[Closed] Best Bank accounts?

Check out MSE.

with regard to switching

Switching is the same between all banks, it's a standard across the industry.

I've had a quick gander and it looks much of a muchness

Now Santander have dropped their rates, it is, although you still get cashback on bill DDs. Nationwide still pay a reasonable rate up to £5k, and they have a good reputation for service.

FWIW, we have a Santander account as a savings/bills account, so we get interest on the balance and cashback on the DDs. It's not a bad little earner to be fair. We also have a Co-Op Privilege Premier account, for cash spends and the packaged travel insurance and RAC cover.

Hmmm

Reading MSE, First direct would be the most obvious, gaining £125 and a 5% savings account.

My wife's just switched to First Direct and got a couple of quid and a good interest rate. She reckons their app is a bit crap though. The switching process was very good and easy though.

I'm with Nationwide and have no complaints, again, got a couple of quid and a good interest rate. Their app is pretty good and the online platform in general is good.

I might call Nationwide as I have my mortgage with them, there may be an optional incentive based on that.

Tesco currently paying 3%

how much do you want me to lay into natwest? their attitude to longstanding customers is appalling.

Been very happy with First Direct for quite a few years now. Customer service not quite as awesome as it once was- Still good when you get through to them but can take up to 5 minutes on hold now whereas they used to answer in 2 rings!

I'd not say the app was crap, it does everything you need it to, and I use it for most of my banking, it's just not very pretty.

FD all the way.

A timely topic for me.

Everything is pointing toward First Direct, though Nationwide seems popular too.

Nationwide. App is excellent. No fees on cash withdrawls on debit card and no fees on card payment with credit card when abroad, with decent rates (this is the main reason I use them, and unless that changes have absolutely no reason to change). Good support over the phone and in branch. I also pay GBP 10/month for the plus account for all my insurance needs and breakdown cover. Use an ISA elsewhere for savings, though in general interest rates are naff!

Been with first direct for 3 years as my main bank account and I've been reluctant to switch it since, I think the app is great can set up new payments which I haven't been able to do on any of the other apps I've had but as someone said it's not pretty. The linked savings account you can only put £300 a month in so if you've got loads it won't be much help, only lasts a year then matures and you start again.

Also got a tsb account which is mainly for savings but they've dropped the rate and the amount they pay that rate on which is a shame. Get 5% cash back on contactless payments.

Best bet is get on MSE and work out which is best for you.

Wouldn't you be better off using the money to pay off the mortgage quicker ?

^^ quite right, but you do need a certain amount kept aside as a emergency fund/bike fund/family holiday if you can or desire to, and if thats the case its handy to have that growing by 5% when it can be.

I get free entry into English Heritage sites with my Barclays account.

A good phone app as well.

I also pay GBP 10/month for the plus account for all my insurance needs and breakdown cover.

Take care STW'rs, the breakdown cover from Nationwide doesn't include vans or campervans, so if you have a problem with your standard issue T5 you're knackered.

I know 'cos I checked it out. The Co-Op/RAC cover does, I know this from experience 😳

looked at first direct but nationwide do the same interest deal on 500 a month.

made much more sense to me.

Still dont bank with them day to day as their walk in branches are limited and somethings are still better done face to face IME.

(certainly when setting up my mortgage and getting passsed from pillar to post while they dragged their heels and blaming other parties it was handy to go in and stand over their shoulder while they did it)

Have you plugged your figures into the Santander 321 (which has a monthly fee) and the 321 lite (which has small fee, pays no interest, just the cashback)?

Halifax did have a decent incentive for transferring, ~£100 IIRC.

Not sure the Santander 123 really works. Even assuming that your household bills totalled to £5000 a year, that's only an average of £75 cash back and you have to pay £5 a month for the privilege of having it. The net gain would be £15...

I would look at where do you want your money invested. More important to me than the % I get.

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/money/bankingcurrentaccounts.aspx

TSB for switching is good currently £125 incentive, 3% up to £1500 and contactless cashback.

HSBC has a good one on too but they're a bit picky.

I think BOS remains the best for interest 3% up to 5000 but you can have 3.

CO-OP has a good deal on too.

Another vote here for Nationwide. They may not be the absolute best deal around but they don't try and sell you stuff you don't need and actually take an interest in what you want to do with your money. Their branch network is small and reasonably spread out compared to the others but with everyone else closing branches it won't be a big deal in a few years. The online banking and app are very good though, simple and easy to use.

Things may have changed since I last switched banks (Barclays to Nationwide 5 years ago) but all the big players were only interested in signing me up to as much as possible despite me saying I just wanted two current accounts (wages, bills etc and one for daily spending), a credit card for online purchases and a savings account for holidays and bikes. I had a hard time getting them to accept I didn't want an overdraft, loan or the extras they were offering at the time. Nationwide on the other hand just gave me what I wanted without the hard sell and have never put any pressure on me since. The branch staff are great when I do go in and they even alerted me when my credit rating took a surprise hit when Barclays made a cock-up on closing my accounts with them that came to light three years later.

As an ex-bank employee I'm very impressed with how they deal with people.

Just called First Direct for a chat about a couple of things.

Call was picked up within 2 rings, so far so good.

Also directed me to Money supermarket where you can get an extra 25 quid on top of their $100 incentive. For anyone thinking of switching, valid til 27/2 :

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/current-accounts/best-customer-service/?goal=CUR_CSERVICE

+1 FD have not let us down in about 20y. Also use them for execution-only sharedealing which has been cheap and flawless. No-one's perfect of course, there may be more interest available elsewhere (like in iceland where a relative would have lost a shedload of money but for the guarantee/bail-out a few years ago).