine to use. 

Chase being one of my favourite, but not having much to complain about.. that was until I had the experience of HSBC. 

I find their app so painful to use. I have a CC with them, and a Debit account with HSBC AU however both are the same app. 

Both of the apps, show options that you can't use, services you're not entitled to, such as “deposit a cheque” and “transfer money” on my credit card only account and then basic things such as setting up a direct debit for the CC has to be done on the main website on a computer, and the site only lets you set up a DD from a HSBC account (although on initial sign up you can use any),  You can't make a payment to the CC without bank transfers.

It feels so clunky and painful. The first direct app however feels more modern surprisingly, user friendly and a better layout.

Easy, Co-Op Bank's is probably to worst at the moment. Fingers crossed Coventry BS will put it out of its misery.

What's, "HSBC AU"? Australia? My HSBC UK iPhone app is okay, not dissimilar to First Direct's. It's certainly improved a lot versus the major version that came before it.

ZeroSum

As above co-op is bad as half the time it just doesn't work, faster payments in take ages to register 

km1500

to be honest I think by and large they're all pretty good and we are very lucky living in a country that has such a good selection of banking apps 

Lightning360

I think most of them are very similar now and it just comes down to personal preference as to how you like things laid out. I personally couldn't stand how messy the Monzo app was and how things were structured in the Starling app. On the other hand, Santander (both old and new apps) and First Direct work really well for me and I'm happy to use them. I like most of RBS's app, but not a fan of the long lists of different functions.

Slinky

I find NatWest's tiresome in that you can only look at account details month by month instead of being able to scroll back across the months

jameseonline

I can do pretty much everything I need to do with all the bank, building society etc apps I own but:

1) YBS, doesn't always log on 1st time or if it does it won't let me browse products etc so have to close down & re open then strangely I can but also the app doesn't stay in my list of open apps but carries on in background etc so I still have to reopen the app.

2) CO Operative Bank, never seems to work 1st time for me so have to close down, re open at least once.

3) Santander, putting this as 3rd because I've been having issues recently and it's because they've been changing their app over etc, my main issue with this app it has been ridiculous for showing warnings because I'm paying another account of mine (Virgin Money) , generally speaking I don't have major issues issues with Santander.

Rob5342

I'd say Starling and Monzo are the best, their spaces and pots features are incredibly useful and make budgeting very simple. In terms of features then Nationwide are by far the worst, they are hopelessly old fashioned and don't seem to have any interest in doing anything remotely modern. It's amazing that they stay in business really. The absolute worst I've used is the Virgin credit card app, it was always saying there had been a problem logging in and the only way to make it work was to restart my phone. It was like that for years on decent Google and Samsung phones. 

Rob5342

Lightning360 said:

I personally couldn't stand how messy the Monzo app was and how things were structured in the Starling app. 

I preferred the old Monzo design to Starlings, they had things laid out on the main page so you could get a good overview and navigate quickly to where you wanted, Starling has a lot of wasted space on the main screen and then you have to navigate through multiple layers to get where you want. I'm not keen on the latest Monzo design though as they have crammed too much into the main screen. 

steven141

The worst I have used is The co-operative bank you can’t do everything on their app and it is far too basic. 

After that I’d say first direct it is also very basic with not as many features. I think you also have to message to make changes to some things. 

TSB is the one after those 2 which is very clunky and the bank just doesn’t seem stable. 

Nationwide although I like them their banking app looks good but I just find it very clunky and especially the direct debit list, the dates are sometimes showing incorrectly. There is also no option for open banking accounts to show and it still has a long way to go. 

For Santander (I haven’t used the new app that is reported to have been launched) it is ok nothing fancy but does what you need it to do. 

Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest/Ulster Bank they are all good but the only things that let them down is not being able to view direct debits until the first payment has been taken, not being able to view upcoming payments and to close accounts you have to fill in a web form, other than that they are decent. 

Lloyds Bank/Bank of Scotland/Halifax I find is the best of the traditional banks, being able to view upcoming payments and everything is just easy to use no faffing about with card readers or biometrics etc when trying to set up payees or to log in. The only thing is that the layout could be improved there is usually too much information but nice that you can see upcoming payments. 

Monzo, I briefly used but it was overhyped and they asked you to pay £5 per month for viewing open banking connected accounts which I thought was a rip off as most tend to offer for free.

Chase, the app is simple and easy enough to use but I find it annoying when you want to transfer between accounts it automatically defaults to a random account so you have to really think about where you are transferring money from, it would be better if they just make you select the account you want to transfer from and to and then it would avoid mistakes. It is a bit clunky as well I hate that it doesn’t instantly update and has to load when you go into it. It is a decent app and cashback offering plus savings rates are ok too. 

American Express, the app updates quickly when making payments and seems easy and decent enough. The only thing I would gripe at is that you can only add one saved card to make payment but they allow payments via open banking for most banks anyway. 

That’s my views on banking apps that I have used in recent years. If I haven’t listed a bank it is because I’ve not been with them recently or at all.