Online banking
I’ve written about this before, but today I really needed to dig up an old transaction from last year, and I didn’t fance sifting through the 3 inche thick pile of Natwest statements and 1 inch thick pile of Abbey/Santander statements. I went to the Natwest site first and although the site has always been a bit clunky, they are getting much better these days. Also the iPhone app however crap it actually is is definatly 1 more app than Santander have.
I thought I would do a comparison of features offered by the two, I think I want a new bank?
| Feature | Natwest | Santander | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Login | Customer ID + Pin (3 digits) + Password (3 characters) |
Card Number/Username + Password (full) + Pin (full) |
Santander are better here now they allow a username rather than card number.
Natwest still require you to figure out bits of your password, and being dyslexic, trying to figure the 1st, 4th and 7th characters is a real challenge for me. |
| Historical transactions | Yes | Only the last 200 transactions/1 year | Santander are imposing a limit to make you pay £5-10 for your old statements |
| Search transactions | Yes (limited to a 12 period) | No | - |
| Account security | Chip+Pin Device | Text message to phone | Santander are better here, I will always have my phone but everyone forgets the chip+pin reader, although its more secure. |
| Browser buttons | Broken | Work | The back and forward buttons are core to the web experience yet Natwest tell you off for using them? |
| Annoying Messages | Yes, every time you login theres 2 or 3 messages to click through before you can use it. | None | - |
Overall I don’t like either, Natwest have given me problems in the past which I will never forgive so I only use them as a way of getting a free 16-25 Railcard. Santander have good interest rates but they seem to becoming very behind in the technical aspects of their service, why is there no iPhone app for their ex-Abbey customers? Why can’t I view all my transaction history?
Also other bug bares with Santander are that they don’t seem to allow you to talk to someone on the phone without a telephone banking pin number but the only place to change the code is at the ATM so I never change it and I always forget to keep the new number in a safe place.
Santander are overall probably better than Natwest but I am still unhappy, Nationwide were pretty poor in the past so I may have to try Barclays as I don’t like Lloyds TSB from my friends past experiences.
