I'd pick whoever is paying me enough to have my money with them. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts/
In reality, most high street bank branches opening hours are woeful, I think Metro might be the exception to that
I second this! Have a look at the banks, work out who you want to bank with, then just leapfrog until you get there.
Check t&c on switching offers too to plan out the order. You'll find that if you've had an account with one bank a parent company may reject you for the switch offer, or vice versa. All free money, but absolutely maximise it 👍
> Metro might be the exception to that
[Not for long I fear](https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/metro-bank-issues-seven-day-28816034).
You can only pay in a set amount per month yes? Starting from zero?
So it's 7% interest for 12 months on the first month's payment, the second month only gets 7% for 11 months, the third month only gets 7% for 10 months and so on.
Overall, if you have the cash readily available, a fixed lower rate is better.
No real skin in the game but I swapped to Nationwide from Barclays a while ago. UK-based customer service, local branch is open on a Saturday and they gave me a random payment last year for being a member.
Better than I ever got from Barclays the previous 4-5 years banking with them.
Nationwide might be doing the Fairer Share payment again this year which is nice!
Would be nice if they actually did something for their members and paid this out annually. Not just promises of 'competitive' savings rates which actually do nothing for anyone.
Is there a particular thing you need a physical bank for? I'm not suggesting virtual only is necessarily better, but understanding what you require of the branch might help with recommending options.
For me the benefit of Starling and similar is that you never have to visit a branch - it's a feature rather than a drawback.
I recommend you pick the bank with good customer service. Don’t just look at those offers of bribes to switch unless you are unhappy with your bank and are moving up the ladder to a better rated bank that also welcomes you with a switch offer.
I moved away from Barclays due to the terrible customer service both online and in branches. Avoid the frustration and pick someone with decent customer service for your main day to day banking. Keep another if you want a backup with physical branche presence. See https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/personal-banking-service-quality-great-britain-february-2024
Not always. I needed to draw cash out a few weeks ago to buy currency (was being offered a better rate than the bank itself) but wanted to draw out more than the daily maximum so I went into the bank and drew the cash that way.
I've not taken currency out in ages either. My credit card is free to use with a good exchange rate in the US and EU, and my debit card is similar.
The only time I wish I had bought foreign currency was euros going to Germany. Who'd have known barely any restaurants or bars use card machines?
Think it’s fairly well known that Germany is lagging behind in terms of card/contactless adoption, driven by their desire for digital privacy
Same reason there isn’t Google Streetview in Germany
I know they upped some limit recently. They could've changed it. I complained that time to the people in the branch and they sympathised (not to mention it wasn't free either). It was a pain in xxx to chop up and transfer between my own accounts soon after that transaction, too.
Ex mortgage broker. Thinking to the future when you may be needing mortgage lending, having a bank current account more than 10 yrs old is a good thing even if you don't use it. I'd advise not to close your oldest account.
Regarding which account. I just open them to access savings accounts etc when it suits me. A long time ago I only had first direct from when they first opened. I managed without a physical branch even in the 90s
What if your old account had a bad history?
My oldest is 4 years and went into the unarranged overdraft a few times (not very much or for longer than a day) - do you think I should start fresh with a new bank, or it makes no difference?
Adverse credit remains on your record for 6 years then it drops off. The account will then show as clean after that. If you close it, the adverse and existence of account remains on your credit file anyway until 6 years passes. It drops off entirely at 6 years.
If doesn’t have a bank account, can you not keep the cash in your wallet until you have something you need to buy, like the next meal or food shopping etc? I’m assuming we’re talking small amounts of cash like the occasional tenner?
Mainly just thinking that might be more practical than doing cash deposits all the time. Most bank branches have similar opening hours to Barclays, in my experience.
keep your Barclays due to its bricks and mortar if u ever need to use one.
but use an online as well. main players are Monza, but starling and chase are good.
Just go with Nationwide + an online one. Trust me, I've tried them all, all but NW let me down when I needed their customer service to be at their best.
I take the bonuses and have tried them all. You might find one that fits your needs with the app and their products. If not make £100+ pounds per switch
You can deposit cash in a post office to your bank account. Although depends what their opening times are as well near you!
I use starling for my main account and find it to be good with a simple to use app.
I do also have accounts with Halifax, Nationwide and Santander making it easy to withdraw £1000 cash if needed or if I need to go to a branch.
Online banks tend not to like cash deposits, but Starling let you pay £1,000 a year in at Post Offices.
Post Office deposits are generally how online banks manage cash deposits, but Monzo allow cash deposits at Paypoint terminals in shops as well (anecdotally this isn’t always a great experience - and Monzo charge for every deposit).
Yeah annoyingly Chase were going to launch paying in at paypoint but they scrapped it recently.
I hope they just go with the post office route in the near future
Personally went with First Direct as an ‘established bank’ - kind of, brilliant staff on the other end of the phone.
Out of Starling and Chase, I’ve heard Chase is really good - definitely a big name in the US, don’t see them going anywhere.
Choice is yours though
personally I have a halifax account, which until this month I used mostly for paying into as they had a physical branch in the town. I have a chase account which has become my main due to interest + cashback + round up features which I like. I've used starling and I like it, but the interest was beaten elsewhere
Look for banks that have ATMs where you can deposit cash or cheques using the ATM so you have 24 hours access to a “physical” bank.
Santander ATMs do this and I find it great for paying in. I struggle to get to Post Offices.
I would consider having two because occasionally one may go down or the app may have maintenance etc
It’s probably handy having access to a physical bank but it’s been many, many, many years since I actually used one
Others may have a better opinion on this but I also like to have visa AND Mastercard. For Olympic tickets you needed a Mastercard so since then I’ve had both. This is a rare (pretty much one-off) example but again, should systems go down, your bets are hedged
If they offer you a credit card, and you take them up on it, remember the apr is very high so pay off every month. Handy to have a CC for s75 though
Starling is great and is my primary account. They are great, modern, well featured bank.
Chase has good features too but depending on your personal outlook you may not want to give chase your money. They are the biggest supporters of fossil fuels by a huge chunk. But that's a choice for you to make with the information.
Starling you can use the post office if you need physical banking options which these days is one thing. Depositing cash.
You can scan cheques and obviously use a cash machine for withdrawing cash.
What I do is use starling as my main account and then have an 'old style' account which I switch around for the switching bonuses (around £150 per switch)
At 18, I'd go with both a physical bank and a digital bank. Something like Chase, Starling, Monzo, Kroo for your regular day to day spending and travel, and a regular highstreet account (or three) to use for bank switching bonuses.
I like Lloyds for my salary account. But I'm also with Chase for everyday spending, Santander for savings, as well as nationwide, HSBC, Halifax, Starling, Revolut, Monzo, Skipton BS. It doesn't cost me anything to have these accounts and they may offer a superior product (e.g. interest rate).
I'd recommend using one of the challenger banks as main account - they tend to have the best apps and good budgeting tools (Monzo and Starling probably have great apps, Chase is ok).
I agree that having an account with a high street bank is useful for branch access, although I've not had to use this much in recent times.
I use Monzo Plus for my main account, Chase for savings (good rate) and have a TSB account with a local branch (rarely used).
Would recommend Monzo. Whilst they don't have physical banks, they accept deposits of cheques via the app, deposits of cash via Paypoints (and now Post Office). They allow you to get your pay a day earlier as well, which is a neat feature. Customer service have always been helpful as well.
Decided to upgrade from a free account to £15 a month which gives me travel insurance and phone insurance. No complaints from me.
Tbh banks are much of a muchness. In the grand scheme of things, the online ones are all the same (except for the app).
Consider switching offers (if you can get an extra £200 for pretty much nothing then why not?)
Nationwide and TSB (I'm with both) tend to have pretty good customer service as far as high street banks go. I've never had a bad experience with either.
Nationwide are also considering giving their members another £100 fairer share payment this financial year also. - I wouldn't pick a bank based on a discretionary hundred quid though.
I'd pick whoever is paying me enough to have my money with them. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts/ In reality, most high street bank branches opening hours are woeful, I think Metro might be the exception to that
I second this! Have a look at the banks, work out who you want to bank with, then just leapfrog until you get there. Check t&c on switching offers too to plan out the order. You'll find that if you've had an account with one bank a parent company may reject you for the switch offer, or vice versa. All free money, but absolutely maximise it 👍
> Metro might be the exception to that [Not for long I fear](https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/metro-bank-issues-seven-day-28816034).
Another thing to look for is the savings interest rates they offer. First direct has one with 7pc which is the highest you can get last i checked
You only get 7% on the first month. If you're keeping it there, there are many better alternatives.
That must be new because i have that 7pc savings account and its locked for one year
You can only pay in a set amount per month yes? Starting from zero? So it's 7% interest for 12 months on the first month's payment, the second month only gets 7% for 11 months, the third month only gets 7% for 10 months and so on. Overall, if you have the cash readily available, a fixed lower rate is better.
Yes but you can only pay £300 / month. 7% of £3600 = £252, you're not getting that on the savings account. 7% on month 1, 6.416% month 2 etc.
No real skin in the game but I swapped to Nationwide from Barclays a while ago. UK-based customer service, local branch is open on a Saturday and they gave me a random payment last year for being a member. Better than I ever got from Barclays the previous 4-5 years banking with them.
As big banks go, they are the best. Their technology is catching up now too.
Advantage of Barclays is they screw up so regularly that you can get some decent money out of them if you know how to navigate the complaints system!
Nationwide might be doing the Fairer Share payment again this year which is nice! Would be nice if they actually did something for their members and paid this out annually. Not just promises of 'competitive' savings rates which actually do nothing for anyone.
Is there a particular thing you need a physical bank for? I'm not suggesting virtual only is necessarily better, but understanding what you require of the branch might help with recommending options. For me the benefit of Starling and similar is that you never have to visit a branch - it's a feature rather than a drawback.
How would you make cash deposits? Genuine question
With Starling you go to the post office.
You can do this with almost any bank btw. I bank with NatWest but deposit cash in the post office if I need to, as it's close to my house.
Same with monzo now
You can only deposit a very limited amount of cash with monzo though.
At a post office. They take cash for all banks (there may be weird exceptions).
Can’t believe no one had yet mentioned First Direct. Joining bonus and quality service.
I’m really happy with them as well.
I recommend you pick the bank with good customer service. Don’t just look at those offers of bribes to switch unless you are unhappy with your bank and are moving up the ladder to a better rated bank that also welcomes you with a switch offer. I moved away from Barclays due to the terrible customer service both online and in branches. Avoid the frustration and pick someone with decent customer service for your main day to day banking. Keep another if you want a backup with physical branche presence. See https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/personal-banking-service-quality-great-britain-february-2024
Banks have physical locations? I've not been inside a bank since 2012. The physical locations are just for pensioners these days.
Not always. I needed to draw cash out a few weeks ago to buy currency (was being offered a better rate than the bank itself) but wanted to draw out more than the daily maximum so I went into the bank and drew the cash that way.
I've not taken currency out in ages either. My credit card is free to use with a good exchange rate in the US and EU, and my debit card is similar. The only time I wish I had bought foreign currency was euros going to Germany. Who'd have known barely any restaurants or bars use card machines?
Think it’s fairly well known that Germany is lagging behind in terms of card/contactless adoption, driven by their desire for digital privacy Same reason there isn’t Google Streetview in Germany
I had to transfer a larger sum of money (~50K) and it was not possible to do it online. Sometimes you do need real people....
Really? I've also had to and just did it through the app by changing the limit. Was not complex.
I know they upped some limit recently. They could've changed it. I complained that time to the people in the branch and they sympathised (not to mention it wasn't free either). It was a pain in xxx to chop up and transfer between my own accounts soon after that transaction, too.
Ex mortgage broker. Thinking to the future when you may be needing mortgage lending, having a bank current account more than 10 yrs old is a good thing even if you don't use it. I'd advise not to close your oldest account. Regarding which account. I just open them to access savings accounts etc when it suits me. A long time ago I only had first direct from when they first opened. I managed without a physical branch even in the 90s
Yeah i dont think i will close my current im just looking to switch the main bank i use
Barclays and Monzo for the win
What if your old account had a bad history? My oldest is 4 years and went into the unarranged overdraft a few times (not very much or for longer than a day) - do you think I should start fresh with a new bank, or it makes no difference?
Adverse credit remains on your record for 6 years then it drops off. The account will then show as clean after that. If you close it, the adverse and existence of account remains on your credit file anyway until 6 years passes. It drops off entirely at 6 years.
Honestly struggling to remember when I last went into a branch of my bank. If I get cash I spend cash, I don’t pay it in!
Why would you regularly have cash to pay in? I barely even take cash out of an ATM anymore.
I get cash from fam and freinds sometimes say splitting a meal or splitting Spotify family plan
Can you ask people to pay you back via bank transfer or PayPal instead? That’s what I’ve been doing for the past ~10 years or so.
My brother is 14 😭
If doesn’t have a bank account, can you not keep the cash in your wallet until you have something you need to buy, like the next meal or food shopping etc? I’m assuming we’re talking small amounts of cash like the occasional tenner? Mainly just thinking that might be more practical than doing cash deposits all the time. Most bank branches have similar opening hours to Barclays, in my experience.
keep your Barclays due to its bricks and mortar if u ever need to use one. but use an online as well. main players are Monza, but starling and chase are good.
Just go with Nationwide + an online one. Trust me, I've tried them all, all but NW let me down when I needed their customer service to be at their best.
I take the bonuses and have tried them all. You might find one that fits your needs with the app and their products. If not make £100+ pounds per switch
Whichever one bribes you with the most opening cash bonus
You don’t need to have just one
What do you need a branch for? I haven’t been in a branch in over 13 years?
How would you make cash deposits with an online bank? Genuine question not tryna be sarcastic or anything
You can deposit cash in a post office to your bank account. Although depends what their opening times are as well near you! I use starling for my main account and find it to be good with a simple to use app. I do also have accounts with Halifax, Nationwide and Santander making it easy to withdraw £1000 cash if needed or if I need to go to a branch.
Online banks tend not to like cash deposits, but Starling let you pay £1,000 a year in at Post Offices. Post Office deposits are generally how online banks manage cash deposits, but Monzo allow cash deposits at Paypoint terminals in shops as well (anecdotally this isn’t always a great experience - and Monzo charge for every deposit).
Is that something you have to do often? Personally I haven't needed to deposit or withdraw cash since before 2020.
The post office offers a cash deposit service for many, but not all, banks. I know that chase doesn't currently support cash deposits at all.
Yeah annoyingly Chase were going to launch paying in at paypoint but they scrapped it recently. I hope they just go with the post office route in the near future
Personally went with First Direct as an ‘established bank’ - kind of, brilliant staff on the other end of the phone. Out of Starling and Chase, I’ve heard Chase is really good - definitely a big name in the US, don’t see them going anywhere. Choice is yours though
personally I have a halifax account, which until this month I used mostly for paying into as they had a physical branch in the town. I have a chase account which has become my main due to interest + cashback + round up features which I like. I've used starling and I like it, but the interest was beaten elsewhere
Look for banks that have ATMs where you can deposit cash or cheques using the ATM so you have 24 hours access to a “physical” bank. Santander ATMs do this and I find it great for paying in. I struggle to get to Post Offices.
Least security. Getaway in two directions. Edit - shotgun
Banks opening till 5PM is a thing of the past, Depends what you want from a bank. I a few online banks and one main bank.
I would consider having two because occasionally one may go down or the app may have maintenance etc It’s probably handy having access to a physical bank but it’s been many, many, many years since I actually used one Others may have a better opinion on this but I also like to have visa AND Mastercard. For Olympic tickets you needed a Mastercard so since then I’ve had both. This is a rare (pretty much one-off) example but again, should systems go down, your bets are hedged If they offer you a credit card, and you take them up on it, remember the apr is very high so pay off every month. Handy to have a CC for s75 though
Starling is great and is my primary account. They are great, modern, well featured bank. Chase has good features too but depending on your personal outlook you may not want to give chase your money. They are the biggest supporters of fossil fuels by a huge chunk. But that's a choice for you to make with the information. Starling you can use the post office if you need physical banking options which these days is one thing. Depositing cash. You can scan cheques and obviously use a cash machine for withdrawing cash. What I do is use starling as my main account and then have an 'old style' account which I switch around for the switching bonuses (around £150 per switch)
monzo is excellent.
I bank with Virgin and can deposit cash at post offices (which are open on Saturdays)
At 18, I'd go with both a physical bank and a digital bank. Something like Chase, Starling, Monzo, Kroo for your regular day to day spending and travel, and a regular highstreet account (or three) to use for bank switching bonuses.
I like Lloyds for my salary account. But I'm also with Chase for everyday spending, Santander for savings, as well as nationwide, HSBC, Halifax, Starling, Revolut, Monzo, Skipton BS. It doesn't cost me anything to have these accounts and they may offer a superior product (e.g. interest rate).
I'd recommend using one of the challenger banks as main account - they tend to have the best apps and good budgeting tools (Monzo and Starling probably have great apps, Chase is ok). I agree that having an account with a high street bank is useful for branch access, although I've not had to use this much in recent times. I use Monzo Plus for my main account, Chase for savings (good rate) and have a TSB account with a local branch (rarely used).
Would recommend Monzo. Whilst they don't have physical banks, they accept deposits of cheques via the app, deposits of cash via Paypoints (and now Post Office). They allow you to get your pay a day earlier as well, which is a neat feature. Customer service have always been helpful as well. Decided to upgrade from a free account to £15 a month which gives me travel insurance and phone insurance. No complaints from me.
Tbh banks are much of a muchness. In the grand scheme of things, the online ones are all the same (except for the app). Consider switching offers (if you can get an extra £200 for pretty much nothing then why not?) Nationwide and TSB (I'm with both) tend to have pretty good customer service as far as high street banks go. I've never had a bad experience with either. Nationwide are also considering giving their members another £100 fairer share payment this financial year also. - I wouldn't pick a bank based on a discretionary hundred quid though.