The results are in, and savings account customers have spoken – The Co-operative Bank and First Direct have been selected as the best personal and business bank account providers in the entirety of the UK.
A recent Which? poll found that First Direct had the highest customer satisfaction rate throughout all 12,715 survey respondents. The banking provider scored 74 per cent customer satisfaction, which was a full two percentage points greater than in the poll’s last iteration.
With an overall score of 70 per cent, The Co-op wasn’t lagging all that far behind First Direct. However third place winner Yorkshire Building Society brought up the rear with only a 62 per cent satisfaction rate, according to the survey.
Neither Co-op Nor First Direct are particularly known for their attractive interest rates or topping the best buy tables. However, both banks’ ability to intertwine excellent service with competitive rates proved to be exactly what it took to come out on top with the survey respondents.
Owned by HSBC, First Direct is an internet and telephone bank that has been specialising in customer service since its inception in 1989 as part of the old Midland Bank. The HSBC subsidiary has been consistently topping customer service surveys for quite some time.
The Which? poll also indicated the big losers when it comes to customer service, and Spain-based giant Santander took a thrashing. Santander, which owns the old Alliance & Leicester and Abbey brands, came in dead last with a 35 per cent satisfaction rate.
Industry experts were not surprised in the least with the Spanish banking giant’s abysmal showing. Last year Santander was inundated with complaints, with many stemming from the April ISA rush when many of its ISA customers had to endure severe funds transfer delays when its 3.5 per cent best buy was oversubscribed.