[JonWood]

I moved from Natwest to First Direct a couple of months ago, and have had a great experience so far.

Their online banking isn't quite so nice as Natwest's, but that's more than made up for by the amazing phone service. I've had to call a couple of times (once to replace a lost card), and almost instantly been put through to someone who can solve my problem.

[SideburnsOfDoom]

I have been with First Direct for a few years and I really like it, wouldn't move. It's good for people like me who want to interact with their bank firstly online, and secondly on the phone, and in person at a branch at a distant third.

First Direct is entirely owned by HSBC - it's essentially a branch of HSBC on the internet not the high street. If you need to deposit a paper cheque or the like you will be directed to a HSBC branch.

[timthorn]

First Direct has no 2FA barrier to online banking, which is one of the key reasons I moved to them from Barclays (who were mostly a decent bank in fairness).

[marbletiles]

Same here, although they have recently changed the wording of their T&Cs to include 2FA. I asked them about this, and they said they were considering its introduction. (HSBC already has it).

Also, they use that "second letter from your password" style of login, and I'm not sure how they're doing that without keeping the plaintext of the whole password somewhere.