Banking

they do. that pisses me off, but i'm willing to overlook it cuz i like the personal service so much.

I'm with Barclays and I managed to get rid of it. The downside is that if you want to add a new payee to your online banking you have to phone them. If you keep paying money to them same people, then you don't need it.

Co-Op. or rather... Smile.co.uk

Been with them for absolutely ages. Originally was with Midlands, then Natwest, then Abbey, and finally with Co-Operative before moving to their online sister Smile.co.uk when that was created.

Absolutely no complaints with them, and they do now have the little calculator thingy, but that's fine as you only need to use it when setting up or manually triggering an online transfer of cash. For everything else you don't need it.

Great telephone service too.

Oh, actually... one complaint, very minor. They have an automated fraud checking thing, and if you're buying stuff in the UK and happen to purchase something online from the US, it thinks you're card is in two places at once so flags it for verification. This means an automated tool phones you to confirm whether the transaction is yours. Why is this an issue? Well for me, the hosting fees for this site get flagged every month, and so for a day or two every month I am under the shadow of the servers being turned off as the payment gets delayed. The real issue here is that the fraud checking thing is automatic, it can't learn that they should whitelist the hosting company transaction. Dead annoying.

So Co-op has the calculator thingo? That thing is enough for me not to open an account.

I need a new bank. Im tired of the shit service from the H.

Co-op & Smile.

Smile's customer service is a bit patchy, probably because they're there for autonomous internet banking. My wife gave up trying to open up an account a few years back (with a free loads of wine offer thingy), and it can be slow to get a response from the online enquiry service (within your a/c options).

But for 'fit and forget' everyday online banking, they're great. And the queues in Co-op always seem shorter than in other banks.

In the past, my wife and I've had experience of Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC & Natwest; and they were all routinely fuckwitted and unpleasant in equal measure.

In the past, my wife and I've had experience of Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC & Natwest; and they were all routinely fuckwitted and unpleasant in equal measure.

Yep, everybody seems to have a horror story about [insert previous bank] and likes [insert current bank] much more. Just look at this thread. It's all much of a muchness, I think.

I'm tempted to upgrade my Smile account to the Smile More one.

Is it worth the £13 a month? I'm just keeping in mind this adds up to £156 a year, which could be better spent paying off credit cards etc. I can afford it, but is it worth it?

jesus, paying £156 to have an account seems outrageous.

Well, you get all sorts of insurance and gold member stuff. The basic account is free.

I used to have a Smile More account (when it was £10 a month) as it gave me travel insurance and Green Flag membership which was useful when I had a car. I changed back to their standard account when I got rid of the car as it made no sense to pay £120 a year for travel insurance.

I have the HSBC plus account, which includes road side assistance- but I suspect that this is included as it is rubbish.

If the AA chap turns up and your car has done something which he cannot fix by the roadside (i.e. anything serious at all) then he will then drive off, leaving you there.

You need the "relay" option for the AA to be truly usefull.

Road side assistance, as far as I can see, means jump-starting the car or replacing a headlight bulb, that's pretty much it.

HSBC premier is pretty good, but I switch to First Direct cause they had some good offers and gave me money to join them Couldn't be happier.

Anyone with Barclays, ask to get upgraded to Premier Banking (it's free) and threaten to leave if they refuse.

Once you've got PB their service will dramatically improve.

I'm tempted to upgrade my Smile account to the Smile More one.

Is it worth the £13 a month? I'm just keeping in mind this adds up to £156 a year, which could be better spent paying off credit cards etc. I can afford it, but is it worth it?

I'm with smile, and it seems a bit bonkers to me. Banks' own insurance schemes are always overpriced. Then again, they charge me 20 quid a month interest as I never got round to paying off my student overdraft.

So what do I know, in conclusion.

As you were.

Anyone with Barclays, ask to get upgraded to Premier Banking (it's free) and threaten to leave if they refuse.

Once you've got PB their service will dramatically improve.

Dont you usually need to have a fair bit of savings to get to use their Premier services?

i have been with First Direct (part of HSBC), for six years. no complaints.. very friendly despite not having any branches, minimal fuss and no charges to date..

jesus, paying £156 to have an account seems outrageous.

Certainly does - especially when you look at it in terms of the annual overall payment...

If the insurance / other crap is useful, and you might otherwise pay for it, then yes, it's worth it.

Logical, rational, and absolutely spot on.

I used to have a Smile More account (when it was £10 a month) as it gave me travel insurance and Green Flag membership which was useful when I had a car. I changed back to their standard account when I got rid of the car as it made no sense to pay £120 a year for travel insurance.

I do have a car, and it's got quite a few miles on the clock, so I may well need the breakdown cover, but from the look of things it's probably best to pay for these things separately - especially as I'd have a say in who actually provided those services.

Cheers for the help - I didn't know if the people who paid that little bit more got a better level of service, but Smile have always been pretty good with the standard account, so I might give it a miss...

Are Abbey really that much worse than other banks?

See, Abbey might be the only bank willing to sort me out with a mortgage - plus they seem to be the cheapest (bar Nationwide who turned me down anyway).

Would you?

Will keep day to day banking in Natwest to avoid the much published OD charges fuckery.

I'm about to leave Natwest because of the the much published OD charges fuckery. I forgot to cancel a standing order, lost £1600 into the bank account of a landlord I couldn't get hold of, went to the bank the day it happened and they told me there was nothing they could do about it. Paid the £35 charge there and then, forgot about it and focused on getting my money back. A month later I get a second charge for £35 because the woman in the bank failed to tell me I would be charged interest on top of my charge resulting in an unauthorised overdrawl of £0.19. The staff in the Camden branch were such hard sellers that in the end I had to go to a different branch and kick up a fuss there. Very ugly experience and one I do not wish to repeat.

Co-operative sounds great to me, as soon as I've paid off my student overdraft with Natwest I'm hightailing it...

If you had a spare £250 a month that was previously going into a bullshit savings account, what would you invest it in? Now, obviously the correct answer is beer and bike parts but this question isn't for me.

Options: some other bullshit savings account earning nothing, company share scheme, other share scheme, already has a pension fund, um... I dunno that's where my investment knowledge about ends.

How much risk is ok?

pay mortgage off

They don't have a mortgage.

Fairly risk averse. Steady earnings wanted.

Martingale the lot.

bullshit savings account

What does bullshit mean?

You can get 5% for 1yrs from a number of saving accounts. It won't make you rich, but it's safe and inflation beating (for now).

If it was me I'd do that for a year then put the £3k into something like a stocks and shares ISA - depending on what things are like next year.

But if they're risk adverse, then I'd probably look as something, based on what you can get in the market.

The problem I think a lot of people have is when you are talking about small sums is they forget that a reasonable % of a small number = a small number.

They then think it is pointless. But what they forget is that you're really trying to build your pot so that in the future you're earning a reasonable % on a reasonable number. And if you're building your pot somewhere safe, then it may as well not devalue against inflation.

?