Would you recommend your bank?

[EldonAve]

We are having some issues and thinking about switching

Would you recommend yours?

I've got a few different accounts with Halifax and would recommend them. When I switched accounts they managed all the DDs really well. Their website is easy to navigate and I think, on the one occasion I've had to call them about something, they dealt with the problem nice and quickly.

You'll now say that you're switching from the Halifax! :)

would recommend First Direct, you get a real person at the end of the phone when you call - no menus press 1 for this and 2 for that. They answer quickly and are always helpful. I think there is an offer on at the moment wher you get £100 for switching
Avoid Santander - useless

Yup First Direct are ace.

Yes, Natwest. I've been with them for about 16 years and never had any trouble! You can speak to real people when you ring up too

Another vote for First Direct. Never had any trouble with them. My only issue is the crappy branch service courtesy of not-so-good HSBC (of which, bizarrely, the consistently-excellent FD is an offshoot). It's automated to the hilt and they've done away with almost all counter-service so you have to use the badly-designed and inefficient machines for any transactions that can't be done by phone

Lloyds TSB, great customer service in branch and phone and banking are easy peasey. The money manager thing is great basically shows what you have spent your money on in pie charts and things.

We are with Smile the internet branch of the Co-op. Real person 24\7 very helpful and really think outside the box to try and fix things.

i love my barclays bank

Lloyds fine. Avoid Santander like the plague.

I may be the only one but I find Barclays amazing for customer service whenever I deal with them and they even managed to get us back our £165 when we were victims of fraud

I find them professional, easily accessible and frankly .... A pleasure

Nationwide are very good

Absolutely. Very happy with First Direct, been with them since they started.

First Direct are fabulous (and I am really picky)

Nationwide have always been brilliant for me.

Also with Smile and have been for about 9 years. Have fairly straightforward finances but no problems at all. Very quick to answer any online messages you send. All online but there's nothing I need a branch for that I can't do via their online site.

Only slight reservation recently was that we needed to do regular transfers to an external account, and they say it takes "up to three working days", but it sometimes took less. So you never knew exactly when the money was going to arrive, which was a bit annoying. I hear other banks have no-fee same-day transfers without needing to do a CHAPS which would have been useful.

But no plans to switch .

Another vote for first direct!

I love first direct too. I've been with them for, ooh, 18 years.

Nice, real people on the phone and they've always bent over backwards to help me.

Smile are fantastic. No messing, lovely helpful staff on the rare occasion you need to ring and online banking is straightforward. Definitely recommend them.

Yes, most definitely, HSBC, never had a problem in the 10 years of being with them.

Have the misfortune to be with the Halifax - even the simplest instructions from opening an account, to changing personal details they are woefully incompetent.

Have heard good things about First Direct and the NatWest.

Another vote for First direct. never had a problem with them, and they are so friendly.

We are with Handelsbanken, a proper old fashioned service with a named account manager who we see, online facilities. Barclays were crappy couldn't follow instruction and briefly lost my life savings.

Another Lloyds vote here, I seriously have never found any reason to fault them. They really helped me when I was in a deep deep hole post divorce 13 years ago and have never been anything other than decent whether I've been in the black or red, and I have most definitely spent time in the red over the years. Been with them for 25 years.

And, actually Eldon I think IIRC that you're pretty much in my (almost as of next week again) neck of the woods and the branch there is my one. Manager is really nice.

Yes, NatWest, have been with them for nearly 20 years (current account).
They have never made a mistake (I examine things carefully) and treat you as a valued customer whenever you contact them.

NO to Halifax (too pushy) NO to Lloyds (too many complaints) NO to Santander (same) NO to Barclays (not my type of place at all).

HSBC would be my second choice.