Ranked: Britain’s best and worst bank accounts
Brits now enjoy a larger choice of bank accounts than ever before, with rival offerings from time-honoured high street stalwarts to exciting new fintech upstarts.
But if the choice at times seems overwhelming, a new league table has revealed which banks score highly for customer service and communication – and which leave a lot to be desired.
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A survey carried out by consumer magazine Which revealed that a trio of challenger banks are the most popular among UK customers.
First Direct topped the table in the rankings of current account providers, followed by rival fintech firms Starling Bank and Monzo, which came in second and third place respectively.
Leeds-based First Direct bagged a customer score of 84 per cent. Starling, which was featured in the survey for the first time this year, followed close behind with 83 per cent. Monzo received the third-highest score of 82 per cent.
Which has granted First Direct and Starling so-called recommended provider status. Monzo has not been given the same status, as it has not yet signed up to a voluntary industry code on bank transfer fraud.
Monzo said it will sign up to the code within the first three months of 2020.
Britain’s best current account providers
| Provider | Customer score (%) |
| First Direct | 84 |
| Starling Bank | 83 |
| Monzo Bank | 82 |
| Nationwide Building Society | 78 |
| M&S Bank | 76 |
| Metro Bank | 75 |
| The Co-operative Bank | 73 |
| Barclays Bank | 70 |
| Halifax | 70 |
| Santander | 70 |
| Lloyds Bank | 69 |
| Natwest | 69 |
| Yorkshire Bank | 69 |
| Danske Bank | 66 |
| HSBC | 66 |
| TSB | 65 |
| Bank of Scotland | 64 |
| Clydesdale Bank | 63 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | 62 |
| Tesco Bank | 60 |
| Ulster Bank | 55 |
Nationwide and M&S Bank also won recommended provider status after securing customer scores in the high seventies.
By contrast, the table was propped up Ulster Bank, which recorded the lowest customer score of just 55 per cent. It received just two stars for service in branch and handling of complaints, and three stars for customer service, communication, and transparency.
It was followed by Tesco Bank with a customer score of 60 per cent and RBS with 62 per cent.
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“It’s clear that consumers value great customer service and easily accessible banking – and that applies whether they prefer to bank with a mobile app or a brick-and-mortar branch,” said Gareth Shaw, head of money at Which.
“Traditional high street banks would do well to learn from their rivals challenging the status quo at the top of our survey. It seems they need to up their game to ensure they’re giving customers what they want when it comes to customer service, communication and transparency.”