Whats the best bank?

platypus · 10 Jul 2008 at 11:44

Freedom said:
But its hard to say whos the best, You'll get people who have been with one bank for years and haven't had a single problem, then you'll get somebody else who has been with that bank and had lot's of problems.

Yep, I've been with Natwest for ages and haven't had a problem with them. I've had some cracking special offers as a long term paying customer as well. I know that for newer customers though they're not great.

High street banks do not offer great interest rates generally though.

Jez · 10 Jul 2008 at 11:50

platypus said:
Yep, I've been with Natwest for ages and haven't had a problem with them. I've had some cracking special offers as a long term paying customer as well. I know that for newer customers though they're not great.

High street banks do not offer great interest rates generally though.

WHat special offers are these? I move a hell of a lot of money through Natwest and would be interested in seeing what i can blag off them!

For the record i have always found them very good, in terms of current accounts anyway. Their savings schemes are a joke and they dont seem to value custom in that department anyway, hence my move to kaupthingedge and icesave.

jrodga2k5 · 10 Jul 2008 at 11:52

TheDean said:
RBS. brilliant customer service

I'll echo that!

Their student account is ideal for me as it is 0% interest and when you move onto a graduate account with them they wade you off it at 0% decreasing the interest free amount each year over 3years. Ideal for me but of course that would be my circumstances

Jez · 10 Jul 2008 at 11:53

jrodga2k5 said:
I'll echo that!

Their student account is ideal for me as it is 0% interest and when you move onto a graduate account with them they wade you off it at 0% decreasing the interest free amount each year over 3years. Ideal for me but of course that would be my circumstances

This is the way all student accounts work...

wannabedamned · 10 Jul 2008 at 11:55

hmm, I'm with alliance and Leicester, have been for about 3 months now, and I've had nothing but good service, Their internet banking is great too.

Suprised no one has mentioned them. Hopefully thats not a bad sign

platypus · 10 Jul 2008 at 12:00

Jez said:
WHat special offers are these? I move a hell of a lot of money through Natwest and would be interested in seeing what i can blag off them!

For the record i have always found them very good, in terms of current accounts anyway. Their savings schemes are a joke and they dont seem to value custom in that department anyway, hence my move to kaupthingedge and icesave.

Well, when I graduated they offered me an ISA account with a higher then market interest rate if I took an account with a monthly fee, rather then the usual free ones, for 5 years. So my ISA is still at 7.2% monthly interest, which is pretty good, and has 2 years to run before I find a good rate to move too.

They did also offer me a savings account with a decent (higher then market rate) interest rate, but as you say they don't really seem to care about savings accounts (I dont think any high street bank does), so my main savings accounts are elsewhere.

Jez · 10 Jul 2008 at 12:02

Wow, not bad. How much is the monthly fee though and what do you get for it?

Mat · 10 Jul 2008 at 12:13

When I worked for NatWest we had a customer whose card wasn't working in the ATM... another was ordered for her; name was wrong... another was ordered for her; it was too big (too big?!!) to go in the slot... another was ordered for her; success \o/

Majago · 10 Jul 2008 at 14:23

Stinky said:
so how much will i get on my £300 (ibiza fund just started) end of the month? lol,

About 90p

wannabedamned said:
hmm, I'm with alliance and Leicester, have been for about 3 months now, and I've had nothing but good service, Their internet banking is great too.

Suprised no one has mentioned them. Hopefully thats not a bad sign

I'd vote for A&L as well. Only joined about 3 months ago too but the sign-up process was slick as was the DD transfer service.

Have had dreadful experiences at more than 1 branch of HSBC though and would never use them (for banking) again.

Energize · 10 Jul 2008 at 15:54

Stinky said:
so how much will i get on my £300 (ibiza fund just started) end of the month? lol,

At 3.75% AER you will average 94p a month before tax.

boycee · 10 Jul 2008 at 16:15

uknowist said:
barclays F T W

Seconded...

platypus · 10 Jul 2008 at 16:27

Jez said:
Wow, not bad. How much is the monthly fee though and what do you get for it?

http://www.natwest.com/personal/day-to-day/current-accounts/g1/accounts-with-extras.ashx

I have an advantage gold account. Bearing in mind it was something they offered me to upgrade my student account - you might not get the same offer.

Lord-Jaffa · 10 Jul 2008 at 16:34

There is no best bank, everyone will give you a different opinion of their own experiances of horror from each one.

However Alliance and Leicester at the moment have an INSANE interest rate on their current and savings accounts, so i would go with them.

*edit* personally I'm with Lloyds TSB, their internet banking is second to none, which is partly the reason i cannot be bothered to change elsewhere. Barclays and Natwest have awful Internet banking, Barclays is especially bad.

Beerguzzler · 10 Jul 2008 at 17:59

I currently use Lloyds and they seem okay, the internet banking is good but I hate being charged every time I purchase something from abroad. Might have to change to a different one going by the good reviews on here.

Jez · 10 Jul 2008 at 18:51

platypus said:
http://www.natwest.com/personal/day-to-day/current-accounts/g1/accounts-with-extras.ashx

I have an advantage gold account. Bearing in mind it was something they offered me to upgrade my student account - you might not get the same offer.

The extra's seem especially good on the "advantage private account".

The advisor is informing me that there is no monthly fee, it seems rather too good to be true. I have arranged for a meeting to possibly set one up tomorrow - why i didn't look into decent accounts before i have no idea. Many thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Energize · 10 Jul 2008 at 18:59

Jez said:
The advisor is informing me that there is no monthly fee, it seems rather too good to be true. )

Considering you need to invest £50,000 or put £75,000 into the account every year, it's hardly too good to be true is it?

Jez · 10 Jul 2008 at 19:21

How is it not so? Look at the list of benefits for doing nothing extra. The individual fees for even half that list add up to rather a lot of money.

Energize · 10 Jul 2008 at 22:06

Jez said:
How is it not so? Look at the list of benefits for doing nothing extra. The individual fees for even half that list add up to rather a lot of money.

Because the amount of interest the bank is getting on that money far outweighs what they are giving you.

If you put £50k in a savings account at 7.11% you would get £3,555 a year.

The chance of anyone claiming on insurance policies is also very low meaning that they aren't even paying for insurance for most people while still being able to offer it.

Jez · 10 Jul 2008 at 22:10

There is no minimum balance? :confused:

Energize · 10 Jul 2008 at 22:18

Jez said:
There is no minimum balance?

What does that have to do with anything?

You have to pay a monthly fee of £19.95 for those extra features, the standard private account doesn't give you them. Only the "advantage account" has the extra features.

When you put the money into the account the bank makes significant earnings on it and they will take 3 days to transfer it to another account in which they earn on it, and you get nothing. When they make so much money on what you put in and you pay a monthly fee, it's not exactly shocking that you get extras with it.