New Bank: ideas please?

Very good luck to you. Santander have good rates but I have had bad experiences with them eg temporarily losing £10,000.

First Direct have nothing but good reviews- maybe do a bit of research re that bank? From memory I think that it comes first with Which? best buys most months.

Nationwide offer a good service; I would change to them but thus far we still have a local branch of HSBC that I use. Santander are closing a branch in Nottingham that is used by a lot of people; Bradford and Bingley tried to close it years ago but, after a public outcry it stayed open. Santander have taken it over and there's no point in opposing them. The S.O. are with them but doesn't like the way they work [although I must admit to loving their adverts ].

The boss of HSBC has just awarded himself an extra £32,000 a week payrise in order to dodge the EU bonus cap. That's on top of his £1.2m. salary. His total pay and bonuses last year were £8m. but staff costs went down by 6%, which probably meant redundancies. They hace paid over £1m. to 239 staff members. Nice if you are one of the 239; not so nice if you've lost your job to pay for it.
Not a bank I would want to join. I'm with Nationwide.

Another Nationwide fan here.

I was also going to have an account with the Co op, but not now. I hope they manage to survive though.

I am with RBS and have been since I was 18. I really cannot be bothered changing now. I do everything online and the odd time I go to the local branch there has never been a problem.

What about Bank of Dave!! Anyone heard how he is getting on. Remember that TV documentary about him trying to break into the closed shop of banking. I think he is based in Lancashire.

First Direct gets my recommendation, hands down. I joined when they first started out and have never had a problem with them. There's always someone I can talk to 24/7, which is good to know

I left Santander when they took a year to sort out my account after I had had my handbag stolen, and kept trying to charge me for cashed cheques, even though I had told them my bag had been stolen within the hour. Fraud department even accused me of keeping the cheques myself and using them.

I've been with Nationwide for over 30 years. No problems at all with them.

The S.O. has just had another arguement with Santander; phoned up to ask for contact details so he could write to them about something and the staff member he spoke to was downright rude to him.

gettingonabit, I think that Nationwide current account pays 5% for a year if you pay a minimum of £1000 per month into the account at the moment.

WE changed to First Direct years ago after a run in with Barclays. First Direct have always been fine and if you call them you always get someone who can help with what you are calling about; seems an obvious requirement but as we all know, not always the case. They dont keep trying to flog you stuff that you dont need either, no cold calling.

Gettingonabit, I have just seen why you need to get out of Barclays. Three former bankers are in Southwark crown court because of manipulating the Libor rates. The first of many, I hope.

Another one here who would avoid Santander at all costs! Even the Which page on banking had a warning about them last time I looked.

How about the new TSB? Perhaps as they are new they will try harder?

I think if you want easy access interest it might be better to put your money somewhere other than a current account. I can recommend the Money Advice Service for comparison tables.

I have to say I've been with Santandar/Alliance & Leicester/Giro Bank for over 30yrs and I can only go on my own experience and have only ever had one small problem with them over those years the 1 2 3 Acc even pays me a fiver a month just for having the account and paying bills from it, everything I do now is online I can't remember the last time I went into a branch , So I have nothing but good things to say about them... I hope you find a bank that suits you.

Thanks all. I've heard good things about First Direct, but I think I'm more inclined towards Nationwide, as they're a Building Society. And I have btl mortgage with them already.

Can't believe the stories I'm hearing, particularly about Santander. Losing 10k? And Hbos and Barclays-yet more nonsense from them too!

I did get the money back but not for a few weeks- they just could not find it on their system although I had the evidence in paper. I just do not think that they are particularly efficient although they do appear to have the best rates, especially the 123 account.

Sorry to disagree with Nationwide devotees - I banked with them for years but jumped ship in the autumn when their service continued to deteriorate markedly and they seemed to care less about individual customers and any justifiable complaint was met with a blanket rebuff on the grounds of their "mutual" status. Customer service for their online banking customers is poor, take days to respond to a simple query. Now with First Direct and couldn't believe at first that it was possible to get such fantastic service from a bank - they deserve their accolades but online banking may not be what you want. I have savings in building societies who are still mutuals too and particularly like Leeds BS.

It's not entirely clear what you're looking for gettingonabit but if you want a current account that pays decent interest on balances up to £5000 it would be worth looking at Lloyds - my OH banks with them without problem and their current accounts are good.

Thanks life. I'd like a mutual combined with service combined with good products! Combined with a local branch I can go to and see a person !

I was with Lloyds for years until I had to decamp to Barclays for a Woolwich mortgage. I may try them again.

just looked online for you, the best deal that would suit you is Santander 123 account. It looks like the best there is out there. Have a look at it.

HSBC wouldn't want you to know that their online banking is not 100% safe.
£500 was taken out of OHs a/c today. The bank explained how it was done.
Before we discovered this, this morning, we couldn't log on to anything.
OH logged on on my iPad and that was when we discovered it.
And the laptop has gone to the shop to be ' cleaned'

If the laptop needs 'cleaning' petra but your iPAD is ok, sounds more like a problem with the security software on your husband's laptop than with HSBC. If he hasn't already got it installed, it would be worth him downloading the Rapport Security Software which is free, once he gets the laptop back. There is a link to download it automatically on many bank websites including HSBC. It's installed in addition to any other internet security & antivirus software he has.

It's noticeable that people have either been with banks for decades, or have moved quite recently. It's now much easier to move, so it is possible to move to one now, gettingonabit, then move again in a couple of months if you do not like the first one.
Bring back the post office bank, is what I say, particularly with the number of bank branches that are being closed all the time. At least most of us have a post office closer than a bank.

Has anyone used Handelsbanken?

Quite intrigued myself and may move over, but love to hear of any first hand experiences.