Worst Banking App in your opinion?

ForumUser7

The Nationwide app always takes ages to show you the log in screen.

GreenScepter

My vote goes to Nationwide. I have a few nitpicks but their biggest issue is the over use of a card reader for a MOBILE banking app in the year 2024. And not just for new payees which would be annoying enough, it's for long standing payees too. And this is despite now having face ID. I registered for it straight away but they don't seem to ever actually use it.

Honourable mention goes to banking apps in general for bombarding the home screens with various "product recommendations" (ads) and other such services.

molerat

jameseonline said:

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.

IMO Santander has gone from a good basic useable app to the current trend of looking pretty over usability.

EarthBoy

Nationwide annoys me because they don't show any references for payments sent or received; you just get the payer/payee's name, and nothing else.  Except for transfers between different Nationwide accounts, in which case you don't even get a name, you just get the sort code and account number, which makes it difficult to tell who you've paid, or who the money has come from.  
This isn't specific to their mobile app, though; their online banking is the same.  

Rawrzy

Having gone through a lot of switches this year I have experience with a lot of apps, lol. Most of my annoyance with apps comes from lack of features, as I can usually figure out weird UI locations.

My top contenders for worst ones:

Nationwide. This is a weird one really because they actually updated the app recently, but it was mostly just a design update. The new update allows you to finally juse use biometrics/your picture etc to confirm payments instead of using a card reader which is nice. Unfortunately it's still lacking in features like managing your card, and I still couldn't find a place to turn on transaction notifications from the app. It's also still kind of style over substance at this point too.

Metro. Incredibly basic and lacking in functionality.My favourite part was with their limited edition saver they released at the start of the year, you had to set up a nominated current account for it to be able to withdraw cash to it. The app didn't tell you this, nor had the functionality to set it, the transfer just fails with no help. You wouldn't know about this unless you went onto their website and it does actually tell you when you try and withdraw cash to a current account somewhere else. I read from some other people on here that their support staff didn't even know this either. I switched this current account out, and I can't say I have any temptation to go back.

Some comments on other apps:

First Direct one is kind of basic but a pretty decent layout. My main complaint here is the fact you have to use live chat to apply for certain savings accounts. It's a super weird thing that I just haven't experienced with anyone else. It also doesn't make much sense even in the scope of First Direct because the monthly saver you can just open yourself with no live chat, so clearly it's possible, I don't really understand why the other ones can't be opened like that. It's a minor quirk though in the end, not like you'd have to do this very often.

Santander only just updated to the new design for me literally a few days ago, so I don't have too much usage comments with it yet. I noticed you can finally see the card details in the app which is great. Notifications are still lacking a bit though.

TSB. The app is okay but a bit basic. Missing in app card details and notifications. Also the app sometimes just doesn't want to load and I dunno why.

Barclays. Doesn't allow it to be used in a secure folder on a samsung phone, which irritates me. Otherwise the app is fine with decent functionality to be honest.

Chase. It's fine. My complaints mostly stem around the weird way the payments are listed/stored. Payees are grouped by name, and then by the "bank" which can be awkward if you've got building societies using other banks for their account. You can go in and edit this, but you have to go in afterwards to edit the descriptor away from the bank name.

Lloyds. Fine in terms of functionality. My main irritation comes from the payee display, you can't set a nickname, so when it comes to figuring out which payee is what when you have multiple accounts, it's a bit of a pain, lol.

Natwest/RBS. Probably my most liked one I guess. Good functionality and layout. My main complaint is the fact you can only add one payee per account number, which is a bother if you have multiple accounts at a building society that uses reference numbers to distinguish accounts.

Starling. Pretty solid, don't have much to complain about, but I also don't really use it too much. I used to have it as my "holiday account" due to the lack of fees, but Chase kind of took that role over.

Rob5342

I find it bizarre that some banks put so little effort into their apps, given that banking is their sole business and the app is the main way people have to interact with them. 

jameseonline

GreenScepter said:

My vote goes to Nationwide. I have a few nitpicks but their biggest issue is the over use of a card reader for a MOBILE banking app in the year 2024. And not just for new payees which would be annoying enough, it's for long standing payees too. And this is despite now having face ID. I registered for it straight away but they don't seem to ever actually use it.

Honourable mention goes to banking apps in general for bombarding the home screens with various "product recommendations" (ads) and other such services.

You can eliminate the use for the card reader now, only problem is you need a card reader to do that.

jameseonline

steven141 said:

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. 

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 payment

Basic?, clunky?, not many features?

I don't tend to understand/fully understand when people say things like that.

Nothing wrong with basic look as long as you can do what you need to do what's the problem. 

Clunky?, I don't find TSB/Nationwide apps clunky. Nationwide recently added options to their app allowing you to view more on home screen.

Not many features?, what specific features do you want/need from CO Operative, First Direct etc that you haven't mentioned?. First Direct recently launched notifications.

The new look Santander app looks more complicated to me & is taking more time to get used too, they have separate big boxes containing nothing more than a link for card details which could just be an option in the existing account boxes.

jameseonline

Rawrzy said:

Having gone through a lot of switches this year I have experience with a lot of apps, lol. Most of my annoyance with apps comes from lack of features, as I can usually figure out weird UI locations.

My top contenders for worst ones:

Nationwide. This is a weird one really because they actually updated the app recently, but it was mostly just a design update. The new update allows you to finally juse use biometrics/your picture etc to confirm payments instead of using a card reader which is nice. Unfortunately it's still lacking in features like managing your card, and I still couldn't find a place to turn on transaction notifications from the app. It's also still kind of style over substance at this point too.

You can manage your card in app: turn off gambling, freeze card, view expiry date, report lost/stolen, see if it's added to Google Pay

Rawrzy

jameseonline said:

Rawrzy said:

Having gone through a lot of switches this year I have experience with a lot of apps, lol. Most of my annoyance with apps comes from lack of features, as I can usually figure out weird UI locations.

My top contenders for worst ones:

Nationwide. This is a weird one really because they actually updated the app recently, but it was mostly just a design update. The new update allows you to finally juse use biometrics/your picture etc to confirm payments instead of using a card reader which is nice. Unfortunately it's still lacking in features like managing your card, and I still couldn't find a place to turn on transaction notifications from the app. It's also still kind of style over substance at this point too.

You can manage your card in app: turn off gambling, freeze card, view expiry date, report lost/stolen, see if it's added to Google Pay

You can't see the card details though, that's what particular features I missed with card management. At home I might not have my cards right next to me(infact since I have so many I tend to hide them away), but I always have my phone close and so I'd rather grab my phone to see the details instead when paying online for things.