Switching bank account

[Baconking]

The time has come for me to say goodbye to Chase and switch my bank account.

I've looked on MSE and narrowed down to Club Lloyds and First Direct but can't decide which. My salary going in each month will be over £2k.

Does anyone have experience with these banks and can recommend?

Thanks

Apparently Nationwide is the “most switched to” bank, so they must be doing something right.
We’re with FD though and can’t fault them.

I switched to Lloyds last year, no problems, easy to use and had a year of Disney as a bonus.
I'm just in the process of switching to nationwide just to get a switching bonus. I've noticed the Lloyds app has more features than nationwide (but in reality I never used many of the features).
I also have a chase account and found Lloyds easier to use than chase overall. I like with both Lloyds and chase you get instant notification of payments in and out.
No experience with first direct.

I've been with First Direct for decades, very happy with their service. On the few occasions something goes wrong they sort it very quickly.

Their app is prehistoric though.

I have nationwide and Chase. Nationwide have given me £100 bonus each year just for being a customer.

Never considered how good the app might be. This could be the decider!

Thanks

Ooh! That sounds nice! Always looking for more money

What's the app like?

The app is very simple, but it is reliable. It has never bothered me because I tend to log in via the web on a laptop and only starting using a smartphone in the last few years. My wife switched to FD last year from Royal Bank of Scotland and hates the app; she says it has poor functionality compared to RBS.

I also have an account with Chase and while their app is very flashy, I find it clunky and it does sometimes take a minute or two to update balances etc. I'm about to close the Chase one too, because they keep changing the Ts&Cs and what starts out is a great product become very uncompetitive very quickly, and I just can't be arsed to keep up anymore. Since FD got rid of debit card fees for overseas transactions last year, Chase doesn't offer me anything more.

One downside with the Nationwide app is that you can’t pay cheques in via it, so I have to keep a separate account just to pay cheques in. That may not matter to you though!

Pretty good. I had co-op and the app was constantly down. I do a lot of thing on the App but make sure you ask for a card reader as my colleague didn’t get one when she switched and had trouble setting up a payment. With switching all your direct debits ei go etc but she paid this one ad-hoc.

I moved to Nationwide after 30 years with no problems with Natwest and they have been exceptional. £200 welcome bonus and cashback each month, brilliant customer service.

I'm a serial switcher for the introductory bonuses (are both FD and Club Lloyds offering these at the moment?)

FD have an excellent reputation but I've not been with them for years. Their USP is that if you need to phone them the phone is answered straight away by a real person who is well trained to answer queries and puts you through security by answering sensible questions that you should know the answer to, not things like where you bought a coffee 7 weeks ago, your paternal grandfather's inside leg measurement or what your next door neighbour bought you for Christmas when you were 4.

I've also been with Club Lloyds and they were fine, no issues and you got some regular freebies (cinema tickets or suchlike - I always used to sell mine on eBay because I've not been in decades).

I don't think I've ever had good or bad service from banks such that it would be a deciding point when switching to them, I value what they give me in terms of free cash or interest/cashback. The ability to phone FD is good if you think you would do this, also how you can put money in it you need it, so not necessarily a branch but can you pay in at the Post Office or deposit a cheque digitally.

I've got accounts with a variety of banks - opened up at various times when they've been offering either current accounts with interest or savings products that required me to open up a current account account to access it.

My main bank account that has most of my standing orders off it is with the TSB. I dislike the TSB intensely. I only use it as a conduit for my money. But I keep my account there for sentimental reasons because my late husband opened it about 60 years ago and I inherited it. So I've never switched away from it.

Of the other banks I really like Lloyds. I don't use their app but use their online banking website. It 's a really good site - clear and easy to use and informative . And their products are really good. If I was to switch it would be to Lloyds.

FD have an excellent reputation but I've not been with them for years. Their USP is that if you need to phone them the phone is answered straight away by a real person who is well trained to answer queries and puts you through security by answering sensible questions that you should know the answer to, not things like where you bought a coffee 7 weeks ago, your paternal grandfather's inside leg measurement or what your next door neighbour bought you for Christmas when you were 4.

This is true, and the people in their contact centre are all lovely.
And their contact centre(s) are in the UK too, which gets them my vote.
I like the FD app, though I’ve never used any other bank’s app so probably don’t know what I’m missing. It lets me know every time something goes in or out of the account.

We’ve banked with FD for 30+ years (one of their early customers) and I’ve never considered changing.

I'm with Nationwide and they still use card readers to make payment which is a bit of a pain sometimes. But the £100 fairer share bonus is good 👍

Agree with PL i find nationwide a bloody pain to log onto and to do anything with! Otherwise we do seem to get random bonuses paid into our account

Ohhh, don't log on to Nationwide using a browser: you need your customer number and it's a PITA! Their app is much more useful, although you can't deposit cheques (as my mother can with Lloyds. Not sure about other banks.)

Thanks all.

I've decided to go with Lloyds

I'm a long term FD customer and very happy with it. I find the app OK but not terrific, but it works. Within the last year I've moved a giant chunk of savings out of FD and into Zopa because of the low interest rate, but am happy with FD for everything else.