Can anyone recommend a decent internet current account?

Hooo

I very nearly went with Lloyds TSB.
But two people I know said they had had nightmares with their customer service, and said they knew other other people who'd had the same experience. They were both in the process of moving their accounts to another bank.

SwitchyChick

I’m a newbie poster but felt prompted to join this discussion because of all the banks mentioned. We have had a Premier Direct current account (which comes bundled with a linked Plus Saver account) with A&L since October 2006 and not had any problems. Their customer service response to secure e-mails has been prompt when we’ve needed to use them (once when salary didn’t hit the account on time and we went over our O/D limit I e-mailed straight away and they waived the fee!) We used their switching service when we set up the account and I seem to recall they didn’t transfer one of the DDs but it was resolved quickly and without fuss.
I have also had a Smile account for 7 years and again have never had any problems. Someone on the thread (can't remember if it was this one) was asking about ethical bank accounts and the Co-operative is meant to be pretty good on the ethical front.

h5djr

I very nearly went with Lloyds TSB.
But two people I know said they had had nightmares with their customer service, and said they knew other other people who'd had the same experience. They were both in the process of moving their accounts to another bank.

I'm sure there is always someone who knows someone else who has had trouble with just about every bank in the country at some time or another.

Personally I've never had any problems with Lloyds, but I have had with other banks trying to sort out problems for my mother and my mother-in-law. Now all the accounts are with Lloyds and I can see and look after them all from the one internet site. My brother also banks with Lloyds so any transfer between any of the family and very easy to achieve.

JohalaReewi

I struggled for a year with A&L. The online access was naff. The account balance figure didn't match the total of the listed transactions and transactions took an extra day to process compared to a proper bank. Phoning CS was a nightmare. When I moved, they couldn't change my address for weeks and trying to get a tax certificate from them was worse than getting blood from a stone. So glad I dumped them.

h5djr

In the latest issue of the computer magazine PC Pro there is a comparison between the online banking of most of the leading banks.

Aliktren

Switched from Barclays 2 years to ago to Nationwide and have never looked back, our very small local branch is fantastic

ps646566

h5djr wrote: »

As so far no one has mentioned Lloyds TSB I will. I have banked with them for over 40 years and I have had not real problems. Their 'Plus' accounts pay a reasonable rate of interest. I have been using their internet banking ever since it was launch and have never had any problems with it. It has a good interface and is quick and straight forward.

In the last few weeks I have been into my branch a couple of times and received excellent service. I have also called the phone banking service and had an almost instant answer, the person at the call centre knew what the were doing and were polite and efficient.

I would agree. For a start I would not have a main current account with anyone but a proper high street bank, not a glorified building society. I don't think the latter are in general administratively up to it.

Lloyds TSB Classic Plus account (no fee) pays a decent rate of interest on balances up to £2500. Their Online Saver account pays a substantially better rate, and you can move money instantly between the two as often as you like. You can also pay up to £10000 a day by BACS online out of the current account, whereas some banks restrict this to inconveniently small daily payment totals. The website interface is good and simple and the telephone support is not bad, certainly no worse than most.

The only problems I have had with Lloyds are that their central clearing house lost a couple of smallish cheques that I sent for paying in, so I now always do that at a branch via the cashpoint or deposit box. Also if you go to the counter at a branch they always try to sell you something -- upgrade your account, take out a credit card, make an appointment to see an advisor etc. But I suspect that this is now the case at pretty much all the banks -- you just have to politely fob them off each and every time.

Hooo

h5djr wrote: »

In the latest issue of the computer magazine PC Pro there is a comparison between the online banking of most of the leading banks.

Sounds like just what I'm looking for. I'll go and buy a copy.

Hooo

ps646566 wrote: »

The only problems I have had with Lloyds are that their central clearing house lost a couple of smallish cheques that I sent for paying in

Now I would class losing cheques as a pretty serious problem! I'm guessing that it was only luck that they only lost small cheques rather than big ones. That's a good enough reason to avoid Lloyds. In all my years of bank accounts I've had banks take other peoples DDs out of my account, and lots of other annoyances, but all these things show up on statements. How do you prove you paid a cheque in when there's no record? How much trouble was it to get the money back?

h5djr

Lloyds TSB Classic Plus account (no fee) pays a decent rate of interest on balances up to £2500. Their Online Saver account pays a substantially better rate, and you can move money instantly between the two as often as you like.

Lloyds TSB have introduced a new 'Internet Saver' account to replace the Online Saver and it's paying a slightly better rate of interest. When I spoke to their call centre a week or so ago, they told me about the account and set one up for me and transferred my Online Saver balance to a new Internet Saver.