Need a new current account - would you recommend yours?

[orlandobbb]

I am looking to change my bank account from RBS, I am fed up with their bad customer service.
The problem is that there seem so many new current accounts to chose from - would you recommend yours and if so, what do you like about it?

What sort of things do you need customer service for?

That's going to be the biggest factor in which one is best for you.

I can't even remember the last time I had to contact my bank about anything so wouldnt be able to make a recommendation, I don't have anything that I can't do online or by going into a branch if I ever have money to pay in which is very rare.

I can only transfer £250 on the app which is annoying, I find a lot of my transfers get held by security so I need to call and release them and spend hours on hold.

I've no experience with any bank except Natwest and have no complaints about them. I have their reward account and for a £2 monthly fee get 2% (I think) cashbavknon all household bills. Since February I've earned £40 back. You can either build it up, donate it to charity or claim vouchers instead.

I find First Direct excellent for customer service. When you phone them it rings and a person answers, none of this automated stuff.

*Cashback on

Monzo!

Monzo

Another First Direct customer here who would recommend them wholeheartedly (plus the £150 you get for switching is also welcome )

The few times I've needed customer services they have been amazing. Their online banking is straight forward (not used the app though).

The app sounds rubbish, I wouldn't want to be restricted to £250 either.

First direct. Excellent customer service and great online too.

First Direct here too. I use the app a lot, and online banking for features the app doesn’t cover. When I call them, it’s ususlly answered straight away and I’ve never had any problems with them.

I moved from Barclays to Santander because they were always holding back payments and were very difficult to deal with. Santander 123 has been great for us.

I can not recommend First Direct highly enough. I have been with them 20 years and they have been consistently excellent.

First Direct's customer service is excellent. I've been with them for many years now, and wouldn't swap. When you call, you don't need to go through any options like "press 1 for..." or anything like that. The person who picks up will deal with any query, and not transfer you to another department. So much better than many banks.

MoneySavingExpert (website) is a great place to go for information.

look at those accounts that continue paying cashback over a single switching reward - provided you'll continue to meet the criteria.

NatWest is also rbs. You’re only restricted to £250 if you haven’t set them up as a payee on online banking then you can pay whatever you want.

For the type of thing you’re saying they’re probably all quite similar. I’m hearing a lot about monzo but I never thought of using it as main current account

My solo current account is with the Co Op. No complaints and I find their online banking refreshingly straightforward to use. Our joint current account is with Nationwide. Very very good at spotting potential fraud etc, branch staff have always been fantastic, online banking is OK.

First direct is good if you have a good income, if it goes low for a few months or you suddenly find yourself unemployed or made redundant they charge. For this reason we went back to Halifax and we are really happy with them. We have three accounts (a single one each and one joint) and you can see them all on the app and transfer money between them immediately.

Meant to add we’re currently refurbishing our house and have had to pay large sums of money via transfer to various new suppliers (£5k plus etc) and never had any probs.

Another vote for Monzo

No recommendations but avoid NatWest. Whilst they are very helpful, the long wait times on the phone is so infuriating.

You can transfer up to 10k with RBS with phone banking, it's just the app that has limitations. 20k online if you have the card device.

First Direct is consistently top for customer service.

My main account is with Smile, the Coop bank.

DH and I have a joint account with Nationwide.

I have also just opened a mobile only account with Starling.

I’m with First Direct and find their customer service and online banking absolutely top notch. In order to have a free current account you need to be paying in a minimum of £1000 per month AND have a certain number of direct debits (check as those were the rules when I moved to them).

My only issue with them is their own take in money laundering regulations means it was VERY hard for me to open the account. Despite having an excellent credit rating, living at same address for nearly 30 years, bank account I was transferring from being British and held 20 years etc. I had to send them my passport (they would take driving licence but mine isn’t a photo one) AND a letter less than three months old from a government agency. My tax coding was over 3 months old and that is the only government letter I ever get! It was easier to provide documentation for mt DBS check than to switch my bank account to First Direct! They wouldn’t accept council tax bill (too old), local authority payslip, utility bill (all acceptable for DBS checks) and all ORIGINAL documents had to be posted to them. I nearly didn’t bother but the bank I was changing from had temporarily “mislaid” a very large amount of my money and I no longer trusted them.

I use Nationwide and Monzo and am happy with both. With Nationwide you can transfer up to £10,000 with faster payments (instant or almost instant, 24/7) using online banking. They have a current account which pays 5% interest for the first year and they have a regular savings account which also pays 5% for a year.

Monzo are entirely app based so no branches you can go into - advantages are any problems solved very quickly via in app chat even outside working hours - eg: Tried to withdraw cash from an atm in Spain and no money came out the cash slot of the machine, bank branch was closed (was a Sunday) I contacted Monzo and the money was instantly refunded to my account; Sainsburys self-checkout declined my card but still took the money (so I paid twice), Monzo instantly refunded the money when I contacted them whereas Sainsburys were not interested in helping. Also you can see any transactions instantly in app, can block your card instantly via the app if lost or stolen, can keep track of spending via monthly categorised report, no fees for spending abroad or withdrawing cash abroad for up to £200 per month. But obviously with no branches there is no way to pay in cash or cheques (yes people/companies still send those!).

It's very easy to link a Monzo or Starling account / card with another current account (Eg: Nationwide) and then you can top-up your card by bank transfer. Once at a hotel I realised at checkout that I did not have enough money on the Monzo card to pay the bill, in the time it took them to printout my bill (2 minutes?) I had logged onto the Nationwide app and paid some money onto the Monzo card and it was ready to use.

Ones to avoid: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds. (Have had major problems with all 3 in the past).