I’ve had enough for FirstDirect, their web application is antiquated, mobile app is horrendous. The only thing going for them are the nice people who are on the phone!

The wife and I have been customers for years, and just wanted to open a joint savings account to save for Christmas – only to be told its a 30 minute process and we have to provide details on earnings, outgoing etc. Just to open a bloody savings account.

So, who is a good alternative to bank with these days? Ideally I’d like a good web application, as a I spend a bit of time weekly looking through statements and moving money around.

I find it really easy to move money around using their app, it’s certainly getting better!
Also,nice people on the phone…that means a lot especially when you want to talk to someone (usually when something has gone wrong, I suppose)!

I’ve been with First Direct for years. Just ring them up if the app is a pain. I had to ring them yesterday – the phone was answered before I even heard the ring tone.

I appreciate this is no help, but I share your frustrations with First Direct, particularly the online banking/app.

Last week I wanted to check my balance but the app on my phone had automatically updated, which results in it thinking it’s a new phone, therefore it needs verifying either using the old phone (which I don’t have because IT IS the new phone) or talking to customer services and giving them a short life history. Even with customer services on the line guiding me through it, it took a good 20 minutes of going round loops in the security, resetting passwords (not because I’d forgotten them), waiting for verification codes, and coming up against error messages, before they got me in. For those that don’t know, the app also provides extra authentication for the website, so is essential.

Still, last time I asked on here about alternatives, no-one seemed to think there was anything much better.

Currently act as an executor for an estate and my experience from dealing with a selection of leading banks leads me to offer the recommendation that you buy gold and put under the bed in a box marked “UKIP Election Material”.

I recently moved to First Direct from co-op. Move process was easy, but the app and online site is awful. Not a patch on the co-op app.

If they weren’t in so much shit, I’d recommend the co-op everytime.

I just left Smile (Co-Op) after 16 happy years, after the dreadful new website had so many issues and security shortcomings. That and the bank is on the verge of imploding…

I am now with M&S (HSBC underneath) so far so good. Even better by the over £300 of sweetener M&S vouchers we have had for moving bank account, opening credit card and taking car insurance this year…

TNWind I’ve only ever had that issue the first time I’ve used the app on a genuinely new phone and then it has updated fine every time.

I have banked with them for so long I can’t compare other websites. Why do you say it is so bad?

I’m with Nationwide and the online stuff seems pretty good to me.

Agreed FD is a good bank but the app and web is terrible

Left FD cos hated their online stuff, been with Lloyds since. (But still use First Direct Internet Banking Plus, can’t believe it’s the only one out there!) Lloyds online stuff doesn’t need a massive 1980s calculator to log in/transfer money and the phone app is very good.
Savings accounts take seconds to open.

I’m with FD, and yep, the online and mobile app are awful. But as others have suggested if I need to anything more complex that checking my balance*, I call them.

* thinking about it, I don’t even use the app for this, as normally use a cashpoint…

I suppose it depends how much you bank online. I use First Direct but don’t bank online at all (Luddite who only got a first smartphone last week).

Get cash/check balance at the cash machines. Phone once a month to pay credit card bill. Compared to any other organisation the phone service is so good it must outweigh issues in other areas.

I phoned Virgin Media about a router problem last week. It involved several calls to foreign tech service line to be told there was nothing they could do and finally calling UK customer retention team to say I was leaving before they gave me a new router (1st gen replaced by Mk3 version).

Why do you say it is so bad?

Hard to put my finger on exactly, but it just feels clunky, out of date and not intuitive. Not a huge issue really, just aesthetic, but…

The other week I was buying a car and I wanted to set up the new payee so I could transfer the money on the spot. You can transfer money via the app, but only to previously used payees. I couldn’t add a payee on the website without sending them money. OK, so I could have sent them £0.01 or something, but it’s just badly thought out, which sums up the experience really.

Lloyds online stuff doesn’t need a massive 1980s calculator to log in/transfer money

The FD app doesn’t. You selected that option when you set up the system. I don’t have one and have never had one with FD smart device app or online banking. My wife has one with HSBC. I guess the option is there as some people like an independent security device.

I’m a bit concerned with all this slating of the FD app. I have absolutely no issues with it at all, it does everything I want. I’m worried about what it is that everyone is trying to do with the app but can’t and should I be doing it…or at least trying to do it.

Check balances – easy within 30 seconds.
Transfer money between accounts and existing beneficiaries – easy within 30 seconds.
Transfer money to new beneficiaries – until recently you couldn’t do this on the app and had to use their online site. It was a minor annoyance, but with the latest phone app update I can now do that.
Issues after app updates – never had that issue after years of updates on my old and creaky iPhone 5 – sounds like more of a phone update issue rather than app update issue. And in anycase whatever triggered it was probably a security thing to prevent fraud and theft, which I’m happy for a bit of inconvenience in the name of security at the end of the day. Better to suffer occasional inconvenience rather than dealing with the situation that someone’s hacked your app and emptied your savings account and taken out £30K of credit in your name.

Not sure what more people want out of their banking apps. But anyway that wasn’t the op’s original question. I know a few mates who swapped to Lloyds and Halifax when they were offering £100 to new customers and seem to have stuck with them so I guess that is a vote of satisfaction for them.

+1

Not sure if the OP is on the latest version but i felt the new release sorted out most of the issues and the interface was much cleaner.

Sure i paid a new beneficiary from the app the other day. It was frustrating you couldn’t do it on the old app but i assumed it was because if some one nicked your phone they wouldn’t be able to transfer all your money.

I dislike the web version though, not sure why it has to open in that silly little window.

I opened an additional joint account a couple of months back and the lady told me there are new regulations requiring them to ask more stuff than in the past.

The FD app doesn’t

Didn’t actually say it did, but I left them for some reason – it was so long ago I thought it was that, but may have been their stupid TV ads (probaly not though)

Have recently moved to Nationwide which I find really good. Opened savings account online and instantly iirc. Get 5% on that and on my current account for a year. See CC account in the same view.

Not sure if you can add payees in the app, might need the security card reader. App is fingerprint lock though which is handy.

If you know a current nationwide customer you both get £100 if you switch

The website is a bit clunky, but FD’s customer service is so good I am more than willing to put up with it.

Also, the web and app will change, but other banks won’t suddenly start having really good phone service.

I was with FD for years but also got fed up with the mobile app. So went to TSB got money for switching, monthly bonus for using contactless and an app with full functionality!

Can’t complain at all!

If it’s just somewhere to stash some cash, try monzo. Supposed to be very good, not sure how convoluted the signup process is though.

https://monzo.com

I use the FD app with an iPhone se, so all I need to log in is my fingerprint – I generally have that with me!
I agree that some transactions can be a little complicated, but I assumed that’s in response to fraud, so maybe not such a bad thing?

I’ve recently swapped to FD and think the app isn’t as bad as most are making out.

It allows me to do all the basic banking transactions I need and anything else i call them up at any point in the day/night and they will deal with it.

After being with RBS for 16 years and them not being able to answer a phone if their life depended on it I appreciate the good customer service.

From what I gather everything with FD is easier if you put all of your banking with them so they have visibility of your accounts and can make decisions quickly, that’s certainly what me and friends who are with them have experienced. Savings accounts, credit cards, loans, all setup and approved in minutes.

The basic app is clunky but you can get more features by changing your login method, including ability to add new payees