If you could wave a magic wand and improve your banking experience, tell Barclays what your wish would be and you could win a £200 voucher NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

As you know we have been working with Barclays and this week Barclays want to hear ideas from customers and non customers.

They say "we want customers to be at the heart of what we do, but we can only do this if we keep on listening to your thoughts and suggestions. That's why we've created Your Bank, a place where you can go to share whatever's on your mind about banking.

To celebrate the launch of Your Bank, this week we're asking the nation five key questions to help us get some answers on how we can make your banking better.

Before we put the questions to the nation, we also got 20 Mumsnetters together to have a think about how we can make everyday banking better for everyone - you can see what they had to say now".

View the Mumsnet Ideation session here

But they also want to make sure your voice is heard on all the other aspects of your banking, so once you've answered the questions (here) please also let us know (on this thread) if you could wave a magic wand, how you would improve your banking experience?

Everyone who adds a comment below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £200 John Lewis voucher.

thanks and good luck
MNHQ
PS closing date for prize draw: 16 Sept at noon

[Bubbles85]

Branches that are open on Saturdays and Sundays. Also, that I can get through to someone on the phone without being on hold for what seems like forever!

[majjsu]

I think being made to feel like a customer rather than a number. Personal courteous service with a smile and striving to go the extra mile.

Agree with many others, a coin counting machine with activities and stickers to incentivise little ones.

Plus First Direct online banking and customer service is fab, a lot could learn from this.

[CreepyLittleBat]

1. Saturday PM opening as I get paid on Sat. mornings
   
2. Maybe just my bank, but I hate it when they look down on me and don't help me because I am a scruff with a snot-encrusted toddler in tow, then realise that I am paying in 2.5K worth of cheques to a business account and suddenly start fawning in a ridiculous fashion. Yuck. Just treat everyone the same - it's not hard!

[Theimpossiblegirl]

The only way I could really improve my banking experience would be if I had more money.

Evening opening would be great, even if it was just one evening a week. I really struggle to get to my local branch in the week as I work Mon-Fri.

I don't want to be sold to when I'm banking, I like things to be straightforward and easy.

I'd also like the banks to work together to help stop scam emails, seeming as they are often sent pretending to be from the banks, they should send out guides on what to look out for.

[Hopezibah]

child friendly is an important one - when you have an autistic child who can't wait - it would be good to have a kids area to keep them amused. Just something simple with a few toys or pencils and paper. Love the idea given about making it easier for kids to save their coins too.

Basically if you can make the experience of visiting the bank easier for my kids, then it is easier for me because unfortunately I can't leave 3 children elsewhere each time I need to pop to the bank.

[Steffanoid]

an easier way to pay in cheques like if there was a way online to do it?
and also all banks to use chip and pin machines for transactions, it makes it so much quicker and easier

[ThatsSoVanquish]

I would stop banks charging for current accounts. The idea of paying a bank to have an account in credit is crazy!

[Steffanoid]

also barclays, natwest have managed to let me log in online without the card reader, my other half still uses his for barclays, ive never used mine, cant be that hard surely?

[fossil971]

I wish credit card statements were one side of A4, not four.

I also wish for Saturday opening.
I wish that the entire archive of bank statements not just the last 30 transactions (piffling, barely a month) could be exported to CSV so I can import them into my banking software that I update every few months.

Halifax have an option on every statement to export the data.

I wish for a way of paying in cheques that doesn't involve driving for ages in my precious lunch hour and queuing at a branch.

I like the mobile app though. 5 digits, you're in.

[lorisparkle]

I wish that they would be a bit more kind and realistic in regards to overdrafts. My account says something along the lines of your
whole overdraft may need to be repaid at any time we ask. It would be better to say something along the lines of 'your agreed overdraft can be withdrawn with 3 months notice'.

[Digestive28]

I would like for telephone banking not to be charged at premium rates, particularly when most of the time I am on hold!

I would also like to be able to have a choice in my user name for online banking so I can remember it and it would then feel a lot more secure.

I would also like to receive less advertising. I currently get frequent letters from Barclays telling me about free balance transfers. It's the same each time, I have never taken them up on it and if I did need to do a balance transfer on a credit card I would be on the Internet looking for the best deals not blindly responding to junk mail through the post.

[NotAQueef]

I would wave a magic wand and make it possible to email my bank! I get frustrated that I have to ring them or go into branch to talk about things. Sometimes you just want to get something all written down and it takes and discomfort or emotion out of the conversation (if you are having financial difficulties for example).

[elizaco]

I wish the Barclays staff in my small, local branch were able to do more themselves, without having to refer to their seniors, who are not there at the time. My family over the years, have made simple enquiries about various products and accounts which staff have been unable to deal with/don't have knowledge of, resulting in having to make separate appointments.

[BirdyBedtime]

I've been a Barclays customer for around 20 years since I was a student and the only reason I haven't changed account is that I'm too lazy, but that might change with the recent agreement about simplifying the process. My magic wand ideas all agree with things which have been posted above.

1. get rid of pinsentry. Surely passcode plus 5 digit security code plus 2 letters from a word is secure enough to set up a new payment which I might want to do at work, at friends, on holiday etc and I don't carry my pinsentry around with me! DH is with Lloyds (well TSB as of Monday) and gets the call on his mobile which seems much better to me
   
2. UK only call centres - I have a regional accent and always have to repeat myself at least 3 times to be understood (although at least Barclays let them use their own names!)
   
3. stop the junk mail - if I want a balance transfer etc I will seek it out. Just gives me extra shredding to do.
   
4. let me choose a password that is actually secure ie with digits and special characters as surely only allowing letters is not very secure in this day and age
   
   Thanks for listening

[EastFife5Forfar4]

Exactly what trills says.

"I would do away with all of those little calculator machines that you have to put your card into.

One of my banks doesn't have them - instead if I set up a payment to a new recipient I get an automated phone call and have to type in some numbers from the screen.

I always have my phone with me. I do not always have the little machine with me.

I would also make it so that online banking lets me choose my username (not a randomly-generated number that I then have to remember) and lets me choose my security questions ("first holiday" or "favourite singer" are not relevant to me)."

I especially despise those horrid little card readers. I am trying to simplify my life, not have extra bits and pieces to keep safe, cluttering up my desk.

Definitely let me choose my own securit questions. One bank I bank with has six questions, all of which could be answered by anyone who grew up with me (so I made up other answers!).

[Willemdefoeismine]

I would like banks to be able to 'action'/process regular payments (such as the monthly transfer of monies from DH's account) on the given day of the month regardless of which day of the week it falls on. I am fed up with finding that at least four months of the year, the monthly transfer date falls at the weekend and so will not be processed until the Monday. Often this account is empty by the end of the month and it means that instead of having money available to use, it is sitting in limbo not available for me to use...GRRRRRRR.

[deakymom]

the ability to see where im spending my money i want to be able to call up a menu with things on it like shopping fuel husbands buying junk again that sort of thing because i often get to the end of the month and think what the hell have i spent money on?

[peronel]

I want my bank to be totally ethical in everything it does. That would mean full details of all investments available to all customers. I want to be able to see at a glance that my money is not being used to buy weapons, be given to companies to pay for testing on animals or anything else that I, and any decent person, would find abhorrent.
That's all.

[openupyourdoor]

Weekend opening times

An allocated person in the local branch who oversees your account and most importantly who you can phone directly

[Creamtea1]

Weekend opening
Ability to do everything online and at cashpoint
iPhone app for banking
Proper explanations as to why declined for credit etc
Uk call centres

[Tyranasaurus]

Open at weekends (at least Saturday afternoons)

[TheLondonMum]

For the foreign cheque charge to disappear. I pay £6.00 per cheque just because it's a foreign cheque through a ccbilling account (an established brand). On top of that my bank gives me rubbish interest rates.
I did consider looking at other banks but to be honest they aren't any different to what I'm having to pay out anyway.

[BooRadders]

I would like to be able to carry out all banking needs at my local Barclays branch. The people at the local branch know me and my DCs and are incredibly helpful. Unfortunately I have to go into the main city centre branch of Barclays to discuss changing things from the current set up,with a personal banker..... Ironic as I feel the staff at my small branch are much more like personal bankers to me! Also it amounts to a much longer job and has a cost in terms of parking etc.

[angell74]

I would get rid of the sales chat. It really puts me off contacting them when they use my need for a service as an excuse to flog products I don't need.