Royal Bank's 1st Class (royalbankofscotland.co.uk)

Member Name: rickjforbes

Product:	royalbankofscotland.co.uk
Date:	25/04/01 (1994 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It is just too easy to use.. brilliant

Disadvantages: Applying for it is high security, but once you are in it's fine.

After moving away from my home town to a career in the big City (London) I found I was away from my local branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. I used to do all my banking in the branch, pop down to pay in cheques or pay the visa bill.

In London I have a shared house, and my local branch here is not open outside of Monday to Friday 9.15 while 17.00, I'm in work while 18.00 Mon-Friday at least so this presented a major obstatcle for me.

Direct Banking:
I was fairly traditional, and indeed comfartable with the old fashioned ways of banking (partly because of the previous convenience of my local branch) but now direct banking became a serious consideration. I needed to be able to do my banking away from cheques and branches.

The Service:
There are two ways to Direct Bank, by phone and online. Online is seriously better as you get a complete overveiw of your account, you can see what transactions you have made/received and how, essentially the same as your monthly staement accept that it is correct to as close as 10 minutes!!

How?
Phone) You get one number (0800) which you can call to get your balance and last six transactions and another number to call for all others (national rate) this number is touch tone (quicker once you get to know it) whereby mobile phone users can take advantage of that DTMF features on their handsets which they have been wondering what they are for for ages. The less experienced can go through to an operator, when I have done this, the call is always answered quick and by a proffessional who knows exactly what you are trying to do no matter what gibberish you tell them.

Web) Visit a website, log in and select the service that you require, be it bill payments or balance transfer etc. The website takes you through step by step of the information needed to complete the transaction, and then at the end it saves the details so you can change/edit it quickly later. I have set up my VIsa ca
rd on here (Barclaycard) and all I do each month is select the amount I want to pay, and when I want to pay it, RBS takes care of the rest.

What exactly can I do?
1) Pay Bills: Select your bill type (E.g Gas), select your service provider (e.g British Gas), enter customer number. Save the details and then go through. Everytiome you need to pay the gas, click on Bill Payments, select Gas and then type in the amount and the day you want it to come out.. It's TOO easy!!
2) Get Statements: Get a statement containing your last month/week/day/year of transaction on screen or select a time period which suits you.. I work by the shopping runs. THe clever filter system even allows you to break your statement down in to transactions of a specific type, like Switch Payments, or cash withdrawals, so you can find out how much you've wasted at the pub.
3) Direct Debits/Standing Orders: You can cancel, postpone DD's and set up/cancel standing orders, ideal for controlling those insurance payments etc.
4) Budget Calculator: Nifty gadget lets you budget for the next (user definable) time period (1 month) it works out an estimate based on last months income/outgoings and you fill in your expected differences, and Hey Presto! your balance as it SHOULD look i one month
5) Balance transfers: Owe someone some money? want to pay them in dribs and drabs? you have a choice, annoy them immensely by paying them by cheque, or transfer it straight to their account (any account) even at other banks, you can make this a regular thing or a one off, and again the service allows you to save the trasaction so you can repaet it, with slight alterations. I still owe my mum for my house deposit, so I just tranfer an amount stright to her bank.
6) Checking stuff: That dirty scamp of a housemate's cheque bounced? then check online to see when the money has come in using your statements and transaction search
7) Apply for a loan/Credit card: need credit?
if you want it you can apply for one quickly and easily on the site, with no messing with legthy forms, as you've already confirmed who you are via the login etc.

Security:
Yes yes yes, this site is belled up like a church tower, you need a customer number, security number, online login code and security number before anyone can do real damage to you, and it varies the code everytime you login. I would be asked to put 3 letters from my login code (picked by the server at randon eg letter 1, 5 and 7 and the same for my number. This would let me look at my account, to alter the money in anyway (eg pay a bill) then a second level of authorisation is required in a similar way.. it's excellent.

Get It!
Yes I recommend it, I've popped the website below so go check, it, if you are a Royal Bank customer you can appy online using your existing account. Send it off and never use the post again. The website gives you a full chance to preview and interact with the service before you apply.

Disadvantage:
Cheques!!! I hate them, you can't pay them in anywhere, they are annoying and there is no solution for someone without direct banking to pay you money.. I still have to take time out to go to the bank to pay in cheques, but at least I can check when they have been credited.

www.rbsdigital.co.uk

Summary: