Eccentric Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Joined Yorkshire Bank when I came to live here. Opened a no-nonsense, standard account without overdraft facility. The bank person invited me to come back three months later to have it upgraded, but I never did. I am completely debt-free and choose to remain so. I owe nothing to anyone. My debit card was: - swallowed by a Halifax ATM - refused at Sainsbury’s because of some software conflict - refused at Asda for some technical reason or other - blocked several times when I made on-line payments to Western Union for a bill that I pay abroad every couple of months Apart from that, I have no complaints. They are a subsidiary of Clydesdale Bank, which comes in handy whenever you’re in the Shetlands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEDROCK Posted June 21, 2013 Author Share Posted June 21, 2013 According to this survey by Which, these are the best banks 2012 in terms of customer service as voted by Which readers... http://www.which.co.uk/money/bank-accounts/reviews-ns/bank-accounts/best-banks-for-customer-satisfaction/ First Direct - 92% Smile - 87% The Co-Operative Bank - 87% The One Account - 85% Nationwide BS - 76% Intelligent Finance (IF) - 64% Yorkshire Bank - 61% Cahoot - 60% HSBC - 58% Lloyds TSB - 57% Clydesdale Bank - 55% Halifax - 55% Barclays - 54% NatWest - 54% The Royal Bank Of Scotland - 52% Northern Bank (NI) - 49% Santander - 49% Bank Of Scotland - 49% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeMac Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 According to this survey by Which, these are the best banks 2012 in terms of customer service as voted by Which readers... http://www.which.co.uk/money/bank-accounts/reviews-ns/bank-accounts/best-banks-for-customer-satisfaction/ First Direct - 92% Smile - 87% The Co-Operative Bank - 87% The One Account - 85% Nationwide BS - 76% Intelligent Finance (IF) - 64% Yorkshire Bank - 61% Cahoot - 60% HSBC - 58% Lloyds TSB - 57% Clydesdale Bank - 55% Halifax - 55% Barclays - 54% NatWest - 54% The Royal Bank Of Scotland - 52% Northern Bank (NI) - 49% Santander - 49% Bank Of Scotland - 49% I just moved from number 1 to number 5. I can confirm that both offer excellent customer service. Number 5 doesn't line the pockets of it's fund managers quite so readily. So, it gets my cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarissa Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Been with Lloyds TSB for three years. They offer a debit card for 11-15 year olds which you can use to pay for things in shops and online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parvo Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 apart from their unannounced system maintenance on Sunday evenings that renders their internet banking useless Santander also recently doubled their over draft fees, and insure that all debits go from accounts before credits so they can charge you a fee instantly. Unlike other banks that wait until the end of the day, santander will charge you the fee the second there is an issue, irrespective of what is about to be credited to the account. they also gave my money to someone else a few years ago - fortunately I got it back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkertelecoms Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 I went for SANTANDER mainly because they have sub-branches all over the place, plus their online banking system is far better than LLOYDS & NATWEST for me, which I'd previously tried, their login procedures were so tricky I constantly had to have reset passwords posted out to me. Although First Direct is #1 on this list, I don't want to deal with a bank I can't physically call into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEDROCK Posted June 22, 2013 Author Share Posted June 22, 2013 Also on the subject of internet banking, which banks are the safest to use for shopping websites that work best with PayPal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 they also gave my money to someone else a few years ago - fortunately I got it back When I had money taken from my account without my permission, Santander said there was no fraud on the account. I got back in touch and told them unless they give me my money back I'd go to the FSA and they quickly changed their mind and gave me the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat owl Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 I went for SANTANDER mainly because they have sub-branches all over the place, plus their online banking system is far better than LLOYDS & NATWEST for me, which I'd previously tried, their login procedures were so tricky I constantly had to have reset passwords posted out to me. Although First Direct is #1 on this list, I don't want to deal with a bank I can't physically call into. If you need to visit a branch you can use any HSBC outlet. First Direct & HSBC are the same Group. However, apart from paying in cash/cheques and drawing money out I can't think what else you'd need to visit an actual bank branch for that you couldn't sort out on-line or via the freephone number?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parvo Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 When I had money taken from my account without my permission, Santander said there was no fraud on the account. I got back in touch and told them unless they give me my money back I'd go to the FSA and they quickly changed their mind and gave me the money. with me they just put it in someone else's account and when that person queried it they never followed it up......It was when I went in for my money they told me my account was empty...and I found out what had happened, I got my money back but I bet they didn't...their own fault too - they should have called me when the other person queried why unexpected ££ were turning up in their account.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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