+1 on the One Account with NatWest/RBS.
there you go Afro…all you need to do is open an account in every single bank and you’re set.
Happy Banking.
…yes i said BANKing.
Id go co-op. I used to work at HBOS and Abbey. Both have good intentions but neither really delivers on the Customer Service side - HBOS’ Bank of Scotland Customer Services used to be really good, but the Halifax are just abysmal. I quite like Barclays but you do pay for it. HSBC are over-compliant - their compliance officers obviously follow regulation to the letter, rather than applying a principles based approach more relevant to the real world - dont even try to get online banking with them. RBS have quite a good rep amongst people I know - not tried them myself. Most of the good feedback and personal preference is the online companies (cahoot, first direct, intelligent finance, etc): BECAUSE they dont do face-to-face, their phone customer services is much better than branch banks in my experience…or you could take the view that a bank is a bank and they are all the same ;)Check out deals with Martin Lewis and sign up to his weekly newsletter - always knows the best bargains around: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/
I opened a Natwest account at uni and have never had any problems with them. I went over my overdraft limit by about £400 once and they didnt charge me anything because I called to apologise as soon as I realised. I cant comment on the call centres as I dont remember the last time I called them.
I also have an account with Nationwide that I opened for going travelling because they dont charge you for withdrawing cash when abroad. I dont use it much when at home. They were great when I briefly ran out of money in Peru. I emailed them to explain what had happened and they responded within a day to say they were giving me a free overdraft until I could transfer in some funds and until I returned to the UK.
Kinnel, this is like choosing a new bike!
Just go for the one you fancy. If it’s a crock, change it.
In short: none 
Saw this post and couldn’t resist a rant! 
Don’t go with Abbey - anyone!!! I know many people that have had problems with them (wrong charges and bad customer service) and so have I.
I opened a student account with them, which had a large interest free overdraft which they increased when i started a post grad course. (Never used the overdraft until this point - 3 years of degree and one year out saving). The masters was going to cost me £4500 and i was £700 short after saving for a year so i put it on my overdraft. Problem was i would get paid part time every month while doing my masters and i could never repay it - i would go into plus figures for a few weeks and slip back into the red. So i started a new job and all was good but then they decided to take most of the overdraft away without notice this september! Problem was i tried to get a very small loan (£300) from them to pay it off and they refused…! Which i can’t believe - i pay everything (well apart from the overdraft) and i wasnt in my overdraft that long! In the end i had to borrow some money from a family member - but since then they sent me a letter saying i would have to pay the remaining amount straight away or i would have a bad credit rating (Which is hardly anything these days). There is certainly no loyalty-i will be moving in a few months!
Thing is my older sister has the same account and has been on the border of her overdraft for about 6 years (student account too with abbey) and got her overdraft reduced but no letter. Nice and consistant! Plus there customer service is uselss!
IMO banks really need to take a look at themselves - they have had a massive injection of money - so do something with it and start lending again - my problem could have been avoided if they did - only needed to borrow £300!!! BBC one news talked about this the other day; that no banks are taking on small loans and its no wonder no one has money to spend! Plus the increase of people using loan sharks for small amounts has increased.
I can see why some people keep money in their homes because all banks seem useless…i might if i had some, lol. Some of us aren’t rich bankers that get massive bonuses and dont have to worry about money matters! Even if the taxes are reduced so people start spending - i wont be - i will be saving for a rainy day so i dont depend on a bank to bail me out! Banks are esculating the problem!
Rant over 
They’re all a bag-o-shite imho . . . with the exception of The One Account from RBS as already mentioned above, you can speak to somebody who has English as their first language and seems very willing to help. Most banking is on-line.
The rest are a shower, Barclays, Nat West, Lloyds, Halifax etc, they’re all so big and targeting the whole market that they fail to understand anything about their customers or even care what their customers think. It’s a case of this is the service, if you don’t like it you can pi*s off. So people switch between one poor supplier and another . . . right now the One Account are pretty good but I’m sure in 5 years they’ll be slacking and I’ll be looking to change again.
So in to sum up down have one with any bank and due to government policies and interest rates you are better sticking your hard earned wonga in the biccie barrel or under the matress.
Decisions, decisions…
I’ld go co-op. apart from the ethical side of things the service we’ve got has always been good. Easy to open account and easy to maintain online.
my eldest sister works for a major bank in the city and doent recomend them!! but she says first direct is where she goes with all her money:w00t:
(rich bich)
I bank with First Direct…they’re ok, but I don’t like any banks really, and you have to remember they’re all looking after their own interests first, not yours
and once again…
the one account
I think as someone said they are all alike and ok until you had your first problem (I bank with 3 and have had my share of problems, and right now they all want to give me money??!!! - So my advice is, ask one of your friends who is with First direct to recommend you, this way both or you will be getting a little cash present (or bribe), can’t remember how much it is, but is it money right, when I joined I got 6 bottles of surprisingly descent wine (well, at least 2 of them were) – if you don’t know anyone, loads of people on here seem to be including me J
Good luck
Another vote for First Direct here. They answer the phone in reasonable time, every time and they have UK call centres, so I can always understand the person on the other end.
My only gripe with them is that they force me to use Internet Explorer for my internet banking (I prefer Firefox), but that’s not the end of the world.
I had Midlands then HSBC, but they made a cockup. Can’t remember what it was, but gave them benefit of the doubt and continued to use them. Then my credit card was cloned and they refused to believe I was not involved, many long calls to India, then they compounded it a couple of weeks later by trying to take the amount due when I already told them it was stolen adding more charges etc. Would never deal with them again.
Switched to First Direct, although owned by the same company they always pick up the call and it is someone in the UK. I could continue to us HSBC branches for deposits etc so it was just a change in attitude from their call centres. I think the bank I would choose would depend on the distance to and ease with which I could use their local branch.
Halifax is where I keep my money now as they have the best interest on a current account, 6% up to 2.5k, so you can keep a couple of grand there and know the bank is not going to give you peanuts for it. I like to keep a bit of cash liquid in case I want to buy something like another bike. They gave me 1.5k overdraft when I asked for it, a credit card with 15 months interest free, which was nice. Never had cause to complain, but don’t spend more then I earn so no danger of late charges etc.
I’ve got ISA with ING, but really should move that as I notice that the rate keeps falling. Cos banks do that, they hook you on the big fat juicy worm rate then throw you in the keep net… My mortgage is fixed with Britannia so just ticks along in the background. My brother has been telling me to get into share, Barcleys Wealth, much higher gains then a cash ISA. Although as they say shares go down as well as up. Looked at cost of a small loan last month when interest rate was 4.5%, 7.9 APR. Then again this morning now interest rate is 3% and they are still the same so the cost of borrowing has not gone down.
My advice is have lots of accounts, if one is being unreasonable you can use an overdraft of another to ‘fix’ it rapidly. I have 4 current accounts. Also if things go badly quickly, you can select the one with the lowest interest for an overdraft, as they always change rates.
Thanks for all the advice peoples
I think I may try First Direct despite their HSBC associations.
Not always true. If you are with the Coop - you employ them, can vote them out of a job etc. The profits don’t go to shareholders, they go back to the members, so if you have a membership account, that is you.
co op works for me
I use HSBC Istanbul , but in Turkey it is part of a local bank…Free tranfers to anywhere ,excellent website for online work AND almost 20% interest on deposits. Wouldn’t suit everyone but works for me…