Banking & Personal Finance > Internet Banks

Advantages: friendly, reliable
Disadvantages: closed sundays!

I have been a Natwest customer since I was born. I am the proud owner of a full set of Natwest piggies! I felt like I had to write a review of my experience with them because of my girlfriend's recent experience of her bank, Barclays. I have always expected a certain level of service from my bank which Natwest have always delivered. Barclays on the other hand have been persistantly difficult! All of our local brances are closed on Saturdays except ...
...seen. I have alway found Natwest to be easily accessable at almost any time (though I still think banks should open on Sundays!). The online banking facility is absolutely superb, far better than any other online banking interfaces I have used. However, my biggest compliment regards my recent house purchase. Our solicitor sprung a massive bill on us which had to be cleared on the same day. I turned up with no form of identity as it was a bit rushed. ... Read review

Advantages: Post office banking internet access no rubbish through the door
Disadvantages: not as ethical in the Uk as the make out!!

II have been banking with Smile for nearly 10 years now, I swapped from HSBC because I wanted to bank easily on line. Opening the account was quick and ease running has been the same. One of the main reasons I opened the account with Smile was the free 500 pound overdraft facility they offered. OK I did use a few times but recently times for me like most of us a bit hard and I had started relying on it. Thank you Smile as soon as my overdraft was ...
...ethical would charge reasonable fees, but Smile charges the same as all the others. I like millions of others I am sure are just waiting for the court case and hoping the judge sees how unfair these charges have been hitting the people who can least afford it. . ... Read review

Advantages: Can withdraw up to credit level
Disadvantages: Increasing APR when they decide on existing balances

...am very unimpressed with a cahoot personal loan. The one thing i did find when taking out a loan was they had a great user friendly web site that was secure and easy to use this is what prompted me to use their service but i wish i hadnt I took out a flexible cahoot loan about 4 years ago and would have to say at the time it was fine. I didnt realise a flexible loan meant that cahoot could up their interest rates on your loan at anytime. Although ...
...I contacted cahoot customer service about this and although they responded quickly i had no satisfaction into why this was happening. I obviously misread their terms and conditions when applying and omitted to read they could up interest at anytime but i feel 21.9% interest is quite unacceptable on a loan, so be careful when applying. ... Read review

Advantages: Easy-of-use, Attractive Interest rates, Prompt Customer Service
Disadvantages: Lack of action on incentive

...promised. Some time back, Egg promised an amount of £10.00 for any customer who signed up for the Money Manager feature - this allows you to access other bank/financial account from their Egg account itself. I signed up for this feature in April 2005 and I was told that the incentive would be credit to my account by the 10th of June 2005. However, despite three reminders, I have yet to receive the incentive amount. In fact, the last email correspondence ...
...storing my account details with Egg for a small incentive that I have yet to receive! While the intentions for the incentive are honourable - in keeping with the security concerns that the Internet brings up in the minds of the most people - it is another matter that they do not honour them. Despite constant emails, the lack of action has left a bitter after taste in my mouth - literally - about the intention of banking firms when it comes to such ... Read review

Advantages: Good range of products
Disadvantages: Not now recommended for eBanking

Since Abbey has been taken over by the Santander Group their previously excellent online banking facility is now virtually useless. After you have logged on, instead of getting a menu of your accounts, you will more often than not be greeted with the following caption: 'e-Banking This service is currently unavailable, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please try again later.' If the site is up this does not guarantee that you will ...
...money between your Abbey accounts and you will get this caption: 'We are experiencing a technical problem with our internet banking service and we are working to restore the full service as soon as possible. The 'Move Money' facility (which allows the transfer of funds between Abbey accounts) is temporarily unavailable but we expect this service to be restored shortly.' I have telephoned the Abbey technical help line and was told that the problems ... Read review