Final Fury

[gnommi]

Can anyone recommend a competent UK bank with simple and reliable online banking?

I have had it up to here with Barclays. Not only have they failed to bother sending me the hardware they now require me to use to access my own bank account and disabled my online access once, when I complained, they sent the hardware out to an address that I haven't lived at for at least FOUR YEARS. Despite the fact that at my first complaint, they confirmed my address as THIS ONE, and the fact that I confirmed my change of address by going into my local branch, online AND by letter and I've been recieving bank statements at this address since I moved.

Just to make it even more special, they have the other address down as an address to send 'non-confidential material to'. So why are they sending the stuff I need to access my account there?!

This just about tops it off really, I've already dealt with three years of them being unable to understand the concept of taking out a standing order on the correct day and not charging me for taking out money 7 days before I get paid and 5 days before the standing order date.

Any suggestions on how to change my bank welcome also, as I will have to change the account that all of my utility bills get paid from, and the account that my rent and payslip are attached to. I am crap at anything financial!

oh yeah I forgot to add then when I complained for the SECOND time, they said they had reactivated normal online banking. They haven't and now I am overdrawn, and I'VE BEEN CHARGED FOR IT. Even though I could easily have transferred money between my Barclays accounts IF THEY HAD re-enabled my online banking as I specifically requested.

Comments

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Oddly, yesterday afternoon Barclays refused a cheque I paid in as it didn't match my exact account name (It was made to 'David' rather than "Mr. D"), and I decided much the same thing.
I see that the Coventry Building Society are offering 4% on a current account, which is as good as it gets, so I'm looking at them.

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

that's not a shoddy interest rate at all

Barclays service seems to have been circling the pan for some time now, but this lastest attack of muppetry is the limit

I have to say that I do not look forward to the Niagara of paperwork that this is bound to entail

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I was intending to drop in and tell them that if they didn't beat - not match, beat - the Coventry, then I'd be moving my account forthwith.
I might go to the Nationwide, though, as they have a branch just round the corner from me, just for convenience.

[kotenok.livejournal.com]

Yes, Cooperative.

I opened an account with them in October. It was quick, efficient, their internet banking is great, I now have a debit card (the first bank to give me one in four years) and best of all they refuse to deal with companies that are arms traders. They're about the most ethical high street bank, and far and away the best customer service I've ever had from a bank as well.

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

ooh I shall look into them also

I'll see where there Southampton branch is...

[wrong1.livejournal.com]

I beleive it is down near La Lupa somewhere.

[kotenok.livejournal.com]

Plus, you can use the Post Office to pay cheques etc in - you don't actually need to go to a branch. Applications for accounts can be done online.

I use..

[evildrem.livejournal.com]

Lloyds TSB and have done for years. They seem to be less fuckwitted then most of the high street banks and have an excellent online banking system which I have also been using for years which means I can transfer money back and forth between accounts easily and also pay other people direct. they don't charge for any of this and the online system has a fairly simple password and ID verification system.

Re: I use..

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

Barclays' online banking is pretty good on the whole, except now i can't use the damn thing!
but yeah I really need online banking cos I never get anywhere near branches in opening hours

Re: I use..

[silver-daisy.livejournal.com]

I'm with Lloyds too, they were a bit crap about sending me my new debit card when the last one expired, and they tried to lower my overdraft limit once without warning me (but changed their minds when I rang them). Other than that I have had no problems over more than 10 years.

Re: I use..

[dpurdu.livejournal.com]

I would add a second thumbs up for LloydsTSB I havent personally had any problems with them,

[sideshow-al.livejournal.com]

I opened an account with the Nationwide before moving out of the country, mainly because I had been advised that their charges for access abroad were the best of any bank. This has turned out to be very true, and my experience with dealing with them has been awesome. Technically it is not a bank, is it is one of the few remaining mutual building societies, but that makes it better right?

The cost of making a typical foreign ATM withdrawal was up to £5 less than with the Natwest.

[wererogue.livejournal.com]

Or rather, lack of charges...

I've never had any serious trouble from the Nationwide that a phone call or letter couldn't fix.

[(Anonymous)]

I would ordinarily recommend First Direct, because their online banking isn't obnoxious, and they have real, helpful humans staffing their 24/7 phone bank. They've been real life-savers once or twice in the past, and they're routinely more helpful than any bank counter staff I've ever met.

[e.g. a nice woman with a Scottish accent called me on Monday, she wasn't at all put out when I insisted on some sort of proof that she was really calling from First Direct, and offered to exchange fragments from my secret Q&As, a bit like one of those spy movies ("Nice weather for a boat trip" "I hear it's been raining in Portsmouth"). It turns out someone had found my VISA card in the street, and I'd been none the wiser about losing it. Having confirmed who we both were, we reviewed my recent purchases and found that my luck continues to hold. No-one has bought any ballet slippers with my card. New one in the post. ]

However, the interest rates on an ordinary current account with them are pretty poor, and you probably won't qualify for a better account because you don't have enough income or keep much money in the bank. Also you seem like you might use an actual bank branch, and First Direct don't have those.

So if you can, I'd look for either a small bank (most of them still belong to a huge international banking corporation, but the bank itself has some autonomy) or a building society. The big high street banks just don't want your custom enough to deliver good customer service.

[bodedendrumbush.livejournal.com]

Natwest is really good I manage to handle my current a/c, credit card, ISA and e-savings a/c online with them all the way from the Antipodes. There have been no online hiccups, touch wood (she says clinging to her desk).