Which bank do you use and would you reccommend?

[Upsadaisy]

Seperating from h and will need a soul bank account once house sells. I have a few bank accounts but have never used them really for bill paying and organising overdrafts etc.. all the stuff you generally do with a current account....any reccommendations?

I'm currently with lloyds with h and they have more negatives than positives in my opinion...will not be staying with them.

Savings account reccommendations to please?

gosh DC, did they actually say it was because your wife was a pretty blond young thing then/

Alliance & Leicester - the online one, premier plus? You have to pay in a min of £500 a month I think.

Premier Direct

Excellent most of the time and v v cheap, even if you overdraw a bit, as long as you stay within your limit.

If you start a new current/savings account you get better terms than existing customers which makes me a bit but it's v nice for you, obv. Also they give you £50 for doing it (and if you get recommended by someone else they do too, I would be happy to give you my details )

And A&L's call centre is in Bootle so they are English!!!, hooray (well nearly )

Another vote here for First Direct - nice, easy, friendly and if there is a problem then they will sort it out (and they don't insist on you staying on the line while you do. Internet banking is very easy to use, and I have used them for finanical services in the past too. They have mobile phone banking too. However it used to be the case that an unauthorised overdraft was rather expensive.

Haven't first Direct started charging for banking if you don't put in at least £1500 per month?

yup they have

First Direct do charge, unless you take another product from them. However this includes having a deposit account with a nominal balance, so matters not very much.

I wonder if "free" banking is very long for this world ?

unlikely, given they're all losing a major revenue stream (penalty chnarges)

Nationwide - fabulous, rarely charge you for going overdrawn (never in my case and I've done it 3 times in about 3 yrs) They have loads of e accounts which you can open from the main account - make it seriously easy to keep an eye on your money and save for specific things - love them.

Have just moved personal account from smile to alliance and leicester - have banked (joint account) with A&L for past 3 years and been happy with their service.

Moved to Smile from Lloyds about 6 years ago, but have got fed up with repeated poor customer service ... so have taken my business elsewhere.

It does depend on your circumstances, like how much you will have going into the account and what you'll use most, whether you can get a bank to give you a decent authorised overdraft. HSBC have always been ok to me but I know they're not to everyone. My partner had a Natwest account for many years, he'd been bad with it in the past but once he got his act together with my pushing, he was given a fee paying account - I persuaded him to switch to Nationwide - low cost authorised overdraft and they've given him a big authorised overdraft - and free cash withdrawals abroad on his debit card, including the US/Canada as well as Europe - both those are worth it for Mike. I have their credit card because it's the only one that doesn't charge an extra 2.75% on purchases in the US where I have been on quite a lot of holidays - credit card cash withdrawals do cost but less than others.

I am concerned though that the new Chief Exec of Nationwide is making lots of noises about needing to introduce fees for services, so this may not last. And they've had some bad press over their treatment of people claiming back bank charges on unauthorised overdraft/overlimits.

Are main account is with Royal Bank of Scotland and has been for 17 years or so. Very happy with them.

I think I've been very lucky, reading this. I've had no problems with Lloyds at all. In fact, they're really nice to me (a bit obsequious at times, but I can live with that). I'm really pleased with them today. I lost my debit card on Tuesday afternoon, phoned to cancel, and the new one arrived today.

Had bad experiences with Barclays, Natwest, and Alliance and Leicester in the past.

nationwide.

all banks are shite.

i would recommend a stash under your pillow.

i thought nationwide was supposed to be 'different' but they charged me £110 in total for refusing to pay 1 direct debit!!!!!!! yes. not paying it. saying no. £110.

and when i hit the roof, they explained the company had tried to claim it more than once, so they'd turned it down more than once, plus interest charge for the unauthourised overdraft due to them taking out the charges!!!!!!!!

oh, and i can try to claim back the charges but the branch manager said they'd probably refund and close my account.

bastards the lot of them.

Abbey - No I wouldn't

Thank you all for your reccomendations I'm going to give first direct a ring and shop about a bit for a high interest savings account...i'll have a reasonable sum from my share of the house when it sells...thankfully.