Went with Lloyds, looks like the backend system is the same as Halifax so happy days.
Best online banking
- Thread starter kindai
- Start date
Caporegime
Just to note Starling doesn't have an online portal, it's purely app based. Starling is very good though, we use it for our main joint spending account.
Nationwide looks pretty dated in terms of portal design, but it gets the job done. Also cannot compete with the £13/month FlexPlus account - mobile phone insurance, travel insurance, break down cover - for me and my wife is a bargin. The nationwide app UI looks nice, no issues there.
First Direct, their customer service is exceptionally good, but the online portal is dated. The app is pretty decent though.
Nationwide looks pretty dated in terms of portal design, but it gets the job done. Also cannot compete with the £13/month FlexPlus account - mobile phone insurance, travel insurance, break down cover - for me and my wife is a bargin. The nationwide app UI looks nice, no issues there.
First Direct, their customer service is exceptionally good, but the online portal is dated. The app is pretty decent though.
Soldato
Barclays without a doubt, lots of features, also it shows you your balance in real time, pending transactions etc, this is very handy, you don't suddenly have your balance going down a few days later without reason, I make a payment on my credit card or purchase somthing in a shop, I can login and my balance reflects that straight away, I see a lot of banks don't seem to operate that way, you have to wait a few days to see purchases come off your balance, this is very frustrating imo.
Soldato
I've been with:
Barclays
Santander
Halifax
Lloyds
Monzo
The best app is the Monzo one, but the Barclays one is very decent too.
Lloyds is acceptable, but in all honesty, it's not up to par with the rest.
Santander one is pretty pants - constantly logging me off, even if I switch app for 1 second. They're also pretty slow - taking a while to show recent transactions, can't manage your card through the app (lloyds app recently allowed this through an update), nor standing orders.
If it's a secondary bank, I would look into Monzo, or equivalent.
Barclays stuff is pretty good too, so if you want to go with a more established bank, they're probably your best bet
Barclays
Santander
Halifax
Lloyds
Monzo
The best app is the Monzo one, but the Barclays one is very decent too.
Lloyds is acceptable, but in all honesty, it's not up to par with the rest.
Santander one is pretty pants - constantly logging me off, even if I switch app for 1 second. They're also pretty slow - taking a while to show recent transactions, can't manage your card through the app (lloyds app recently allowed this through an update), nor standing orders.
If it's a secondary bank, I would look into Monzo, or equivalent.
Barclays stuff is pretty good too, so if you want to go with a more established bank, they're probably your best bet
Soldato
Have to say Barclays to me is ahead of the pack here.
- First to have new payee ability on the phone (no limit but you need your card to hand, pin sentry via the mobile app on the portal)
- Not that I often use it, but the ability to phone through the app and be automatically put through security is excellent
- Contactless payments built into app (way before Samsung pay launched, they took a decision not to support Samsung pay)
- Contactless ATM withdrawals via app
- Card block, atm withdrawal limit, MCG blocking - all on the app.
Starling - pretty basic to me, does what is required. However, as I only use it as a foreign spend account / rarely used - I might not appreciate it fully.
- First to have new payee ability on the phone (no limit but you need your card to hand, pin sentry via the mobile app on the portal)
- Not that I often use it, but the ability to phone through the app and be automatically put through security is excellent
- Contactless payments built into app (way before Samsung pay launched, they took a decision not to support Samsung pay)
- Contactless ATM withdrawals via app
- Card block, atm withdrawal limit, MCG blocking - all on the app.
Starling - pretty basic to me, does what is required. However, as I only use it as a foreign spend account / rarely used - I might not appreciate it fully.
Caporegime
Halifax and Barclays are fine for me, so much so that I never need to log in using a pc/laptop any more.
Associate
- Joined
- 14 May 2018
- Posts
- 151
I'd recommend NatWest. I don't know why but my Barclays app doesn't seem to show outgoing money via PayPal, like others have said. It used to but then it stopped. Probably something I've done but I don't know what x)
If you don't mind it being just app based then I have to agree with the Starling recommendations. Everything from alerts popping up when a transaction is processed through to fingerprint reader quick access to the app make it a modern and pleasant user experience.
Lloyds online does that It lists your balance and also your available balance
So for example if you bought something from a shop or online with your card for £200 that has not cleared yet it will show the below
Balance £10,000
available balance £9,800
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Soldato
This
Associate
Barclays seems very good to me. Never had a problem so far.
Except HSBC and their First Direct offering have won practically every award for online and phone banking since the early 2000s and Halifax, well, haven't. I'm not sure what your opinion is based on, but I suspect it's something poor or misguided.
Consider something like N26 if you want great portal and to be elite.
My sentiments exactly, I use online banking with The Leeds, Santander, and Halifax, they’re all much of a muchness, although the agg security questions are time consuming with Halifax, but not enough to turn me off.
N26 > than starling or Monzo. They are German so have an even higher rated protection scheme. Not many people in the UK know about them because they are a bit eliteist in their acceptance model but totally worth it. You want N26 Metal or the transparent card which is also pretty cool.
