Online Banking Made Easy (natwest.co.uk)

Member Name: flodombey

Product:	natwest.co.uk
Date:	13/07/09 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: User friendly, efficient, cuts down need to visit branch, helps manage your money

Disadvantages: Some glitches with charges, slow to show some transactions

I have been using Natwest online banking for the past 5 years or so and find that it is a great, user friendly and efficient way to manage my money via the internet. I would go as far as to say that this website is one of the main reasons why I have stuck with Natwest over the years, I have previously banked elsewhere and as a student had a Barclays account which I could use online but I did not find it as good as the Natwest version.

Security
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I do think it feels pretty secure, to get into my account I need to know both a unique 10 digit code which was issued at the outset, this is made up of my date of birth and a 4 digit add on so I have managed to remember it without writing it down anywhere. There is also a 10 letter password and each time you log in it just asks for certain letters from it, the 4th, 6th and 8th for example. Again I manage to remember this. Finally there is also a 4 digit pin which you can set and I chose to use the same number as the PIN for the card on the account so I know it off by heart.

Positives
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Once you have navigated the various security and are into the account homepage you can see the equivelant of a mini statement for the account you are looking at. I have a linked e-savings account which is also listed here so depending on which account is highlighted on the front page I can see the last few days transactions for that account.

I set up the e-savings account via this website a couple of years ago. I wanted an account to act as a holding place for funds at certain times of the month which I could have instant access to and this seemed a sensible idea. There are a variety of financial products you can apply for once you are logged in which are listed in the main menu bar on the left of the screen. I just filled in the online forms and the info was sent to me in the post. Every month when I get paid I simply move a chunk into this account which is to cover DDs and the like which go out of my main bank account late in the month, I just move the cash back a couple of days before the payments start going, in this way I know that whats in my main bank account is mine and is not needed for anything else.

Transferring between accounts is immediate and you can either go into the formal transfers page to scedule transfers in advance or use the small box for 'quick transfers' which is on the main account home page. This moves the money there and then which is quite handy.

You can access statements going back up to 7 years online and can choose to download them in an excel table if you are wishing to sort the data or find particular transactions. I always find it is easy enough to just sift through them on screen to find what I am looking for, it seems to work very well and its brilliant being able to see every transaction listed clearly. I have actually chosen to no longer receive paper statements from the bank, I tend to log in to my account every few days anyway so keep a keen eye on whats going in and going out. You can manage the settings of your statements online too, ie stopping and starting paper statements and viewing upcoming charges and interest.

There is a whole list of things you can do under account admin, such as ordering new debit cards and cheque books and activating new cards too. You can also link to a Natwest credit card if you have one and change the details linked with this account.

There is a great payments section of this website where a full list of all the direct debits and standing orders which are linked to the account can be viewed, amended and deleted. This has proved very useful in the past when switching suppliers or stopping paying something, you can easily cancel it yourself without being dependent on the said company doing it for you. To make such changes the site usually asks for a further password confirmation to ensure security.

One of the great things about Natwest online is the card reader which they provide you with. This is a small piece of kit which looks like a calculator but is not much bigger than your card which slots into the top. If you want to do something major like set up a new standing order or add an individuals details to your list of payees then it will ask you to get the reader out and give you instructions to enter the code the reader gives you on the screen. This is an added security measure which ensures that the owner of the card associated with the account is genuinely making the changes. It works very well and is reassuring to me as the account holder.

Also on the payments page is the list of external payees who you have made one off or regular payments to in the past. It remembers all the details here so that if you ever need to pay them again you wont need to go through the card reader scenario described above again. This is useful when I want to pay an extra chunk off my credit card or move funds to family members and I use it frequently.

Problems
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I have had a couple of problems with Natwest in the last year which seem to have been caused by a glitch on their system. Thankfully, because I use the online version and therefore look at my accounts frequently I spotted the mistakes and they were rectified but it was a bit annoying and inconvenienced me at the time.

Basically on two occassions within the past year I have moved money between my two linked accounts and subsequently been incorrectly charged £30. On the first occasion the £30 charge put me over my overdraft limit on my normal account and this would have resulted in a further £35 charge had I not seen the mistake and phoned the helpline. They apologised and immediately refunded the amount.

The same thing happened again a few months later but this time their system thought I had moved money from the e-savings account to the main account when the money wasnt there to move (I have no idea why - I had made a transfer successfully with funds in place) so they placed a charge automatically on the e-savings account of £35. This account has no overdraft at all so was showing as £35 o/d. I spent about an hour on the phone to an idiot who just kept repeating that I should not attempt to move funds when there was none in the account....eventually they refunded it and I got an apology from said idiots manager. I have better things to do with my time than argue the toss on this kind of thing.

Because it had happened twice I wrote a letter of complaint to my branch which was then lost by them following acknowledgement of receipt. 2 months later after another angry letter from me they did take the time to call me and apologise but they could not explain why the system automatically placed incorrect charges on my account. This is just something to be aware of, I noticed each time because I keep a close eye on my accounts but someone less cautious may not have done. To be fair they did refund and apologise on both occasions and it has not happened again.

My only other complaint (but I am sure this is true of any bank account) is it is sometimes very annoying how long it takes transactions to show on the account, I can buy something on a Monday and it not show up until the Friday. I can see there is a difference between the amount of the balance and the amount available but not the actual transactions which account for the difference. In general this just means doing the sums in my head of what I know I have spent which is not showing.

Overall
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I do think the online banking for Natwest is among the best and most useful and user friendly. There are very few things which I now need to visit my branch to do and therefore I find it very convenient. I do think it provides the user with a great level of control over and access to their finances and if you are on a budget like I am it is an essential tool to help manage your funds each month and not get into financial strife.

No bank is perfect and I have had my issues with Natwest - but as far as online banking goes I think they are one of the best available.

Summary: A great website which makes online banking easy to use.