Best bank account

leigh_boy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:37

iv been with santander since 2005 and to say im happy with the account would be a lie, i find them a paint to deal with, iv had loans from them and credit cards and when ever i have reduced the limits and then wanted to put them back up its a ball ache so i closed the all down and just had my current account with them, especially after they said oh ye it says on our system you can get a good rate on a loan with us so did the process and then got declined it really hacked me off, then a week later they said oh i see you can get a credit card with us would you like one .. needles to say i told them to do one.

so im looking to change bank in general ideal where online i can see bending transaction , im not interested in this we will give you £120 for moving deals from halifax but ideally i want an account that will open up potential for credit cards, loans and my mortgage rates ( looking to change in august 2016) so tell me your experiences or latest deals you have seen.
thanks in advance.

robfosters · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:39

I was with Lloyds and hated them. I switched to Nationwide and have been very happy with them. They are quite liberal when it comes to lending.

Josh · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:41

I'm also with Santander, have been since 2002, won't be staying with them come August.

Barclays or Nationwide seem to be where I am looking at heading, I need to look into both more however.

No debt so no need for a CC etc but want to see what they are offering.

leigh_boy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:41

i think lloyds , santander , halifax are all part of the same group so want to avoid them i think so that leave barcleys,natwest and nation wide ?

Peerzy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:42

Surely you pick the best credit card, loan, mortgage and bank account for you and then apply for those. They don't have to be with the same bank :confused:

My mortgage is with Nationwide, my credit cards are with Amex and Halifax and my (main) bank accounts are with HSBC and Santander.

I'd get a rubbish set of products if I just picked one bank and stuck to what they could offer.

coolsurfer · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:42

I bank with First Direct. Really like it, they have 24/7 365 days a year telephone banking. The iPhone mobile app is great.

As for other products, getting a loan was very each using the online application platform and money was in my account within ten mins of applying so very good as far as I'm concerned. Credit cards they'll offer you all day long no problems there. I requested a £2k overdraft that I never use but is there just simply for an emergency and it beats going over drawn and then fined. Think they give you £100 to join. When I added my wife on to it a few years ago was a seamless process and all direct debits and salary payments moved over smoothly.

peterwalkley · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:42

FirstDirect. Consistently rated number 1 for customer service. Been with them nearly 20 years.

leigh_boy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:43

JOSH86 said:
I'm also with Santander, have been since 2002, won't be staying with them come August.

Barclays or Nationwide seem to be where I am looking at heading, I need to look into both more however.

No debt so no need for a CC etc but want to see what they are offering.

i have CC for when i travel for work and then they pay it off its pain but when i was in china i couldnt get them to increase my limit with out an argument . do you mind me asking why you want to move from santander?

leigh_boy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:44

coolsurfer said:
I bank with First Direct. Really like it, they have 24/7 365 days a year telephone banking. The iPhone mobile app is great.

As for other products, getting a loan was very each using the online application platform and money was in my account within ten mins of applying so very good as far as I'm concerned. Credit cards they'll offer you all day long no problems there. I requested a £2k overdraft that I never use but is there just simply for an emergency and it beats going over drawn and then fined. Think they give you £100 to join. When I added my wife on to it a few years ago was a seamless process and all direct debits and salary payments moved over smoothly.

ok i like the sound of them, its not one i am familiar with in my area so paying money in could be a pain.

MichaelAwkward · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:45

leigh_boy said:
i think lloyds , santander , halifax are all part of the same group so want to avoid them i think so that leave barcleys,natwest and nation wide ?

They're not.

I moved my student current account recently from Lloyds to Santander. Not had a problem. Kept my student credit card with Lloyds, and opened another current account with TSB to use for savings.

What happened to you could literally happen with any lender. Being eligible for a certain APR credit product and actually being accepted for it are two different things.

Reducing limits, closing credit cards, etc. doesn't "free up" your credit worthiness.

leigh_boy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:47

Peerzy said:
Surely you pick the best credit card, loan, mortgage and bank account for you and then apply for those. They don't have to be with the same bank

My mortgage is with Nationwide, my credit cards are with Amex and Halifax and my (main) bank accounts are with HSBC and Santander.

I'd get a rubbish set of products if I just picked one bank and stuck to what they could offer.

this is true, i do feel that i just want to avoid the lloyds group in general because of poor service from my point of view so although i have CC from halifax , lloydes and barcleys i will only use the barcleys one despite the halifax having the best rates, customer service is so important to me as is usability like changing the limit on the fly online.

leigh_boy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:48

MichaelAwkward said:
They're not.

I moved recently from Lloyds to Santander. Not had a problem.

What happened to you could literally happen with any lender. Being eligible for a certain APR credit product and actually being accepted for it are two different things.

Reducing limits, closing credit cards, etc. doesn't "free up" your credit worthiness.

that was jsut the straw that broke the donkeys back so to speak. in general i find them hard to deal with and constantly mucking up my account. not to mention my debit card chips keep failing on my santander card.. now that is really annoying

leigh_boy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:50

double post doh

Peerzy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:51

leigh_boy said:
this is true, i do feel that i just want to avoid the lloyds group in general because of poor service from my point of view so although i have CC from halifax , lloydes and barcleys i will only use the barcleys one despite the halifax having the best rates, customer service is so important to me as is usability like changing the limit on the fly online.

When you ask for a change in limit each bank will evaluate their lending to you and review if they think it's a wise move. This is done internally and there is no way you can know which banks will say yes or no with 100% certainty.

Not upping your limit isn't bad customer service - they may have a valid reason for not wanting to lend you more.

Not using Lloyds because of bad service from Halifax is the same as refusing to buy a new VW Polo because your dealings with 1 Skoda garage were rubbish.

leigh_boy · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:57

Peerzy said:
When you ask for a change in limit each bank will evaluate their lending to you and review if they think it's a wise move. This is done internally and there is no way you can know which banks will say yes or no with 100% certainty.

Not upping your limit isn't bad customer service - they may have a valid reason for not wanting to lend you more.

Not using Lloyds because of bad service from Halifax is the same as refusing to buy a new VW Polo because your dealings with 1 Skoda garage were rubbish.

lets put it this way, i had a 8k limit on a card with money always going on and off for 2 years, i had to go away for work, a week before being told this i reduced the limit to 1k as i wasnt going to use it much any more.. a long story short i had to pay my way and then recover the costs, the cost of the hotel exceeded the limit i couldn't change the limit online like i had done for the last 2 years i had to call and explain then wait 48 for them to review , not easy to deal with when your in another country and having to foot a big bill you can pay.

and i would never buy a vw or a skoda

but im the kinda guy that will always hold a grudge if you make my life difficult and i cant see a valid reason why

Phantom Shadow · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:57

I've had almost no issues with santander, neither has my fiancée who has been with them for a number of years. We have a joint 123 account with them, purely because it offers the best interest rates at the moment. Only issue we've had with them is if you change your direct debit on their credit card they immediately cancel the existing one and new one takes a full billing cycle to take effect. Normally if the new one is set up, the bank uses it. So even though we had a direct direct set up on the account a full week prior (having changed it a week before that) they still didn't use it. Was a bit of an argument with them to get the missed payment fee cancelled.

Also got accounts/credit cards from HSBC, Tesco and Capital One and had no issues with them at all. Had a fraudulent charge on my tesco card and they immediately refunded it, sent me a new card etc.

Efour · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:58

Whats the problem coming up with Santander ?

I was gonna suggest my mum move bank to them.. They going **** up ?

They seemed the best for people with a decent steady income + ok interest on their current accounts.

advice needed !

MichaelAwkward · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:58

leigh_boy said:
that was jsut the straw that broke the donkeys back so to speak. in general i find them hard to deal with and constantly mucking up my account. not to mention my debit card chips keep failing on my santander card.. now that is really annoying

I'm not surprised mistakes keep happening if you're constantly requesting new limits on overdrafts and credit cards. It's a completely pointless request, and as with anything in life, the more often you do something, the chance of making a mistake increases.

As for the chip falling out, I've never had that happen with any card from any bank. Sounds like you're doing something wrong.

MichaelAwkward · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:59

Efour said:
Whats the problem coming up with Santander ?

I was gonna suggest my mum move bank to them.. They going **** up ?

They seemed the best for people with a decent steady income + ok interest on their current accounts.

advice needed !

They're fine. The OPs problems are caused by himself, not the bank.

Steve2000 · 24 Jun 2015 at 11:59

Go with First Direct if sterling service is your priority. They are even open on Christmas Day believe it or not and there's only one number to ring and you're straight through to someone, no IVRs or Indian call centres. Can't fault them at all really.

Mind you to be fair, I also have accounts with Barclays and Santander 123 and never had any real problems there either.

Halifax however...