I switched to Metro Bank because they didn’t charge for foreign transactions. About a year later, they introduced charges, and raised them this year.
Bait and switch. 
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- Charges.
- Poorly coded services.
- Legacy systems.
- Security theatre: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater
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I just joined RBS a few months ago (was eager to move away from TSB and their dreadful app and customer service, Monzo didn’t have news about their current accounts and when I read reviews of banking apps, most articles said RBS was the best - in the end, I was only with them for a month before getting my Monzo account!) and this ‘update’ makes me laugh every time. it’s so ridiculous, but it’s in the release notes and splashed across the app when you open it. Especially the way your name is in bold, making it feel like they’re yelling at you. What is it for? It’s not like an email from the bank where they want you to be sure it’s from them so they put something personal in it. It’s my phone, my login, my bank account, why are they remind me of my name every time I open it?!
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Santander’s mobile app is actually not bad for a legacy bank, but has one flaw which is just so irritating. When you go to select a payee, it loads each payee’s information at about 1 second each. And you cannot select anything until it has loaded them all. If the payee you want is towards the bottom of a long list, you have to let the entire list load before being able to choose who you want - so waiting 30+ seconds when you can already see the name of the person you want immediately!
It’s the kind of thing which makes you wonder whether anyone who built the app actually uses it
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It reminded me of my Commodore 64 days…
10 Print “Avidfanofstuff is cool”
20 Goto 10
Run
I assume they outsource their app to a third party? It’s woeful to say the least…
Although, I am using it to start announcing my departure from RBS…
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10 CLS
20 PRINT “POOP”
30 GOTO 20
45 RUN
I think that is what I used to put on the screens at college back in the day
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Halifax are the worst at changing things like addresses. I had to travel across London to do it and queue like yourself and it was done in a second.
I was told they are “investing millions” into a system specifically to change addresses online - I couldn’t believe it.
Good. Riddance. Halifax.
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This is the kind of material reddit.com/r/CrappyDesign loves.
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Very handy 
will definitely press random numbers next time, definitely not swearing as the neighbours had me screaming and I don’t want them to suffer with me swearing and screaming 
For me the worst feature of any other bank is the ‘Account Balance’ vs ‘Available Balance’ in this day and age I don’t see why the delay in the transaction data showing on your account. That’s what I love about Monzo, its all instant so there is no sitting there trying to work out where x amount of money has gone
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Yes! Good question.
Barclays shows pending transactions immediately, in a pull down at the top of your transactions list in the phone app, so you know what that mysterious balance difference is. Mystery gone. Why can’t all banks do this?
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I too dislike the available balance thing.
The worst thing for me is the overly complex security. I know it’s there for a reason but do I really need 3-4 passwords to login to my bank? Plus after a while of using my finger print to login on my phone I usually forget and have to reset them.
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HSBC have shown pending transactions for quite a while too.
In their available balance they add your overdraft limit in too, which seems really stupid.
Yes NatWest add in the overdraft limit to your available balance too. Very confusing.
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i couldn’t of put that speech better myself, spot on.
i hope monzo can change the future and put these high-steet banks to shame.
Worst features: Fees for foreign cash withdrawals
Best features (RBS): Cash withdrawals from RBS / Natwest / Tesco ATMs without my wallet being on me. It was useful once, and on that occasion it felt like a lifesaver. The app is also super speedy for 95% of the things I need to do.
Best features (First Direct): No need to visit a branch, ever. When I ring they pick up and I speak to a person within 30 seconds on 100% of the times I’ve ever tried to call them. No stupid card reader / PIN device for anything.
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You don’t ever log into the first direct internet banking? Their random number generator is built into the app and it’s annoying as fuck.
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I sort of see FD internet banking as a bit of a vault though - I’d still be inclined to keep them as a backup even when Monzo is fully functional.
Unless of course we could have a vault account with Monzo, a place where extra passwords or incantations are needed to get at it. Rather like the plausible deniability stuff on some crypto stores - using the first password opens up your day to day usage, but using the second brings up your long term storage (preferably at a high rate of interest!).
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I spend months and months not looking at bank statements or online banking because it’s such an ordeal logging on. Why can I just remember a pin for the mobile app (which I can do majority of the same things from), yet have to remember two passwords for the computer?
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Yes it’s annoying. But I don’t need a unitasker device with me… just my phone. And in practical terms I only need it when adding new payees which is a handful of times a year. So all told, to me it isn’t a big deal.
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