Banking

I'm with barclays. I quite like being with one of the few banks to turn a profit and not to take the taxpayers coin. I wouldn't bank with RBS who are a bunch of thieves with no financial nous whatsoever.
A friend who worked at Barclays tells me that John Varley helps in a soup kitchen at the weekends.

When they refused to pay out Mal's mobile insurance I moved her to HSBC. Barclays can suck my furries..

First Direct.

Yeah, they are HSBCs higher end shizzle, right? My mate likes them.

But you pay a charge everytime you cash out right? So you keep a separate account somewhere else for cash when you need it? Or do you bite the dust and pay?

How do you find the user interface of Smile? Easy to manage multiple accounts? Tried to sign up to Smile years ago, the initial process was so messed up, with loads of hiccups and things going missing in the post more than once so decided to give them a miss. Could be things have improved now though.

Smile is pretty good. I hAve a few accounts with them an no complaints so far(4 years).

Nationwide are really good. After years of being pissed about by muppets at the HSBC I move over to them and have been really glad I did. They really make and effort to make a human connection with their customers and appreciate that we aren't just mechanisms for changing the value of an account and paying their wages.

Smile is pretty good. I hAve a few accounts with them an no complaints so far(4 years).

How do you deposit a cheque with smile? Can you post it or do you have to queue at the post office?

How do you deposit a cheque with smile? Can you post it or do you have to queue at the post office?

Either. They provide pre-paid envelopes to deposit cheques by post.

co-op
smile

both ethical etc.
amazing customer service.

hsbc.
used to work for them so i have a super duper account where they tickle my balls and stuff.

first direc'

I was with HSBC for years because that was where my student loan was. I finally left them, after claiming back the thousands they had sneakily taken from me over the years (i.e. their mistake took me overdrawn, so they charge me, then they charge me for charging me, then they charge me for charging me for charging me....), so I went to smile.co.uk

They are unbelievably good - I was worried about them not having a high street presence, but you can post cheques and pay cash in at the Post Office, which is fine. They respond to e-mails quickly, and seem to be human beings too. They don't take the piss, I've never been charged for anything and you can maintain multiple accounts on the website.

I never thought I'd be 'happy' with any bank, but since I started banking with them, I've never been worried about my money.

OK, but do you pay an extra charge for smile if you cash out at the usual cash points? That was the case a few years ago at least.

no. no charge.

Plus d'une.

Pas de charge.

I was with HSBC but they screwed me every time I travelled abroad, once in Italy I had my card refused 8 times having each time called them confirming my identity. I switched over to Barclays Premier and have had no worries so far. Good online banking facilities and easily accessible branches. I have heard good things about Smile.

Dumbell's Bank. Offshore and totally secure.

Oh...

Not much has changed, The building is now owned by RBSi.

Not much has changed, The building is now owned by RBSi.

Doesn't surprise me.
That was one of my grandfather's sayings: "Safe as Dumbell's Bank."

Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation.

They sent my girlfriend flowers the last time her card was declined.
She's very good at complaining.

whoever you choose, ALWAYS open your new account before closing your old...especialy if you are in some kind of dispute.

i'm a fan of barclays. they ring me if there's some account problem so that i never get any surprise card cancellations or undue banking fees. they're always nice. and you get to speak to a real person right away when you ring them for anything.

DO NOT go with abbey. i have an account with them as well. i hate them. FUCKING HATE THEM. i've rarely ever had worse customer service than i've gotten from them.

Dont Barclays have that stupid thing that looks like a calculator for internet banking?

Dont Barclays have that stupid thing that looks like a calculator for internet banking?

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

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.

Another HSBC fanboy here, but only becuase I've got one of the fancy accounts that you have to pay for. No fees for withdrawls from ATMs in other countries and generally at a decent exchange rate to. They were also excelent when my account got scammed, 24 hour phone support and they replaced the missing cash within 24hrs of me noticing it was missing. My girl has one of the ordinary accounts and the difference is amazing, she has so many problems with them and hates them.