Smile

Background: I have been a customer from year1. I had (still have in fact) accounts with barclays and abbey national however they are now used only for emergencies now. Disatisfied with both I looked at the newly advertised smile. The great interest rates - ethical banking (it being part of co-op) made me think it seemed to be good to true. Eventually I plucked up the courage and went for it. Initial impressions: It was not clear and some people still seemed confused by the application criteria. YOu need EITHER your SALARY to be paid in regularly OR at least £1000/month ie. if your salary is ... more

If you talk about internet banks the chances are that someone will mention Smile.co.uk, this is partly due to the large advertising campaign they ran on TV insisting that everyone smile (a nice thought!). The first internet bank that I set up with was First-e, but due to the fact that at the end of September 2001 they stopped trading in the UK I had to get a new account. The only place that I could think of was Smile, this appealed to me for several reasons, well just the one, I wanted a card with a smile on it! ** Services Offered** Current Account - They offer you a whopping 3.29% gross AER ... more

Like a lot of people I was fed up with my existing bank and decided to change to an internet bank. I phoned Smile's customer service line to find out how easy switching my account would be and was impressed with the knowledge and helpfulness of the operator. My wife and I applied for individual accounts and a joint account and were very impressed with the efficient way in which the switch was handled by Smile. We did have some problems switching but these were all the fault of our old bank. Smile were always helpful when we rang to check what was happening the operators are always polite and ... more

If you are worried about Online banking, you could do a lot worse than dip your toe in the water with SMILE My first successful attempt at banking online was with First-e, but when that French based ‘online-only’ outfit withdrew their operations from the UK Some three months ago, it left me looking for an alternative. I did not want anything fancy or complicated. My intention? To be able to put my online earnings – eBay auctions, Ciao, Dooyoo etc – to good use, but basically as a savings medium. I looked at the competition – EGG, IF, CAHOOT and settled, in the end ... more

A letter arrived from my bank. After a rather extended period of student and graduate banking covering my ordinary degree and Masters, they kindly informed me that my TIME WAS UP. Not wanting to bother me with unnecessary paperwork, they told me that I didn't have to worry about a thing - they would simply change the status of my account from graduate to current. That £1800 pound overdraft could stay, but from the end of June 2001 I would be paying hideous amounts of interest and charges to use the account I had been using for free for the last four years. Now I had grown weary of the usual ... more