Current Account recommendations

[Whenwillglorioussummercome]

I need a new current account and would be interested in recommendations.

I know a few offer incentives to open a new account, which would be nice. But I’m probably more interested in customer service, useful features, and an ethical bank would be good. I’d love to avoid clunky processes for payments/authorisations.

will watch thread with, er, interest.

Not an IF person by any chance @Whenwillglorioussummercome ?

How did you guess? Although I’ve not had my letter of dismissal yet. I was only IF by default though and have been meaning to change more or less since my previous bank moved me to them last year.

I've not had any problems with Nationwide. Been with them for 8 years

Starling.

Santander 123 offer money back on certain bills

Halifax offer money back on certain things if you click on them before purchase like; restaurant meals, hotels, supermarket shopping, travel etc
the deals vary each month
Cash from ATMs abroad = no fee
Free entry in draw to win money - still waiting to win
Save the change feature

I opened an account with Kroo. The app is very easy to use with lightning fast transfers and a good 3.6% on balances.

I've not been a customer for years but I think that First Direct still get high levels of customer satisfaction, they pay an incentive to join them, have a 7% regular saver account and their call centre is second to none.

You phone them up and a real person answers, who takes you through security with sensible questions that don't require you to remember the 8th and 9th characters from the name of your teddy bear at primary school or favourite film during your A-levels.

Then they can actually answer questions about your account without repeatedly quoting lines from their script that answer a similar question but not the one you actually asked.

I'm with cooperative. They are good and I'm happy. They are doing £125 refer a friend offer. Where we both would get £125. If you want to use my details just pm me!

Thanks, everyone! @Penguinsmum I'm afraid I already have a Co-Op account so wouldn't be able to take you up on that as I wouldn't count as a new customer! I might just end up using that (it's a joint one but only on paper) but I thought I'd see what other choices there are and whether there might be a happy meeting of good bank and incentive on offer.

I'm very much about customer service, @BarbaraofSeville , and what has made me think I really need to change is how much less of it IF now offers.

@2birthdayday is that the Halifax Clarity card?

I've been with First Direct for 10+ years.
App is simple to use, internet banking is good and if I do need to phone, I've never been on hold - they always answer right away. Call center is in Leeds and they have always been very helpful and pleasant on the phone.

I see deals come up for switching all the time, and have considered (free money) but ultimately the service has kept me with them.

never hear of - who are they?
who is behind?
do you have a link?

Chase bank. App based so really easy to set up. You get cash back on purchases and no charges abroad.

I opened my account with Nationwide after seeing how brilliant they were with my son when he opened an account with them at age 13. They literally sat him down and explained the difference between debit and credit cards, interest earned and interest paid, savings and current account. The time and care they took with him blew me away so I joined 6 years ago now.

Have so far had zero issues with them. The app works really well and the website is also good. I would wholeheartedly recommend them.

First Direct are very good.

Very happy with first direct

I’m also with IF so glad you started this. We are transferring to First Direct on Monday and so far so good but glad others recommend them. The saver account sounds v good too.

Glad to be of service to others!

Thanks for the recommendations. I'm going to have a good look at options.

I've got a Revolut account for use abroad but am used to having to move money around so a card I could use without all that (for some reason the Revolut app unfailingly goes down when I need to make a critical transfer!) would be good.

Nationwide

no shareholders

We use First Direct as our main current account. As others have said their customer service is very good. It went a bit wobbly a year or two ago but they seem to have sorted it out. Always helpful on the phone, app good, etc. And they pay 7% on their regular saver

We also use Chase. The linked instant access savings account gives good rates. And no charges for overseas payments. Although I think you can't have it as joint account

@pendleflyer
They are a fully registered bank and part of the FSCS, so completely safe. Just realised that the interest rate is 4.1% from 1st of July 😁.

https://www.kroo.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw4s-kBhDqARIsAN-ipH2YCZ2GzH_q5xOmCcJaKblcG8hRD-GP28G9WRw-pwwdGLd5k-oSNS4aAlbxEALw_wcB

I've got current accounts with First Direct and Nationwide.

I don't like Nationwide for my current account because it doesn't show the payment reference online/on my statements and sometimes shows a payer's account number rather than their name. When I'm doing my finances I have to play guessing games work out who has transferred money for what! It's an inexcusable deficiency in my view.

I like First Direct. They've been wonderful over the years (including bailing me out of an issue when I arrived abroad late at night and an unexpected payment had gone out leaving me with no means to buy food etc.) and the customer service is prompt and communication good.

I switched to Starling last year, mainly because it could import transactions directly with my YNAB account. It's app-only, but the service has been great for everything I've needed to do so I don't miss the (mostly useless) branch I sometimes had to visit with my old traditional account

also .. all payments pop up as a notification on my phone, including next day ones. free to use abroad which I've done twice now, so easy.

NatWest offer £200 incentive I think. It was £175 when I joined them years ago and they were fantastic but I left because first direct also offered £175 and I wanted the money and I felt that my available balance wasn't updated accurately - sometimes a transaction would be pending with the money still available for days and overnight I'd go overdrawn on my spending account which I only have minimal in.

An example of how lovely they are is that I locked myself out of online banking and had to go in branch as I was buying a car. I asked the lady for help and if o could stay at her kiosk while doing the transaction just in case and she agreed. A few days later, I received a bottle of extremely fancy bubbly saying congratulations on the new car.

I swapped to first direct who have good service but their app is so shit. I don't get a notification on my phone for online purchases so if I am scammed/cloned I wouldn't know unless I look at my statement but this has been a standard for NatWest for years.

I also joined chase for my spending account only and get 1% cash back on all purchases.

DP has been with Barclays since he was a nipper and would never leave. He also gets notifications when money goes in (as I do with chase but not the others) and says the service is great.

To clarify the NatWest lady sent it from NatWest not her name or from her and I imagine she sent it to my account not looked up my address etc. she was lovely, not creepy.