Bank of choice

[wasp]

I have had enough of my bank today after a sries of problems after problems...

I've been with them for quite some time and I have now decided it's time to change as I cannot rely on them to look after my money any longer.

Thought I'd try to get a general consencus of the more popular banks before choosing where to go...

All thoughts positive and negative appreciated

Chris

PS. My current bank is Natwest

 

[chump]

Bank of Chump ?

Ok , a little more seriously .I run a current and savers with Cahoot amongst others. Been consistently problem free for nearly two years. Can't say more than that.

 

[wasp]

At the moment I'm looking at

ONLINE

First direct
Cahoot
Smile

and/or

HIGH STREET

HSBC
Barclays
ABBEY

If anyone has any opinions of the above it would be good...

 

[chump]

First Direct has also been problem free but I've only had them since Cahoot brought in their limits on savers. They'be been ok though. First Direct also have a marginally better % for savers but contra that with draw out clause that penalises for the period so overall they are about the same on %. These two are the top savers a/c's at this time and indeed they have been for quite a while. I'm not including the the a/c's which basically pay high returns on peanuts for a year.

 

[wasp]

Cheers chump,

Anyone got any opinions on the other banks at all?

 

[trendie]

I was with smile - they are good.
But I have changed recently to Alliance and Leicester. ( on-line ).

You have a free overdraft facility of £1,000. That means you dont pay anything to have £1,000 of THEIR money. ( may only be for 12 months though ).
if in credit, they are high payers, interest-rate wise.
depends what you want - high interest-rate, fee-free overdraft etc.
I regularly check moneyextra.com or moneysupermarket.com for stuff like that.

( also, they have high-interest paying / low-fee business-account, and so transfers to my personal account are instant, thats why I am with A+L )

 

[ericardlussa]

banks

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I have had enough of my bank today after a sries of problems after problems...

I've been with them for quite some time and I have now decided it's time to change as I cannot rely on them to look after my money any longer.

Thought I'd try to get a general consencus of the more popular banks before choosing where to go...

All thoughts positive and negative appreciated

Chris

PS. My current bank is Natwest

 

[ericardlussa]

ignore my laconic previous post! Which magazine( from memory) recommend First Direct.... try the "which" web site... not sure if access permitted to past recommendations for non members but it may be worthwhile to join ,if you end up with the right choice. good luck!!

I have had enough of my bank today after a sries of problems after problems...

I've been with them for quite some time and I have now decided it's time to change as I cannot rely on them to look after my money any longer.

Thought I'd try to get a general consencus of the more popular banks before choosing where to go...

All thoughts positive and negative appreciated

Chris

PS. My current bank is Natwest

 

[oatman]

You're better off online. Then you don't have to deal with the clowns behind the counter asking you if you have a mortgage and would you like to save money. I'm sure they're not qualified to give advice.Start them on interest rates and they're buried straght away.
Last December a silly girl in Thomas Crook (yes Crook,have you seen their rates?) was trying to tell me that the dollar was strong. I tried to explain if the number went up,you got more of it so the currency was going down. She wouldn't have it.

 

[wasp]

Do the online accounts like First direct have any affiliation with the main company (ie HSBC) or is it completely seperate?

 

[wasp]

Hi all,

Still not decided....

Been suggested Citibank. Anyone have any experience/opinions of them?

 

[Directional]

I'm using and can recommend the virgin one account. aside from being able to pay for your house out of your account, as a stand alone banking facility the online features are truly excellent - all kinds of tools, graphs and analysis you can do, including spending estimates, creating saving accounts and customized plans, breaking up your spending into categories and analysing your income, outgoings based on direct debits & bills, estimated outgoings based on previous expenditure etc. Also nice and easy to create and schedule online payments and transfers etc.

Aside from the bells & whistles, I like knowing exactly where my account is at every day and whats going in and coming out of my account - enables me to do just that.

 

[TheSpikeyCrow]

Do the online accounts like First direct have any affiliation with the main company (ie HSBC) or is it completely seperate?

chrisw

First Direct are a member of the HSBC group. Have held an account with them for 5 years and can't fault their service. Don't know if they still do this but they also managed the entire bank transfer process from beginning to end. Direct debits, standing orders, the lot. Reduced the 'headache factor' of moving banks considerably.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.


Spikey.