INTRODUCTION

Barclays.co.uk is obviously Barclays Bank's website. The majority of visitors will go there to look up information on products, find contact details, apply for products and to use the online banking service. The site has quite a lot of information on the home page but different types of products (Current accounts, Insurance, Loans, Savings, etc) and different user groups (i.e. Personal, Premier, Business, Commercial Banking) and divided into separate sections so you can filter down into what you're looking for. There are usually a number of banners and graphics advertising current offers.

I think the site looks quite professional, with the exception of one thing. At the moment, I see a number of light green links linking to products of certain categories of products. These are over a white background and although this is something that most people will have no problems with, I can imagine that people whom have bad eyesight or are visually impaired (i.e. red-green colour blinded individuals, in particular) would have great difficulty reading those. Hovering over those links simply underlines them and doesn't change colour so that would not help those who have difficulty reading those links. I'm sure good website design guidelines state you're supposed to use dark text over light backgrounds and to not use such light colours on white backgrounds. All other links are either dark blue or light blue throughout the site though, so do follow the site colour scheme.

SITE CONTENT

Most reviews will probably jump straight into the Internet banking side of such sites but I thought that it's worth mentioning some of the other uses of the site. Aside from being able to apply for products, which I've only ever-down in a branch so can't comment, you can look up information on the products. On clicking into a link for a product, they do lay out the information in an easy to read manner with the key benefits in bullet lists. Further down, they do provide links to useful information for applying such as what ID is required if applying in a branch, rates and charges, etc. Naturally, like all banks, the information that they don't want you to know but are legally obliged to tell you somewhere, is hidden away in the terms and conditions, which you would need to search for.

One feature that I do like is their branch locator because it is so accessible. The branch locator search box is located on the home page down the left so I can enter my postcode straight away to search for Barclays branches near me. Sure enough, it returns a list of results in a new windows (or tab) giving me the distance from the postcode and the branch address. A 0845 telephone number is on the results but is the same for each branch. Clicking into a branch, it also provides an interactive map (courtesy of MultiMap.com), with the opening hours, which I often look for, especially on a Saturday. If you enter anything else (or leave it blank) and then search, it gives you more specific search options, which is very good for those looking for Business and Premier counters or Financial Planners that are only available in certain branches. The search option for Barclays Cash machines seems a bit pointless though as I'd expect all Barclays branches to have external ATMs (this is probably for Barclays customers with accounts that can only be serviced using Barclays ATMs and branches, including withdrawing money, daft, I know).

The search function on the site is pretty good. I can type a question in or just a product name and it will throw up a bunch of results in order of what it thinks is most relevant. It doesn't give me what I want every time but that just means I need to use a different search term. Either way, I do usually manage to find what I'm looking for so no complaints here. Contact details can be found fairly easily under the Help sections and the search can also bring up relevant results.

Lastly, they have nice Flash Demos of the Internet banking and Mobile banking platforms showing you how to register, log in and use them. Nice feature to have for those new to Internet and Mobile phone banking.

INTERNET BANKING

This is what most people will use the site for to check statements and perform transactions from any Internet enabled computer. It was a bit of a pain for me to set up as I waited 2 weeks before getting my PINSentry device. This is the little calculator-looking device that you need to use to log in, used in conjunction with one's debit card.

Once registered for online banking, to log in, one needs a 12 Digit membership number, which they assign to you. (This is different to the telephone banking one, which they also assign to you). You enter your last name, membership number, last 4 digits on your debit card, and an 8 digit code that the PINSentry generates after you press IDENTIFY and then your debit card's PIN with the debit card slotted into it. I find this process to be rather inconvenient, as it means that whenever I want to log in to make a payment, I would need to have my PINSentry with me. Doing anything like setting up new Payees, changing anything needs the PINSentry. This is all for the added security but I still find it inconvenient as I don't want to carry the thing around with me. My solution is just to use the online banking facilities of my other banks and only bother with Barclays when I'm at home.

Without the PINSentry, you are still able to log in so long as you are in possession of your debit card (or in the unlikely event of you knowing the long number and 3 digit security code), but anyway, you can click the Forgot PINSentry reader link and then enter your Last name, Date of Birth, Debit card number, card security code, and then choose a memorable word, which lets you log in to the online banking but limits you to viewing the account and transferring money to your own Barclays accounts. Better than nothing I guess.

Once logged in, I have found that on many occasions that I'm kicked off the site (well, logged off) and given the following message.

"1320 - Sorry - we have had to log you out of Online Banking because a button was clicked twice or the browser 'Stop' button was used. Please enter your membership number below and click on the green 'next' button to log on again"

It doesn't always happen but does every so often, which is annoying. Quite often, I use the keyboard and press the Return/Enter key. Other times, I click but I've not had this problem on other Internet banking sites so I don't see why I should on Barclays.co.uk. The layout of the online banking site isn't great and isn't that intuitive to navigate around unless you read what all the links say but it works and isn't difficult once you get used to it. Site loading speed is generally very good and in terms of site up-time, I've not experienced any problems. Just that they are down some evenings around midnight for maintenance, which is the norm. The online banking site times out after so many minutes of inactivity, which is also normal as a security measure in line with other banking websites.

One thing which really annoys me is how you can only bring up transactions of up to a month back (unless I'm missing something). This is rather pathetic and I do not understand why this is the case. Other banks give you access to historic statements up to 12 months back. This means that you would need to look through your paper statements to find what you need. Big problem if you've lost the one you're after but either way, it's also a lot less convenient if you have to trawl through your folder of statements. Some people may not be particularly organised so they may be all over the place or in the wrong order. Not sure if Barclays offer the option of stopping paper statements to help the environment but if they did, people doing this would need to contact Barclays for historic statements to locate old transaction from more than a month ago unless they made a habit of printing the online statements each month. Getting old statements from Barclays is chargeable!

I have found creating Standing Orders a pain in the backside with Barclays online banking. I had one person who owed me money and wanted to pay me £50 a week for a few weeks and he happened to bank with Barclays and was registered for online banking. He attempted to set up a Standing Order several times but it didn't work each time so he ended up sending me the money using one off payments each week. Not sure if he successfully created the Standing Order or not with it just not working or whether the thing just didn't get created in his account. This shows that it's not a very user friendly process. I decided to set one up as a test for myself but it has so many different options and boxes to fill that it confused the life out of me. During my attempts, it kept rejecting my submission for various things and I eventually gave up after about 20 minutes. Oh and creating a Standing Order involves getting a code from the PINSentry and every time it rejected by Standing Order, I would have to re-input everything into the PINSentry and the new codes into the Standing Order form each time making the task even more tedious (yes, it's for the added security blah blah blah). I have created Standing Orders on Natwest's online banking site and it is much more straight forward!

There is one good thing I have to say about using Barclays online banking, and that is they give you a one year license to use Kaspersky Internet Security, which is worth around £29.99. Barclays seems to provide renewals for free as well so that is marvellous as Kaspersky, although quite bulky, is a powerful and effective antivirus. There are free ones out there but this is a full package.

SUMMARY

PROS

- Mostly works.
- Free Kaspersky antivirus software license (worth £29.99)
- Site is informative
- Added security with PINSentry

CONS

- PINSentry makes it inconvenient to log in to perform most tasks
- Long membership number
- Site can log you off randomly(?)
- Standing Orders facility not very user friendly
- Statements only available up to a month back

VERDICT

Recommended? No, but it seems to be a necessary evil if you bank with Barclays and don't want to switch banks. The Barclays site can be useful and is still better than having to visit a branch or phone them for everything but I feel that other banks have done a better job with their online facilities, especially as you're limited to viewing a month's worth of statements and nothing beyond that with Barclays. The PINSentry is annoying but I suppose it is a good thing to have for the added security but usability of the online banking part of the site seems to be worse compared to those of other banks. At least they give you antivirus free for a year! Rant over...

Thanks for reading!