Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 52 total)
  • totally Ot – Current bank accounts – who do you use and why ?
  • trail_rat
    Free Member

    currently with BOS and cant help but think im being shagged 6 ways from sunday ….

    CC payments take 3/4 days to go through even when i select the ASAP option.

    Incoming payments take 24 hrs – even when i select ASAP.

    going the otherway to my nationwide account is done ASAP – and my nation wide CC (for work) gets paid off instantly when i select the asap option ….

    BOS are getting increasingly unhelpful in that ive tried to change my address 3 times and they STILL send half my stuff to one address and half to another – and hold the wrong information on their online banking system…..hassles not really worth the 10 quid a month they give me !

    currently thinking i might just transfer everything to nationwide and binning the BOS CC – hardly use it anyway. – anyone got a good reason not to ? or a better current account – and if i can be bothered transfering money in and out i could probably still get that 10 quid a month 😉

    DrJ
    Full Member

    First Direct – no competition

    forge197
    Free Member

    First Direct – just works, great service all days every day, and when there have been issues they are looked into, resolved and followed up, often with a little cash gift 🙂

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    titusrider
    Free Member

    I use nationwide as i like a highstreet option if neccesary (how do you pay checks into first direct then?)
    anyway the main reson i seem to stick with them is the fact they dont have a massive investment banking arm and I like their online accounts system interface

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    do folks still use cheques ?

    ive used 4 cheques out my cheque book i got with my grown up account aged 18 – used them alot for races – before everything happened with debit cards !

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    NatWest here – mainly because I’ve had it for decades, but also because their online banking is pretty good:

    – decent security: random letters from a double password + a physical card reader to secure transfers

    – nice readable online statements

    – ability to go paperless and save a tree.

    – text alerts based on balance

    – iPhone app for quick balance checks

    dooosuk
    Free Member

    titusrider – FirstDirect/HSBC are pretty much the same thing so you can pay cheques etc. in at the HSBC branches.

    I’m currently with Halifax…purely as they gave me £100 to move to them. I like free cash. I was with Nationwide and FirstDirect before them to get the free cash too 🙂

    simon_g
    Full Member

    First Direct here too.

    One advantage to my mind is that they *don’t* use silly cardreader things so I can use my online banking from wherever I like.

    Have only used cheques recently for sending to the council for a parking permit and to get a large amount of cash out of an HSBC branch.

    joolsburger
    Free Member

    Natwest here because they treat me as a person and I can actually see a person if I need to.

    thebunk
    Full Member

    ‘nother FDer here. Everything just works and you can phone them up and someone answers straight away and fixes the problems. Amazing…

    surfer
    Free Member

    Intelligent Finance because they do a really good offsetting deal which allows me to offset my savings and ISA against my mortgage interest rate. Also the online system works well.

    Rich
    Free Member

    Halifax, I get £5 per month for free, never had any issues either.

    Dibbs
    Free Member

    NatWest, only because I’ve been with them since about 1968 (before they were NatWest) and I’m too idle to change.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    One advantage to my mind is that they *don’t* use silly cardreader things so I can use my online banking from wherever I like.

    NatWest only require the card reader when you are making a payment to a new payee.
    You don’t need it for other online banking, inter-account transfers or payments to known payees.

    So I think it adds a useful layer of protection – even if your main details were somehow compromised the hacker couldn’t then transfer any money out.

    simon_g
    Full Member

    NatWest only require the card reader when you are making a payment to a new payee.
    You don’t need it for other online banking, inter-account transfers or payments to known payees.

    So I think it adds a useful layer of protection – even if your main details were somehow compromised the hacker couldn’t then transfer any money out

    To an extent, although making payments to new payees is fairly frequent for me as it’s easier than dealing with cash or cheques. Just the other day I did a transfer to someone I’ve not set up before to pay for a stag do in a couple of months. Paying for secondhand bike bits and the like is easiest that way too, and rather unlikely I’ve either set them up before or would have the card thing on me.

    5lab
    Full Member

    hsbc. They’re ok and I’m too lazy to change 🙂

    amplebrew
    Full Member

    First Direct for me too.

    They’ve always been really friendly and helpful when I’ve had to call them and also quick to sort out any issues.

    I’ve been with them for 15 years now and can’t think of a single bad word to say about them.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Paying for secondhand bike bits and the like is easiest that way too, and rather unlikely I’ve either set them up before or would have the card thing on me.

    Fair enough, I’m not in the habit of needing to make new bank transfers for secondhand bike bits etc while I’m out and about.

    It’s not exactly huge if you do need to carry it, about the size of a pocket calculator:

    konabunny
    Free Member

    Smile. Good but the **** pocket calculator security bollocks is annoying.

    toby1
    Full Member

    HSBC through inertia as much as anything, that being said I really do like their online banking – haven’t had to call or visit a branch for some time unless paying physical items in like cash or cheques. Also I love the coin counting machine in the branch where I can go in, enter the card, then just pour a hoegarden glasses worth of random coins into my account and they are instantly credited to my account. So actually they aren’t that bad after all!

    momo
    Full Member

    Barclays customer here since I was 13, my dads business account was with them so they just set me up with a savings account which then became my current account, so I’ve had the same account number for almost 20 years now. I’m also an ex-staff member so still get the staff perks on my account.

    ArcticBeast
    Free Member

    Currently with lloyds but getting stiffed by them and fed up with them wanting me to come into a branch under the pretense of a account review just so they can try and sell me house insurance and a pay for account, looking at moving to santander only because they are giving away £100 at the moment.

    jonb
    Free Member

    Recently changed from HSBC to Halifax.

    Nothing wrong with HSBC except the rates of interest on current accounts were low.

    IHN
    Full Member

    RBS, ‘cos I worked for them many years ago and they’ve always been okay. Will wait to see what happens with the Santander take over of the branches and accounts. May go FD then.

    edd
    Full Member

    NatWest – they seem to treat me well.

    Stoner
    Free Member

    Barclays: Because their online banking is excellent and we have half a dozen accounts we can use for free. I also have a free £1k overdraft on each of the current accounts which is handy because I keep balances as low as possible so that they dont make any money out of me. It costs them money to run current accounts with virtually no money in them, but they screwed me over on a mortgage smallprint issue so I now keep my savings, ISAs etc somewhere else and just leave them with the expensive products to manage.

    woody2000
    Full Member

    Nationwide Flex Account – I switched to NW as it offered free cash from ATMs anywhere in the world and I was heading off on a RTW trip. They don’t do that anymore, but NW have always been helpful and easy to use so I’ve stuck with them. I do get free travel insuarance with the account, owt for nowt makes me happy 🙂

    nickjb
    Free Member

    hsbc. They’re ok and I’m too lazy to change

    That. Plus their on-line stuff is way better than others I’ve tried. We’ve got the joint with Natwest and their on-line banking is too fiddly

    donsimon
    Free Member

    Banesto coz they used to sponsor a cycling team and currently use Rafa Nadal in their advertising, if it’s good enough for Rafa, it’s good enough for me.

    allthepies
    Free Member

    Lloyds – their “vantage” account pays 4% (gross) interest if you’ve got > £5K and is instant access. Lovely jubbly.

    Spud
    Full Member

    Smile here too. Because I can’t be bothered finding a branch these days with most closing near me.

    andytherocketeer
    Full Member

    Natwest – Worse than useless for me. Threatened to sue them when they screwed up my overdraft… TWICE! They coughed up all consequential costs… including my £9 per letter/phone call “administrative costs”.

    Refuse to accept my letters for change of address “because it’s an overseas address” and “they don’t have my signature on file” WTF!? 🙄 (the address on file is another overseas address and they had no issue when I moved there!!!). So I emptied the a/c and put a block on mail being sent.

    A+L/Santander – No issues.

    Dutch and German a/c – No issues.

    allyharp
    Full Member

    RBS. Mainly because my parents used them so I opened my first account there about 15 years ago.

    And I cannot change at the moment as I have interest free graduate overdraft for another year and a half. (Mind you, I don’t actually use it)

    But what I like about them is summed up by GrahamS. Their online banking is streets ahead of Santander or BOS which I’ve also used.
    The card reader can be a bit inconvenient mind you.

    tobytaylorj
    Free Member

    HSBC all the way, excellent web interface, no stupid calculator thing for entering your pin. cash transfers in 2hrs not 3/4 days – streets ahead of Abbey National who are awful.

    If HSBC leave the UK I will move to Barclays

    Haze
    Full Member

    After many hassle free years with Barclays I switched to A&L/Santander on the advice of my beloved (and with a little cash incentive).

    Who promptly **** up everything they do, everytime without fail.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    I’m a Scottish Natwest customer about to be offloaded to Santander (Natwest have to sell all their branches in England).

    I’ve heard bad things about Santander 🙁

    I’ve never had a problem with Natwest (well not ones that weren’t self inflicted student stupidity) and I’m toying with the idea of having my branch relocated to somewhere in England so that I can stay with them. I have a RBS business account which is OK.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    I’m a Scottish Natwest customer about to be offloaded to Santander (Natwest have to sell all their branches in England).

    Wassat? Not heard anything about this (for historical reasons I have my personal NatWest account at a branch in Glasgow and our joint account at a branch near Manchester)

    konabunny
    Free Member

    btw, you’ll notice people are very reluctant to change their banks. this is why they were always so keen to throw cash and HMV vouchers at students to get them to open accounts – people open them at 19 and then keep them for the next sixty years until they die.

    interestingly (!) in Australia there’s been a proposal that people’s bank account numbers etc should “port” in the same way as phone numbers so that switching is easier. Not sure how that would work with bank/sort codes, come to think of it…

    konabunny
    Free Member

    PS RBS International in Jersey? Utter, utter morons. Avoid at all costs. Incapable of correctly executing simple instructions even when provided in writing to them months in advance, just like they ask.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    GrahamS – http://natwestbranchinformation.com/?DCMP=ILC-PersHPDivestTxt

    Although I’ve just remembered that some of the Edinburgh branch staff are morons. They set me up with an appointment for their business manager. When I turned up, a week after I’d made the appointment, they informed me that the chap had left the bank 2 months previously!

    RBS is Natwest to all intents and purposes though, so if I don’t keep my branch in Englandshire, I’ll move to RBS.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 52 total)

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