I HEART BARCLAYS!! (barclays.co.uk)

Member Name: Katy_M

Product:	barclays.co.uk
Date:	05/08/09 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent security with on-line banking. Great benefits with current account

Disadvantages: Poor standard telephone banking

I have held my current account with Barclays now for just over a year and am very happy with the service I have received.

Previously I have had current accounts and credit cards with Halifax and HSBC but for now I have no reason to complain with Barclays and will be sticking with them for the forseeable future.

I was offered an Additions Active account which gave me:

Free Cover with the RAC
Free Mobile Phone Insurance
Free Travel Insurance
Free Insurance for all my cards, driving, licence and passport

All of which I have taken advantage of (they also give a will writing service which I have not used)

I have recently received some correspondance showing changes that will be coming soon. This will give me the extra benefit of being able to use their 'Home SOS' to include emergency cover for:

Plumbing
Heating
Utilities
Vermin

I think these are all really useful benefits and did not realise that these could be offered with a bank account when I signed up - most impressed.

I have found staff at my local branch to be very friendly and helpful.

The online banking service is excellent, I find it particlarly easy to set up payments to other accounts, pay bills, transfer money to friends and can view all my direct debits and standing orders.

All payments in and out of my account only take 1 working day at the most to clear - what more could you ask for?

Some people have varied attitudes towards the 'pin-sentry' system which is used to log into on-line banking. You are given a small hand held device that looks a bit like a calculator....when logging into on-line banking you have to insert your card into the device and enter your pin number - this generates a passcode on the device display which you then enter into the on-line banking page. The passcode is different each time. It means that you do have to have the device on your person to be able to log in, but I think the added security of this can only be a good thing - I have not found it to be a nuisance at all.

I now have a on-line savers account with Barclays, home contents insurance and a Barclaycard Credit Card aswell as my current account - all of which I am very happy with.

The only complaint I have to make about Barclays is their telephone banking service which (like most large businesses these days) goes through to a call centre in.....I don't know - The Moon?? - where I find it very hard to understand people most of the time and have also been given information that has contradicted what I have been told in my local branch (on more than 1 occasion) and would add that the information given to me by telephone banking was incorrect.

However, this does not bother me too much as I generally use the on-line system which is really useful, so just avoid ringing up if I can help it.

Summary: An excellent all round package with useful benefits. I will definatly be sticking with Barclays.