Moving banks - who to go to?

[judas]

Been banking with the RBS for the past 15-odd years but as part of EU imposed conditions on the government bail-out our account is being transferred to Santander - something I'm not really happy about. Given a) the imminent collapse of the Spanish economy, b) Santander's terrible reputation for customer service, and c) the fun and games the RBS and Natwest are currently having, I have the urge to move accounts sooner rather than later.

Thinking about going to First Direct - we very rarely need to use branch services and they have a better reputation than most. Any others I should be looking at?

[Shaw Tarse]

First Direct do seem to get good reviews, I'm with Lloyds, mainly as I've been with them since I was a lad & haven't bothered to move!

[Origin Unknown]

Shaw Tarse said:

First Direct do seem to get good reviews, I'm with Lloyds, mainly as I've been with them since I was a lad & haven't bothered to move!

Another recommendation for First Driect. I have been with them for over 6 years and have never had a bad experience. Secondly a British person always answers the phone within 3 rings. Loan decisions have been simple. The online banking system just works (currently no dicking around with separate devices to generate keys to enter although HSBC have introduced this so expect FD to follow at some point in the future) and has the ability to export if, like me, you use MS Money (although now defunct).

Sorry to thread jack but does anyone else track their money in something like MS Money? I'm exceptionally anal when it comes to tracking my money and have over 6 years all categorised. I can see that I have removed £47,000 from cash machines in the past 6 years

I believe the pre-reqs are that you must deposit >£1,500 pcm.

[Ace-T]

We track our expenditure to the penny too. So online banking that allows downloads in .csv would be a prerequisite. Does FD allow this? (I am the OPs OH. )

[Davel]

Just moving from RBS to Handlesbanken!

Very good so far.

[Origin Unknown]

Ace-T said:

We track our expenditure to the penny too. So online banking that allows downloads in .csv would be a prerequisite. Does FD allow this? (I am the OPs OH. )

Yup, the following formats for export are supported:

Quicken 97
Quicken 98 [m/d/y]
Quicken 98 [d/m/y]
Quicken 2000
Quicken 2001
Quicken 2002
Microsoft Money
Microsoft Works
Microsoft Excel
Lotus 123

Exporting to MS Excel actually exports in CSV format

ETA: I'm sure this is the case with every bank account these days but with FD you get a savings account with your current account and via the online/phone banking you can move money between them instantly. Transfers to Santander/Barclays/Lloyds/Natwest appear normally within a few hours.

I don't work for them BTW But I have never had a bad experience with them.

Edited by Origin Unknown on Friday 22 June 18:01

[W1TAK]

Another vote for First Direct, I have been with them for at least 10 years and they are a no hassle solution.

They do the usual trying to sell you stuff but all banks do that!

Give them a try

[Sir Bagalot]

DJC said:

The downside is that their savings accounts are not competitive and their credit card details offer little in the way of incentives such as cashback, etc.

Regular Savings account pays 8%

I moved from a Santander owned bank to FD about two years ago

[Ungarsee]

You don't have to move banks. I really like RBS and called the Santander/RBS helpline. Made it abundantly clear I did not want to move my banking to Santander and they sent me the appropriate forms. As it turns out they cannot make you move but you have to approach them and be clear that no staff member of RBS has told you to do this.

I know they're not having the best of weeks but other than this I can't fault them. By far and away more innovative than say Barclays who invent the ste that is pingit (RBS banking app dicks all over this from a great height) and no need for a god awful card reader to log onto online banking.

[judas]

Ungarsee said:

You don't have to move banks.

Oh, I do...

I'm aware I can have my RBS account moved to a Scottish branch. When I called to talk to my 'private banking manager' I got talked at for half an hour about why the move to Santander was going to be fine and that I really should stay with them blah blah blah. I couldn't get a word in edgeways

This week's clusterfk is the proverbial straw. I was very happy with RBS until about three or four years ago, but since then the standards of service have declined rapidly and there have been more and more screw ups in basic things they really shouldn't get wrong.

Definitely time to jump ship

[carreauchompeur]

I'm reasonably happy with Lloyds, on the whole. The Internet Banking works pretty well and I do about 90% of my transactions on there.

I moved from NatWest about 10 years ago after getting utterly fed up with the rubbish service at the local branch and getting talked at like a five year old when querying transactions. For some reason my then-local branch was staffed entirely by snotty mid-20's women who regarded me with a similar affection that most people give to dog turd. They weren't interested when I cited this as the reason for closing my account.

Still have a NatWest credit card purely because it has a good credit limit and is gold.

Might consider moving to FD though... Are their online banking services any good? I like the ability to have different "pots" on line...

[Adam B]

FD is a no brainier, in 20 years I have never had any need for complaint, customer service is a joy, no Indian call centres, the phone, Internet and SMS service are all excellent.

Mortgages are good but savings not especially competitive aside from my ISA which was a good rate.

[wolf1]

Another recommendation for First direct here. Standing orders and direct debits go out when they are supposed to unlike my last bank who used to pick a random day each month.

[StuStu]

Can't fault First Direct in seven years of banking with them ...

[A14RGS]

Another FD supporter here, after 14+ years as a customer. Customer Service is fab

[-Pete-]

Our experience: Barclays & Lloyds ok but not trying very hard to look after customers.
Abbey (pre Santander) useless, deliberately misled us. Very poor customer service.
Nationwide faultless, friendly, helpful, real people you can call if you need help. Recommended.

I've heard nothing but good about First Direct, but prefer to have a high street branch.

[0000]

Only problem with First Direct is their interest rates are terrible.

That and they paid me to leave them. I never did understand that promotion.

[m444ttb]

The highest scores for customer satisfaction (source: GfK FRS) are for FirstDirect, then Co-Op and followed up by Nationwide. I'd recommend Nationwide but I am biased!

[eastsider]

Yet another recommendation for First Direct, customer for 15 years plus, customer service is exceptional. They are one of the few genuinely customer focused companies I have ever come across. And their internet banking is excellent, and doesn’t require you to cart around any kind of chip/pin/code generator device.