some sort of code of ethics? Co-op. None of them are perfect but at least the Co-op try.

Jim Ley < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it wrote in message I've been using First Direct, for last 5 years (they didn't offer student accounts or I would've been for longer.) and they're good, <snip They are one of the banks we are looking at.  What we want is a bank that doesn't crucify you for going into the red - which we frequently do I've always done quite well with HSBC <http://www.banking.hsbc.co.uk, who are the parent company of First Direct. I first had an account with them eight years ago, when I went up to university, and have been with them ever since. They've given me two facilities that my income doesn't justify, a GBP250 cheque guarantee debit card, and a gold Visa card. The former was acquired simply by asking in my branch (at that time, I needed to guarantee the odd cheque over GBP100). I managed to get the Gold Visa a couple of months ago. Recently, they've abolished the annual fees on their standard Mastercard and their Gold Visa. I'd held their standard credit card for seven years, and my credit limit had been steadily pushed up by them from GBP500 to GBP2700. With the abolition of the annual fee, the Gold Visa would have been a better deal for me, as the commission on foreign currency transactions was lower (I order some bits and pieces over the net priced in US dollars), also the interest rate was lower too (but I never borrow on my credit card anyway). The card services department asked me to apply and, as I expected, initially I was turned down. However, when I pointed out that I was only asking the bank to grant me an additional GBP300 credit as I was happy to surrender my existing card (the minimum credit limit for Gold Visa is GBP3000), that my account was in good standing (no balance being carried over from month to month) and that it wasn't my fault I'm currently living on disability benefits, they agreed to refer the matter up for a decision, and I got a call ten minutes later to say I'd been accepted. I guess, though, that this is far from the norm, and it's only because I've got a pretty long relationship with HSBC that I was given this. Also, I've always told them of the various changes in circumstances that my illness has forced on me. To my mind, this does show that, in appropriate circumstances, they are prepared to apply common sense instead of slavishly following the rule book. Computer banking (free of charge!) is currently via a slightly clumsy but functional Windows application which dials into their intranet. It's free of charge, and works very well (once I'd upgraded my ISDN drivers) - the only wrinkle is that under NT4 SP6a with IE5.01, the Services page doesn't display when you press the button - I've found a work-round for that now. The PC Banking program displays the current statement details for HSBC credit cards, so you can find out your balances between statements. Internet banking is promised later this year. Cash machines: HSBC and NatWest are free of charge (there's also a few small banks that you can use free of charge, but I can never remember which ones they are; currently you can't use Royal Bank of Scotland machines free of charge, though you used to be able to), otherwise it's a GBP1 disloyalty fee. To be honest, I've never had much trouble finding either a HSBC or NatWest machine - they've both got rather large networks. In your situation, Sue, if you go regularly overdrawn as you say, I'd talk to your prospective bank manager in some detail about signing up anywhere. For you, this is one advantage of a traditional bank - there is at least a local manager you can go to see; something that isn't possible with the online-only services. David

Internet banking is promised later this year. First Direct have full internet banking, so I'd say unless you want a branch you might aswell go with First Direct - everything else the same, but cheaper just at the expense of a branch, Jim.