As I'm sure I've mentioned before, we bank with the Co-op. We do this purely because of their ethical policy. It's something we feel quite strongly about. Which is good because just about everything else they do is rubbish.
So the other day I emailed them, specifically to complain about their online banking, which is just generally bad - one day I couldn't log on because the 'log on' button was missing. When I called, they said, "Oh yeah, it's fallen off. Our technical team are looking into that."
Anyway, they emailed me back to say that they were in the process of making changes and did I have any suggestions.
I have lots of suggestions, obviously. For example, we have two banks accounts with the Co-op but I can only access one of them online, which is frustrating. You can't search it... But then I thought there are probably loads of problems that people have with their online banking and probably all the banks have all the same problems. And there are probably loads of good things that banks do too. For example the Co-op allow you to set up timed payments which is brilliant for paying wages and things.
So I thought I'd ask you lovely people. And we should try and be positive. How could internet banking be better? What things do your bank do that are really good?
Put your suggestions in to comments and I'll pass them on to the Co-op, who by this time next year will have the world's best online banking system. Obviously.
Interesting, Ben - I've been thinking of moving to the Co-op for the same reasons. Barclays, who I'm with for business, are pretty crap too. But First Direct, who I have my personal accounts with, are brilliant. The online banking is pretty flawless. You can see all your accounts, move mney between them, set up DDs, SOs, etc, print statements, the whole thing. I can't think of anything you'd want to do online that First Direct doesn't accommodate. Except, tragically, business banking.
Posted by: Mike Reed | Dec 17, 2007 at 12:34
We at Security Usability Solutions will be happy to provide you with a free audit of your online banking systems - all we require are your account and password details.
Posted by: John Dodds | Dec 17, 2007 at 13:13
I bank with Smile (the online version of Co-op), again for their ethical policy, and have never had a problem with their online banking: it lets you do everything you need to do. And you can visit a Co-op branch if you need to do something 20th Century style, like pay a cheque in.
Actually, they do revoke my overdraft randomly and without warning about once a year.
Previously, I was with NatWest. They were worse.
Interestingly, I read in Ethical Consumer a while back that saving €10000 in Triodos rather than a typical high street bank saves about 3 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the course of a year (the best reference I can find online is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/jul/07/ethicalmoney.accounts ). I hope a similar effect is seen when using the Co-op over high street banks.
Posted by: shov | Dec 17, 2007 at 15:39
NatWest kept asking me for the 9th character of my password, even though it didn't have that many characters...
Not doing that would be good.
Posted by: Alicia | Dec 17, 2007 at 19:13
Probably the coolest thing about my online bank account is being able to deposit checks online.
Granted, paper checks are a rarer thing nowadays. And while it does require one to own a scanner, I do not need to go further than my computer to make a deposit. And thanks to my very trusting financial institution my account is instantly credited the moment I click submit!
Posted by: Drew | Dec 18, 2007 at 03:45
Nice one Drew, that would be amazing if the Co-op did that!
Everyone else, any things your bank do well?
Posted by: Ben | Dec 18, 2007 at 08:46
There's just no excuse for a poor banking site. Even a stupid person could copy another banks functionality and usability.
Co-op also needs to question the ability of their internal department. Small issues have a big impact on customer confidence.
Posted by: ty | Dec 18, 2007 at 10:14
I use the Halifax, i find their online system quite good, I can view all my accounts and credit card details and it's generally painless, but dont get me started on their bank charges...!!
Posted by: Ryan Y. | Dec 18, 2007 at 13:39
I use Abbey. There is nothing good about their banking system! I like the sound of paying cheques in online - a great service to offer.
Posted by: Steve O | Dec 19, 2007 at 14:17
Hey Ben.
Have you ever used Google Analytics for website stats? I want an online bank that can do an analytics on my spending. Where the money's coming from, where it's going to, trends in spending (do I cane too much in the first week after pay day) trends in saving (am I better in winter than summer) etc etc. Then I could act differently accordingly.
I think there could be a bit of a gap in the market for this actually.
The other thing they could do is be completely transparent about the interest they make on the money that passes through your account and what they do or don't do with it. I imagine with business accounts especially seeing the net total of monies that has passed through an account would make you question who you want to financially benefit from holding it for you.
That and stopping the login buttons from falling off.
Posted by: ted | Dec 19, 2007 at 19:05
Ted - that's the kinda stuff I'm after.
Yes, all of that would be good.
Posted by: Ben | Dec 19, 2007 at 19:13
There's some sites in America that do something very similar to the analytics stuff I can recall. I don't know the url's or where/how to start googling them though.
Co-op also do some nice stuff in democratising donation.
http://letsbehumanbeings.typepad.com/letsbehumanbeings/2007/12/democratising-d.html
If they could mix this with Russell's competitive/playful stuff (nike+ esq) like he spoke about in relation to the wattson they could be onto something. ie: Practise a certain set of spending habbits (personal savings/ consistent charity donations etc) to earn reward that you can then decided who to donate to and compare your own donations to a communities performance.
Or just mix the analytics stuff with the nike+ community stuff in a k10k moodstats way so you can see who's spending/saving the most money, when and on what etc.
http://www.moodstats.com
Posted by: ted | Dec 19, 2007 at 19:50
re the analytical stuff, i heard about this the other day. not sure how it works (or even if it works in the UK) or if you can trust them:
www.mint.com
Posted by: shov | Dec 21, 2007 at 16:34
Banking with Lloyds TSB, I'm constantly baffled that online banking that shuts down between midnight and 4am EVERY DAY can still exist in 2007. And no capability for international payment transfers to other accounts causes me no end of hassle (either persuading people to set up PayPal accounts or trekking to a branch to pay over the odds for intl payment service most Lloyds employees seem to know little about).
Does every UK online banking service shut down every night like Lloyds? Or do any offer intl payments? I'd drop Lloyds in a flash. My experiences with NZ online banking were a dream in comparison. 24-7, international, instant account updating. And that was in 2001!!
Posted by: Jacques | Dec 22, 2007 at 14:34
Saw this and thought of you.
http://www.psfk.com/2008/02/social-lending-paypal-to-boom.html
Posted by: ted | Feb 25, 2008 at 14:03