Opinions on UK banks

Touch wood my other accounts - Lloyds in the UK and Wells Fargo in the US, which do not use a secure key, are secure!

I'm with Lloyds and I have a secure key - well, I think, it's kind of an additional password and I have to enter in three characters from it every time I log in. It's annoying but seems par for the course given the UK obsession with online security (not saying that's a bad thing!), and I set it up when I went in to open my account. Which only took one visit and was super easy.

That does sound annoying!

I did have a great experience with Bank of Scotland back when we lived in Edinburgh in the early 2000s.  Because of my own dumb mistake, I got "phished" by some Norwegian hackers, and had about 2000 pounds removed from our bank account.  Even though I had been careless in giving out info online (they had pretended to be Paypal),  Bank of Scotland totally reimbursed me the full amount.  !

I'm with Lloyds and I have a secure key - well, I think, it's kind of an additional password and I have to enter in three characters from it every time I log in. It's annoying but seems par for the course given the UK obsession with online security (not saying that's a bad thing!), and I set it up when I went in to open my account. Which only took one visit and was super easy.

Lloyds, TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland all have the same additional three digits thing, I don't mind that at all.

What I was talking about is an annoying pocket calculator looking thing that you have to put your card in to get a code to enter online.

Like this.   http://www.nationwide.co.uk/support/security-centre/internet-banking-security/card-reader-and-security-questions

I see it as just one more thing to loose/have stolen and I don't like it at all. 

What I was talking about is an annoying pocket calculator looking thing that you have to put your card in to get a code to enter online.

Like this.   http://www.nationwide.co.uk/support/security-centre/internet-banking-security/card-reader-and-security-questions

I see it as just one more thing to loose/have stolen and I don't like it at all. 

I have one of those for Natwest, though you don't need it to sign into online banking, just to set up online payments and transfers. They've loosened security with it recently and you can now change payee details and things without needing it, which is easier, as I've been caught out before, needing to transfer money but not having the reader on me.

I have one of those for Natwest, though you don't need it to sign into online banking, just to set up online payments and transfers. They've loosened security with it recently and you can now change payee details and things without needing it, which is easier, as I've been caught out before, needing to transfer money but not having the reader on me.

On another expat forum, I saw someone begging to borrow one, I can't remember which country he was in but he was far from  home. He hadn't anticipated needing it but was totally stuck without it!

On another expat forum, I saw someone begging to borrow one, I can't remember which country he was in but he was far from  home. He hadn't anticipated needing it but was totally stuck without it!

Yeah, I needed one at my parents' house the other week and I'd forgotten mine. My brother and dad both bank with Natwest, so I figured they must have one around the house somewhere... I eventually found two card readers, but since they never use them, one of them had a dead battery and the other one would only just turn on long enough for me to use it!

A couple of years after my USC wife moved to the UK she went into our local Natwest to order some £5 coins as gifts. She was told they were not legal tender but she argued with them that they are.

I made a complaint and guess what... she got an unreserved and grovelling apology from the bank. Seems it requires a new immigrant to tell them what is and isn't legal tender. Idiots. LOL. 

Yes, I mean the actual little calculator thingy that you invariably can't find when you need to go online. I do appreciate their attempts to protect the consumer but I prefer the additional password method (although its becoming increasingly had to keep track of all the passwords needed to function these days!).

Okay wow, that thing looks SUPER annoying!

Passwords are easy for the bad guys to hack, the most popular method is to install a program that secretly takes screen shots of everything you look at and logs all your key strokes.  The calculator thingies protect against that. 

The thing I find amusing is the "perks" that British banks offer you. Like I'm used to cash back, rewards points, etc as perks but with Lloyd's we got... membership in a restaurant discount club! The banker was really excited about offering this to us, like it was a huge deal. We even got a reminder when we hadn't used it asking us why.

That's funny, hope we get offered some sort of perk.

I have only just remembered, I chose the movie tickets when I opened a Lloyds account not so long ago. It was the alternative to the discount dining thing.