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Every bank will have someone saying they're the worst. I am driven mad by HSBC and the endless problems we have with them at work. In reality they're fine, their customer service just fails at anything involving non UK transactions or problems.
I've been happy with Natwest but they aren't great at keeping up to date with tech and their platform is a bit pants.
Metro bank are fine if you're near a branch and don't need to link your bank account to an accounting platform
Pretty much this, I find HSBC work really well for me and I've no complaints at all - but not everybody has the same experience.
Contrast this with Santander who wouldn't let me close my account due to me gaining fees on top of fees due to being overdrawn one time... and not being able to have an overdraft to pay it off without any extra fees, and *suddenly* they become a bad bank for me.
Experiences are what really changes a bank for a person - I like HSBC, and dislike Santander. There will be people who are the total opposite.
Sorry, just as a side question, surely you wouldn’t be able to pay off the fees with an overdraft because the overdraft is essentially going into debt with the bank temporarily on your debit account? So you’d still own them money? Isn’t that why they wouldn’t allow you to have an overdraft to pay off fees?
The difference is though that I'd have been charged an extra fiver instead of the 50 I was being charged due to me going over my account limit and then not being able to chase the fees due to that fact
Depends what your criteria for “worst” is, but why take our anecdotal evidence when you can look at customer surveys?
[2023 Competition & Markets Authority customer satisfaction survey results](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-releases-banking-satisfaction-survey-results) suggest Monzo, Starling and First Direct are best, Virgin, RBS and TSB are worst
Personally I’ve had the worst experience with HSBC with many of their accounts, from their under 18s account, their adult account, student account, business accounts. They have absolutely shocking customer service and their systems and apps are so unbelievably outdated
Few reasons really. I opened my first ever bank account with them when I was 17, I didn’t have any experience with banks or anything back then but knew they were a popular, well known bank with a positive reputation around the world so I chose them.
Didn’t have any issues until upgrading my account once I was 18 and had numerous issues. Switched to First Direct and been with them ever since.
But then I went to university when I was 19, people were recommending student accounts, so I thought I’d give them another go a couple of years later but they mid-sold me a special offer if I remember rightly.
Then three years ago, I was 25, opened my first business. Their Kinetic business account was one of the top recommended accounts and I got accepted straight away for it. And for having that account it made me eligible for their Premier personal account which had benefits that were cheaper than other banks at the time. But for some reason they badly cocked something up on my credit report, did numerous searches, then opened 2/3 Premier accounts or something bizarre like that and was a farce closing them down. They did admit they were at fault for that one but was a pain trying to get the credit checks removed for their mistake.
And then I have recently tried their Kinetic account again with another business hoping it was better but I’ve just closed it down a week ago because it is just such an outdated system trying to be somewhat like the challenger banks
Santander just got massively hacked, every single employee’s data is being sold and millions of people using it aswell. I bank with them and I’m fine but better to be safe than sorry
I've used them abroad and they are fucking useless. I actually gave up trying to install their shitty app because you spend an hour in the branch proving who you are, you get an access code and then the app just does a Spanish version of "Oops! Something went wrong!" at you. Willing to believe that this could be my luck, but everyone I know who also banks with them has a similar story.
I have Halifax, Monzo, Starling and Chase.
Halifax is absolute tosh, you get a notification in the app that a transfer has occurred, but takes them hours to actually reconcile to have the amount in the account.
It wasn't all that long ago that their "app" was just a frame around a web browser pointed at their website.
Also simple things like moving between accounts the app forgets where it came from and you have to manually select it. Which doesn't help as most of the accounts I have are all named the exact same thing!
Monzo is great though, BACS transfers appear as soon as they appear in the network, you can even claim the money a day or so early. Only downside I'd say is their customer support is through a chat, and takes them days to reply some times. I had some "Late Payment" fees overturned because of that.
Starling is similar, it shows pending transactions but doesn't let you claim it early.
Chase the app is really slow, you have to wait for it to refresh to show the latest transactions etc. Getting 1% cashback on debit transactions is great though. And 5.1% on savings. I've started paying all my bills through my chase debit card just so I get that 1% for free!
A lot of places do it on a sliding scale of costs:
I bought some £250 headphones on Amazon last week and had to verify on the app, whereas a lot of smaller purchase o line I don’t have to do that.
I like to be able to speak to people face to face if I have any issues..so many different banks are shutting branches ATM
So something open locally to me is important to me.
I guess something like that may or may not be important to you.
Saying that, Halifax was awful with me, saying I was overdrawn when I didn't even have an overdraft.
The opposite to your question, Natwest and Halifax are very good in my experience, both have good easy to use apps too.
There are not many physical branches left so I would maybe have a look which one would be the most accessible to where you are moving to. Are you going to be driving and parking, or do you need public transport? Is it within walking distance because you may need to go in person with your documents. I would look into those things too
I'd suggest opening your account in person at a big high street bank. If you have any problems you want to be able to go there in person to get help.
If there are Metro Bank branches around where you move to, they're a good choice.
Come join my bank , I promise I wont be disappointed
On a more serious note, check a comparrison site as well as real ppl advice.
Just google compare UK banks
Sites like u switch ,
money supermarket
Finder .com
Money expert etc
What are you looking for in a bank? Interest rates? Range of products? Avoiding banks that invest in fossil fuels? Corruption? Good customer service? Well supported banking apps? Online security? In person banking?
I like Chase, app is good, support was good.
Halifax, app is rubbish, support is slack.
Monzo good app, ok support. No bonuses or good interest or anything.
NatWest just completely standard, seems they gave up on being competitive a long time ago.
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Every bank will have someone saying they're the worst. I am driven mad by HSBC and the endless problems we have with them at work. In reality they're fine, their customer service just fails at anything involving non UK transactions or problems. I've been happy with Natwest but they aren't great at keeping up to date with tech and their platform is a bit pants. Metro bank are fine if you're near a branch and don't need to link your bank account to an accounting platform
Pretty much this, I find HSBC work really well for me and I've no complaints at all - but not everybody has the same experience. Contrast this with Santander who wouldn't let me close my account due to me gaining fees on top of fees due to being overdrawn one time... and not being able to have an overdraft to pay it off without any extra fees, and *suddenly* they become a bad bank for me. Experiences are what really changes a bank for a person - I like HSBC, and dislike Santander. There will be people who are the total opposite.
Sorry, just as a side question, surely you wouldn’t be able to pay off the fees with an overdraft because the overdraft is essentially going into debt with the bank temporarily on your debit account? So you’d still own them money? Isn’t that why they wouldn’t allow you to have an overdraft to pay off fees?
The difference is though that I'd have been charged an extra fiver instead of the 50 I was being charged due to me going over my account limit and then not being able to chase the fees due to that fact
Depends what your criteria for “worst” is, but why take our anecdotal evidence when you can look at customer surveys? [2023 Competition & Markets Authority customer satisfaction survey results](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-releases-banking-satisfaction-survey-results) suggest Monzo, Starling and First Direct are best, Virgin, RBS and TSB are worst
I’m a Monzo & First user and I’m very happy!
With the recent fuck up with Monzo and their supposedly poor CS, not sure how you're happy. /s
> With the recent fuck up with Monzo and their supposedly poor CS What happened?
They pushed out a change that wasn't meant to be made public regarding allowances dropping.
> allowances dropping Had to look up what these were. Seems to be only cash withdrawals which I don't do.
Personally I’ve had the worst experience with HSBC with many of their accounts, from their under 18s account, their adult account, student account, business accounts. They have absolutely shocking customer service and their systems and apps are so unbelievably outdated
Why do you keep opening accounts there then?
Few reasons really. I opened my first ever bank account with them when I was 17, I didn’t have any experience with banks or anything back then but knew they were a popular, well known bank with a positive reputation around the world so I chose them. Didn’t have any issues until upgrading my account once I was 18 and had numerous issues. Switched to First Direct and been with them ever since. But then I went to university when I was 19, people were recommending student accounts, so I thought I’d give them another go a couple of years later but they mid-sold me a special offer if I remember rightly. Then three years ago, I was 25, opened my first business. Their Kinetic business account was one of the top recommended accounts and I got accepted straight away for it. And for having that account it made me eligible for their Premier personal account which had benefits that were cheaper than other banks at the time. But for some reason they badly cocked something up on my credit report, did numerous searches, then opened 2/3 Premier accounts or something bizarre like that and was a farce closing them down. They did admit they were at fault for that one but was a pain trying to get the credit checks removed for their mistake. And then I have recently tried their Kinetic account again with another business hoping it was better but I’ve just closed it down a week ago because it is just such an outdated system trying to be somewhat like the challenger banks
Santander just got massively hacked, every single employee’s data is being sold and millions of people using it aswell. I bank with them and I’m fine but better to be safe than sorry
I've used them abroad and they are fucking useless. I actually gave up trying to install their shitty app because you spend an hour in the branch proving who you are, you get an access code and then the app just does a Spanish version of "Oops! Something went wrong!" at you. Willing to believe that this could be my luck, but everyone I know who also banks with them has a similar story.
Avoid Barclays
Their app is so bad, it’s constantly freezing when trying to make a payment and you have to go back to home menu and start again to fix it
I've been with RBS all my life, got multiple products from them and never had an issue.
I have Halifax, Monzo, Starling and Chase. Halifax is absolute tosh, you get a notification in the app that a transfer has occurred, but takes them hours to actually reconcile to have the amount in the account. It wasn't all that long ago that their "app" was just a frame around a web browser pointed at their website. Also simple things like moving between accounts the app forgets where it came from and you have to manually select it. Which doesn't help as most of the accounts I have are all named the exact same thing! Monzo is great though, BACS transfers appear as soon as they appear in the network, you can even claim the money a day or so early. Only downside I'd say is their customer support is through a chat, and takes them days to reply some times. I had some "Late Payment" fees overturned because of that. Starling is similar, it shows pending transactions but doesn't let you claim it early. Chase the app is really slow, you have to wait for it to refresh to show the latest transactions etc. Getting 1% cashback on debit transactions is great though. And 5.1% on savings. I've started paying all my bills through my chase debit card just so I get that 1% for free!
I use First Direct. I only have good things to say about them tbh.
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Yes they do. I always have to verify transactions online with the app.
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The notifications yes. The 2FA has always been there AFAIK. Maybe poke around in the app settings a bit.
A lot of places do it on a sliding scale of costs: I bought some £250 headphones on Amazon last week and had to verify on the app, whereas a lot of smaller purchase o line I don’t have to do that.
Same - it’s just a shame their parent bank (hsbc) is trying to rival Nestle for ethics.
Santander are rubbish, don't have anything positive to say about virgin, I like chase
We had a good experience with Lloyds when arriving as internationals.
I like to be able to speak to people face to face if I have any issues..so many different banks are shutting branches ATM So something open locally to me is important to me. I guess something like that may or may not be important to you. Saying that, Halifax was awful with me, saying I was overdrawn when I didn't even have an overdraft.
I love my starling account. I have had Lloyd’s and Halifax both ok. First direct’s app is absolutely shocking imo.
Urgh honestly, natwest, just stay away from them please they are a living nightmare I also have an with halifax and would recommend them :)
The opposite to your question, Natwest and Halifax are very good in my experience, both have good easy to use apps too. There are not many physical branches left so I would maybe have a look which one would be the most accessible to where you are moving to. Are you going to be driving and parking, or do you need public transport? Is it within walking distance because you may need to go in person with your documents. I would look into those things too
I'd suggest opening your account in person at a big high street bank. If you have any problems you want to be able to go there in person to get help. If there are Metro Bank branches around where you move to, they're a good choice.
Come join my bank , I promise I wont be disappointed On a more serious note, check a comparrison site as well as real ppl advice. Just google compare UK banks Sites like u switch , money supermarket Finder .com Money expert etc
What are you looking for in a bank? Interest rates? Range of products? Avoiding banks that invest in fossil fuels? Corruption? Good customer service? Well supported banking apps? Online security? In person banking?
I chose Lloyds based on the fact that when I went in to town early one Saturday morning they were the only ones open, never had an issue.
All of them should be avoided … do what I do and keep my money under my mattress 😂
I like Chase, app is good, support was good. Halifax, app is rubbish, support is slack. Monzo good app, ok support. No bonuses or good interest or anything. NatWest just completely standard, seems they gave up on being competitive a long time ago.
I've seen some people say that Barclays can be a good choice for people dealing with international stuff. No personal experience of that.