Reply With QuoteThey advised me of the same this week, so I too am intrigued by what better options there are?
Lloyds have just told me they're removing 'Vantage' benefits - credit interest, basically - from my current account. They haven't explained why. They've just told me they're doing it.
So, where's the best current account, please?
They advised me of the same this week, so I too am intrigued by what better options there are?
Most of them are cutting back on benefits.
Natwest are offering a current account that pays 3% on certain household bills, including energy, if debited from that account. £3pm. It pays to have it.
I use halifax who I'm happy enough with. Their selling point is a fiver a month credited to your account if you meet the minimum requirements of paying your wages into it and having a few DDs coming out. Not good for keeping a balance in though. I was aiming to keep more cash than usual in my current account last year and money saving expert had plenty of info about the various different current account offers, the money ended up in my SIPP though so was no need in the end. Can also get a good one off payment for switching at many places.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ban...-bank-accounts
The santander 123 account.
Has £5 monthly fee but pays 3% on balances up to 20k
and has cashback om household bills that should easily cover the £5 fee..
When you say 'best account' what are you looking for.
Great service?
Loads of freebies (that aren't actually 'free')?
An email address or phone number that gets through to the same person every time and where you don't have to go through 10 levels of stupid security before they'll speak to you?
Lots of expensive TV adverts?
Yes, my wife has it, because she's the one who pays the bills.Originally Posted by Glamdring
Nationwide Flex Plus gives you worldwide travel insurance, European breakdown cover and 'phone insurance, all for £10 per month. Bargain!
For a straightforward account with good customer service and good online app I would recommend First Direct
to be fair, you don't have to change account to watch the adverts
Yup, if you're not interested in being upsold premium accounts, I'd go for First Direct. Their customer service is great in my experience and they have good online account management/apps. When I joined them they also made a lot of sense if you have high equity in your mortgage as their fixed rates were great and the Offset mortgage allows unlimited overpayments and drawdowns with no early redemption fees.
We have a joint account with Nationwide for paying bills and get free European travel insurance from there. If you keep it long term that also gives you access to decent member rates on ISAs etc.
Another here for First Direct
I agree with this, best is relative and depends on what you value.
I bank with a First Direct, whilst they do no offer interest on current account balances or any other 'benefits' I do get an interest free overdraft, but I'm mainly with them for the service. When I need to call them, invariably the phone is answered straight away, by a human being, and that person can usually deal with your problem, or if they need to transfer you, you're not dumped in a queue, they wait to speak to someone and handover the call.
To me, this service outweighs and interest I lose by not having say a Santander 123 account, which would give me some interest, but at the cost of long waits, call handling systems and generally poor service.
Same here, got the letter yesterday. I am considering First Direct given the excellent customer feedback and they do £100 switching 'bonus' last time I looked :)
We switched to First Direct after 25 years with Halifax, and now I wonder why I waited so long.
I switched on the basis of recommendation on this forum, and they have been excellent.
I have Santander 123 accounts for savings though, 3% is the best High St rate going.
Another recommendation for Santander 1-2-3 account. It pays a damn sight better than any cash ISA. I have transferred the bulk of my RBS cash ISA into the 123 account. It has recently gone from £2 to £5 a month charges but as others say the cashback on the household bills pays for that.
Rob
I've been with First Direct since 1995 and have never had any reason to think about moving (to be fair, I was a Midland then HSBC account holder from the age of 17, so I've not really shopped around that much!).
When I joined FD back in the '90s, the banking was all done over the phone and was great. I think the phone response is a little slower these days, but I do 99% of my banking online, so it's not really a problem. At the risk of sounding like a UKIP supporter, the call centre is in the UK and the staff speak comprehensible English! I kind of hate myself for stating that, but when you're dealing with a support organisation you don't want to have to struggle to understand the person on the other end of the line or repeat yourself half a dozen times and, sadly, that's often the experience with offshore call centres.
As the others have said, it just works and I've never had problems with cash cards not working overseas and that sort of hassle as some people sometimes report.
M.
Last edited by snowman; 2nd March 2016 at 14:31.
123account if you have funds worthy of 3%
i opened a FD account to get the £150 intro bonus, they have been very efficient in my dealing with them, quick to answer the phone and very knowledgeable staff..
depends what you hope to achieve, the vantage lloyds offered a sliding percentage rate on funds up to £4k i believe, I have a vantage account too, haven't seen anything about the termination of vantage yet, but when it happens, i'll decide whether to jump ship..
What he said
Uk Call centre is First Directs most outstanding feature. Always a pleasure to deal with them.
In a world of QE and ZIRP no bank is giving a great deal. But the above advice from Scepticalist accords with several consumer advice sources, including Which. First Direct and Nationwide generally appear as long term best buys. Even though they may not always be giving the best headline rate, over the long run they provide a decent, consistent return and good quality customer service.
Ive been a FD customer for years, no problem, does what it says on the tin.
However, recently decided to apply for a small loan of £9k (to buy out lease on car) & was impressed by their 3.3% interest rate for personal loans. Went through their application process but the interest rate offered was actually 9.9%........they couldn't really explain it adequately - assume the computer thinks i'm higher risk (have never looked at my credit score) but as i don't have a mortgage (& own my own house) & have no other debt, it seemed very strange to me.....has left me with a negative view of them & I am looking to change - & find out my credit score!!
Cheers
Paul
That's exactly why. If you have little credit history you won't have a good credit score. You'll likely find the same with whoever you apply to. I know it seems strange but evidence of paying off credit is considered better than having none.
First Direct for me, been with them for about 7 years and they've never given me any reason to leave.
I'm with FirstDirect and they have been perfect, also have a TSB current account as it pays 5% on £2k so its a little something for nothing.
If your really flush have two
Pay a monthly account fee of £5.
Fund the account with at least £500 a month (excludes internal transfers). A minimum balance of £1,000 is needed to receive interest.
Have at least 2 active Direct Debits. You'll get monthly cashback on selected household bills you pay by Direct Debit.
No contest - First Direct. Been with them almost since launch and they have never been less than fabulous. If Carlsberg ran a bank it would probably be .... First Direct!
Don't know about long term benefits but in the past couple of years I've pulled in £925 from having one account with two direct debits set up and just switching it around.
I'd have to leave 20k in a Santander 123 account for two years to achieve the same results.
Crazy I know, unless I use the funds to buy a watch ;)
^^ I did the same after reading a guide online,almost £1000 for not very much work :)
I've now ran out of offers to switch the "donor" account to so have settled with the aforementioned TSB account for the interest.
First direct have a good reputation for customer service but I just never seem to have the need to speak to my bank so not sure this is a benefit for me. The Santander 123 is a good deal especially if you have some savings.
I too have the vantage account and have been with Lloyds over 20 years. I haven't heard they are stopping it but sounds like so could in the near future.
Banks are like utility companies, you seem to now have to change every few years to get any chance of a decent deal with them.
First Direct.......................
Anyone compared the platinum account against black account benefits and had any good or bad experiences with "small print" ?????
Just asking
B
Nationwide flex plus. Can't be beat!
Handelsbanken
No gimmicks ....but the best customer service. Ever
Have been with them for 7 years. I know most people in the branch by name and when I call they know me and no stupid security rigmarole to find out info I want.
I was waiting for someone to mention Handelsbanken.
150% agreement. No stupid promo-gimmicks just superb personal service.
I was with Natwest for something like 35 years but service just went down and down. Sick and tired of never getting the same person when you phoned up and having to spend 10 mins going through stupid security questions and re-explaining the purpose of the call. Change to HB and it's a breath of fresh air.
These impersonal big banks are all well and good unless you actually have to speak to them for something. Then it just goes tits up.
Okay I'm paying for that personal touch. I don't get interest of my account or points or 'free' insurance or car breakdown cover etc... etc... - all of which I was getting with natwest - but the fact that I can email or phone the same person and get a reply just makes it so much better!
Yes, Handelsbanken also get very good write-ups and have a great reputation. The problem seems to be the small branch network. Call me old-fashioned but sometimes I want to speak to someone in person.
I have a branch 15 mins from home though when I say 'branch' it's actually a couple of offices in an office block. They don't actually have any money there but it it nice to walk in and speak to someone face-to-face if need be (only ever done this twice) ;-)
Of course First Direct, that we here about all the time, hasn't got any branches at all!
This thread is interesting, I thought maybe it was just me that Lloyds bank are messing around, I have a current account, and a savings account and an offset mortgage all tied together, the arrangement for the last 15 years was that provided I keep a minimum of £5k in the current account there would be no bank charges, I have this in writing,
Two years ago I suddenly started getting a £25 per month charge, I contacted them, reminded them of the arrangement, they refunded the money and stopped the charge.
Last April they increased the amount needed in the current account to £7,5k,
In August I got a letter saying that in January they are Making the charge (£25month) and basically if I don't like it I can go elsewhere,
because of tax the offset I think it is still the cheapest way to save.
All true. But there is no Handelsbanken branch near me. And the phone/internet only character of First Direct (whom I accept provide excellent service) is one of the reasons I choose Nationwide. The others are its good value add-ons, its very good service and its mutual status.
But, to risk diverting the discussion from the narrow issue of which bank is best from a consumer point of view, let's not forget that all the banks, even the ones that provide good service to consumers, are built on the same business model.
They all create money out of nothing, and lend out something they do not actually possess and then charge interest on it. No wonder it is the most profitable business in the world. Not to mention the sector of the economy most likely to cause dangerous periods of destabilization.
Unless you count the 1,100 HSBC branches in the UK!
I have now changed my Natwest account from which I pay my bills to this account and so far well ahead.
Nationwide Flex Plus gives you worldwide travel insurance, European breakdown cover and 'phone insurance, all for £10 per month. Bargain!
I also have this account for the travel insurance which IMO is far better thank most Bank/ CC "freebie" ones and goes on to age 75 rather than 70
Bank branches are for me not an issue as I very rarely have need to visit one
Last edited by mart broad; 3rd March 2016 at 10:00.
Technically true, but being part of HSBC means you effectively have the whole HSBC network. If you walk in to any branch for a large withdrawal they can call up your account details and hand over cash on the spot. It's only really relevant if you want a face-to-face discussion, which First Direct don't offer normally.
Actually HB use Natwest for their high street presence in probably much the same way. You can use any natwest branch to pay in or take out monies from your HB account. Never done that but that's what I'm told.
Thanks for posting that - I didn't know that you could do that with First Direct.
Still. I do like to be able to have a face-to-face discussion, especially when something has gone wrong, as is inevitable sooner or later. For example, I had a problem with some overseas payments and it was great to go into Nationwide and get it sorted in person. Personal contact does make a difference.
I'm a big fan of FD, but we're not exactly overwhelmed with HSBC branches in Scotland. Luckily for me I work within 10 minutes walk of one so it's convenient for a bit of lunchtime banking.
You can also pay in cheques to an FD account at the Post Office.
Or just put them in a pre-paid envelope and post them in and then you dont need to use the branch at all.
Its a bit more risky with cash though, but that doesn't impact on my needs.
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