I’ve been with LloydsTSB now for 7 years, and my family have used them for generations, since the days in fact when they were just plain old Lloyds. I first signed up with them as a student, transferring from Midland Bank because Lloyds were offering something to students that I can’t now remember, and I’ve had no reason to change since leaving university almost 4 years ago.

Lloyds banks are situated in just about every town and city in the UK as far as I can tell (please correct me if I’m wrong, Scottish/Welsh dwellers), and their network of cashpoint machines is enormous. And if you can’t find a specific LTSB cashpoint, you can use any other one, some of which charge and some don’t – Barclays, Bank of Scotland and many Link machines don’t charge I know for a fact.

My local branch is a small one in the town of Stoke in Stoke-on-Trent. The staff there are friendly and helpful and always polite.

I have a current account with the bank, and have recently opened a savings account with them online (but more of their online facility later). Both accounts pay a small amount of interest (I won’t quote what as it does vary) in line with similar accounts at the other big banks.

My accounts are the ‘standard’ type, but you can upgrade for an annual fee to a ‘gold’ account and ‘platinum’ account whereby you get things like travel insurance and discounts on things like AA membership. If you are a frequent traveler, these accounts are well worth taking into consideration.

I have the standard £100 cheque guarantee card/debit card which acts as both Delta and Visa. I also have a Lloyds Mastercard but don’t use it as my Egg card is cheaper.

Through my current account I pay out about 10 direct debits every month and a couple of standing orders each year.

In the 7 years I’ve been with the bank, I have never been ove
rcharged, had my card eaten by a machine, had money gone mysteriously missing or any of the other horror stories one all too frequently hears.

My only complaints are that there are never enough tills open between 12 and 2 p.m. when the branch is busiest (which in fairness is typical of ALL banks I’ve been with), and I did once get called at work by someone working for them who wanted me to take out a personal loan and got very sarcastic and bitchy when I said no thanks I didn’t need one.

One of the best things about LloydsTSB for me is their online services. My account details are updated every working day so I can always find out exactly how much I’ve got to spend (very important when you sail as close to the wind every month as I do!), and I can set up new accounts online and transfer money between my accounts.

When I set up my savings account recently and transferred money into it, the whole process took about 3 minutes flat. I was very impressed.

Also on the LloydsTSB website you can apply for a loan, take out motor, home or travel insurance, and apply for a credit card.

The website is very user friendly, loads quickly and allows you to do what you want to do with the minimum of fuss. I have never known it crash on me or be off-line when I need it.

LTSB also have a telephone banking service which I’ve never used (I HATE the telephone), but friends tell me it’s also good.

Overall I’m very happy with Lloyds and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. Having said that, I’ve always been a good girl (so far) and never had to face their wrath by going over my overdraft limit or doing anything else I hadn’t first agreed with them.

If they opened all day on Saturdays and some time on Sundays they would be just about perfect for my modest needs.