Phone, online or in person – what’s the best way to bank?

I use online for most transactions, plus a visit to my local branch occasionally to pay in cheques and withdraw cash. Never had a hitch with online – great for transferring money between accounts, or to another person, at any time of the day or night – it’s quick ,simple and seems secure – and checking on balances and transactions when you want, not waiting a month for your statement. The branch is personal, helpful and friendly. I don’t see the need for telephone banking if you can use online, but good if you can’t.
I am a fan of cheques – I cannot see how they could be sensibly replaced for some transactions – but would worry about scanning them to pay them in as it seems like another way to let the fraudsters con us.

There are, believe it or not, still some businesses that don’t take plastic or who charge extra for the privilege. When I had my boiler serviced last year the guy couldn’t take the cash I’d withdrawn as he didn’t have any change and couldn’t get a signal on his mobile card reader so a cheque it had to be.

Cheques aren’t dead and gone yet.

I am old-fashioned and like to visit my bank in person, but accept this is partly because my branch is convenient and I have time to do so. The staff are friendly and sometimes have time to chat to their customers . I sometimes use an ATM but have had a couple of problems so prefer to go inside the bank. I don’t have or want the technology to use a mobile phone for banking. I have had on-line savings accounts at times but don’t feel comfortable with them. I still find cheques convenient for a lot of transactions.

I visit a bank branch less than once a year and get most of my casual spending money as cashback at the supermarket.

For the past ten years I have used Telephone Banking with First Direct and have been totally satisfied with their excellent service. In the middle of last year I decided to try their Internet Banking and have only found one problem with it – remembering the password and security questions. My memory is diabolical mainly because of medication I have to take and it’s not helped by slowly advancing years. I also have a couple of Internet Savings Accounts and have to try and remember their security questions as well. I feel my blood pressure rising as I try to remember the correct password.

Cheques are very useful when sending my nieces and nephews their Christmas and Birthday presents. They can then use the money to buy exactly what they want or save it for their future. I don’t know what I would do if cheques were abolished.

I hope I’m not showing my stupidity by asking this question: Which of the Poll options applies to straightforward Internet Banking accessed via a Browser not a Mobile App?

Forgot to add – I can pay cheques in fee free into the local Bank Branch any time I like – brilliant service

I do almost all my banking online but visit a branch to make deposits.
I like using online but check regularly to ensure all is well but I do like the security of having a branch to visit as technology isn’t always 100% reliable as recent events prove.

It seems to me that all the above comments indicate that banking is a clear area of ‘horse for courses’. We all have different needs, requirements and preferences and the more of these that can be met the better for all. I recently changed banks and one of the reasons for doing so was that my new bank has a branch close to where we regularly shop. With advancing years, more complex and expensive technology, increasing parking telephone and postage fees and clogged up streets, making life simpler is a priority!

My husband and I no longer drive, and it is not easy to get to our Co-op and TSB bank branches, so we do most of our banking at the local village Post Office.

I pay bills and make money transfers on line.

Any queries are dealt with on the phone.

So far this system is working very well for us.

I am a regular user of online banking . However it can be a real problem if you are not savvy about computers. I recently tried to log in using Internet Explorer 9 as usual, but although the home page came up, the log in page “could not be displayed”. Fortunately I could log in through Google Chrome and asked my building society what the problem was. They replied very promptly with a check list on my IE browser settings. Under advanced settings in “security” one box – use TLS 1.0 – was unchecked; checking it put matters right. I assume at some point running a scan had altered the setting?