Best Banking Options

I am a UK/US Citizen that has lived in the US for 15 years, my wife is US Citizen.  We are moving over to the the UK later this year and are looking for recommendations for banks to manage money well.

In the UK I use Nationwide Building Society, every trip over to the UK there is a reason I have to stop in the branch so I will reassess them when we arrive.

But I want to look at my US banking options.  I currently bank with a small local bank and don't pay for a checking account and hold a savings account with them.  I'm not sure how much we'll be back to this area though so that may change.

I plan to maintain a financial presence in the US because I've found having one in the UK is very useful, I just need to work out what works best?

Does anyone have any recommendations about US banks that are easy to work with abroad and aren't all fees, US Credit Card companies that are easy to work well abroad.  Any particularly good banks for interacting UK and US?

Lets here about the good ones and the bad ones please?

If you aren't sure where you require your US banking presence to be, I'd recommend looking into online banks like ING (recently purchased by Capital One) or Ally. They tend to charge less in fees and have partner ATMs which are sometimes even more convenient than a regular bank (ING Direct allowed me to use ATMs in 7-Elevens at no charge) and their checking accounts accrue interest, something most land bank checking don't offer.

You could also look into Lloyd's TSB - they have the whole multi-currency offshore banking option. There are financial requirements that have to be met though so it may not be possible for everyone. Benefit is cheap transfers between your chosen currencies. We plan on using this on our next move should we have the required funds.

I just use a credit union in the states and use Paypal when I have to make transfers. Had an ING online account and that worked well, but I hate CapitalOne so have closed it since they bought ING. I love Nationwide by the way!