I have been a customer with the Halifax for most of my life now, at least the last 16 years, and there is a very good reasno for that. They have always been efficient and quick to deal with any problems I might have, and have done their best to keep such problems at a minimum.

Their online banking service is excellent - you can do almost anything you could over the counter but at your convenience. If you want to start moving money between accounts at 2AM it`s very easy to do so. If you`d rather talk to someone they also have a very good telephone banking service, and both the online banking and phone banking are available for free on all current accounts.

The Halifax has also had two excellent ideas recently, which can only help increase their popularity. Firstly they have promised that no customer will lose money from their Halifax account through Online Fraud - I`ve not seen any other bank that will make that kind of promise. They have also introduced the Websaver account, which is quite simlpy a work of genius. The basic idea is that you open an account, but can have different "options" in it, name each option and swap money between them and other accounts with great ease. You can have on setup for your next holiday, saving towards a new car, money for a rainy day and so on - up to 50 different options from the one account. You can have a cash-card with one of the options, but you can also very quick transfer money from any option onto your normal current account card and spend it like any other money. This is so incredibly useful you wouldn`t beleive it - it`s not difficult to transfer say £1 a week into an option, and by the time your partners birthday has come round you have £52 saved up. It might not be that much, but it is certainly a decent start.

The Website is nice looking, well laid out and as responsive as you could expect. The online help is also nice and easy to use, making the whole online experience a
dream come true.

The counter service has always been efficient and courteous in my experience. The cashiers are very professional and well turned out and the banking options they provide are excellent. They offer an interest free overdraft to all students of £500 in the first year, £750 in the second and £1000 after that - even if you don`t soend it there is nothing to stop you taking as much money out as possible and leaving it in a high interest account for as long as you want to try and earn a bit more money. It might not get you much, but every penny helps when you`re skrimping your way through university.