Best and worst banks: how customers rate their service

We reveal the banks that are most (and least) likely to be recommended by their customers. Does yours make the list?

There’s more to picking a bank account than identifying the deal with the best interest rates or overdraft.

You also need to think carefully about which bank will deliver the best level of customer service.

A good place to start is the latest investigation into the issue from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which was compiled alongside research group Ipsos.

As part of its analysis, the researchers polled people with personal current accounts on their experiences with their banks from July 2023 to June 2024.

Participants were asked questions on the quality of online and mobile services, their experiences in branches, their overdrafts, and most importantly, how likely they would be to recommend the bank to a friend, relative or business contact.

Let’s take a look at the findings.

The best current accounts for switching bonuses

The best-performing banks

Here are the three banks coming top in the research:

• Monzo (1st)
• Starling Bank (2nd)
• Chase (3rd)

What’s immediately noticeable is how well online banks are performing.

The top three slots are all taken by banks without a physical presence to speak of ‒ two of the big app-based banks, Monzo and Starling Bank, take first and second place, followed by new entrant Chase.

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There seems to be a pretty clear message here.

These banks aren’t burdened by cumbersome legacy tech, and can make the most of emerging technology to deliver a banking service that people actually value.

Monzo and Starling have been the trailblazers in app-based banks, providing not only fantastic functionality but services that younger customers, in particular, are more likely to value, such as fee-free use overseas.

Likewise, Chase allows customers to earn 1% cashback up to £15 per month and round up their purchases to the nearest pound, paying 5% interest on these ‘round-ups’.

The best high-interest current accounts

The worst-performing banks

At the other end of the rankings, it’s a different story.

Here are the bottom-rated providers in Great Britain:

• The Co-operative Bank (15th)
• Virgin Money (16th)
• Royal Bank of Scotland (17th)

All of those banks are likely to be found on the high street, but clearly having a branch to head to isn’t enough to make up for various other failings.

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What about business accounts?

The CMA also investigated our satisfaction levels with our business accounts.

Coming top of the tables were:

• Monzo (1st)
• Starling Bank (2nd)
• Tide and Handelsbanken (joint 3rd)

As you can see, Monzo and Starling were again the best performers, with Tide and Handelsbanken taking joint third place.

Again, Tide doesn’t have any physical branches, while Swedish bank Handelsbanken has the tagline of ‘long-term relationship banking’.

At the other end of the scale, these are the three bottom-placed business providers.

• Royal Bank of Scotland (13th)
• The Co-operative Bank and Barclays (joint 14th)
• HSBC (16th)

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The results for Northern Ireland

According to the findings, Monzo, Starling and Nationwide are the top-rated current account providers in Northern Ireland.

In contrast, Ulster Bank, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks are at the bottom of the rankings.In terms of business accounts, Santander and the lowest rated is Bank of Ireland UK.

The banks we’re switching to

Of course, the CMA and Ipsos are not the only ones trying to get to the bottom of which banks and building societies deliver the best level of service to their customers. 

As we reported last month, the Current Account Switch Service released its own figures on the banks that are most popular with customers – and those we’re ditching.

Taking top spot, NatWest bagged 60,497 new account holders between April and June.

Interestingly, RBS came in second, despite not faring particularly well in the CMA’s research.

In contrast, Barclays lost 38,779 customers on average and Halifax plummeted by 21,174.

You can read the full report in our article here.

Get great customer service and earn 3.25% on your balance with a Starling Bank current account (affiliate link)

Have your say

What do you make of these findings? And how do you feel about your current bank?

Do you agree that app-only banks are the future or perhaps you’d rather do your banking from a branch.

Let us know in the comments below.

*This article contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission on any sales of products or services we write about, but it won't affect the price you're offered. This article was written completely independently.

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