Internet Banking
Ok, forget about the Internet Sites documents that I mentioned yesterday. They are getting on my nerves now, and yours too judging by the responses. What I said yesterday was about all I need to really.
Instead: Internet Banking. My my new company needs a new company bank account. I've been spending a few days gathering information from the bigger banks about their business accounts to see who has the best deal. Top at the moment is the Co-op. No charges for the first 18 months if I keep the balance over 2,000. The charges from the rest of the banks are fairly similar.
What will be a deciding factor for me is how the bank's internet-banking service works. My personal account is with NatWest whose Internet Banking facility is good but insists I use IE. A major annoyance to me. I know it's not really that important a factor in choosing a bank but it is probably the main way in which I will interface with my account so worth some thought.
The Co-Op Bank sent me some bumf. At the bottom of the covering letter they proudly state that they have an "award winning" website and that I should visit for a demonstration. I did. With both IE and Mozilla and neither worked. All I saw was a page that told me it was "Launching...". Why? Because both browsers block popups. So, I unblock popups and reload the offending page only to find my next annoyance - a Java Applet. Not only that but an Applet that refused to load:
I really wanted to choose the co-op because of their ethical banking policy. But my web design ethics won't let me. Sorry co-op, your site wins no awards with me!
Does anybody in the UK with a business account have any advice?
Skip to the 
You can subscribe to an individual
I don't have a business account... but I do bank with both the Co-op and their online-only counterpart Smile. The Co-op were one of the first banks to have an online account management facility, I was first online with them back in 1997... and using the same interface that you can't access :(
Co-op have recently changed their personal account access to non-Java Applet, but it seems business accounts are still using the Applet. As for getting around it, and allowing you to bank both ethically and online, do you have Java installed? My hunch is yes, as the Applet worked fine for me until one day I downloaded Java at home for a web app and then got the same error as you... uninstalling it meant I could use it again. Can you contact Co-op and say that this problem is stopping you from banking ethically...?
We use co-op .. the applet is a bit crap but works in at least one of the browsers I use, so its good enough.
I use HSBC and they have always been good - the internet experience is good as well (servlet driven html) - but and it is a big BUT - they have just made 4000 staff redundant in the North East and transfering their jobs abroad - I dont like that as the quality of service suffers big time for a quick financial fix (20mins to change address because they didnt understand my dialect).
Jake,
I use Barclays and their online banking seems to work quite well, although it can be slow during the peak times of the day. They have a nice 'feature' they never fixed - if you have a savings account with them that requires notice so you don't loose interest, if you transfer from it with the online banking you don't loose the interest! One reason why I like online banking is that these days if you try to call them to make a transfer or a bill payment, they want you to talk to your 'business banker' who is never there, and you just get the dumb call centre people. Banks have got very impersonal these days, although fortunately I have a very good relationship with the small business manager so he always does me a good turn when needed. Get that if you can, work on a decent contact in your branch so you get some personal service when needed.
I don't know if its changed, but last time I looked most of the new business offers from the high street banks were free for 12 months. You would have to negotiate an overdraft if you wanted one though.
Mel uses co-op for personal stuff and finds the online banking very reliable.
I use the Bank of Scotland. I am not sure how competitive their rates are but their e-banking website {Link} is jsp driven and works well.
Just a guess... do you have the Sun Java plug-in up and running? If so, disable it and have the Microsoft Java VM handle the applet. You do that in the control panel.
Jake, regarding the applet, I had a similar problem with my IE browser at work. I got severely told off for downloading a later version of java runtime environment without running it past the desktop gestapo first!
I was told however that if you open your JRE from the desktop there is an option - Use IE Browser - which was checked by default. If you uncheck it (even though I WAS using IE6) magically the browser starts rendering the infernal applets - worth a try!
Thanks guys. I've disabled the Jave Applet plugin and finally got it to work in IE. Not Mozilla though! Still I am not happy with it. Working or not, it's a Java Applet and I don't like them. Not only that but I disable them in Mozilla by default. As I do with Popups. This would make banking with coop a pain.
It may be a pain I can live with though for the peace of mind I have with banking with coop. I trust them NOT to move their call centre to India and keep some of us employed instead.
I just went in to town and visited the Bank of Scotland. The lady tried to demo the Internet Banking to me. She had to wade through about 10 JS errors before it would load. I kept quiet but laughed to myself. I've just tried it at home and it works ok but it launches a popup the FULL size of my scree. Another thing that really annoys me. Maybe I should just forget what the internet sites do and worry about banking charges....
Just a quick addition re: HSBC internet banking. It works perfectly in Apple's Safari browser.
Erwin, you have inadvertently solved why my SameTime meeting room applet wouldn't load. Turns out the Sun VM was causing me issues, cheers.
I had bad experience with the Bank of Scotland, luckily I hadn't closed my NatWest and went back to them. I've never had need to use internet backing - the phone service is good enough and a lot less hassle. Not that I'd particularly recommend NatWest.
As for HSBC Steve, well what did you expect?
Presumably you know what the H and S stand for?
Yeh - H'offshore Staffing!
I've just cancelled by HSBC bank account and moved to Cahoot. Can't believe HSBC are getting rid of 4000 workers, its just a small statement of disgust from me but if everybody cancelled their acount.......
*avoid* the Royal Bank of scotland. Libel laws prevent me from unleashing my full opinion..
--* Bill
I use the Co-Op bank for my business, and have done for 6 years or so. I have never had any problem with accessing the website or running the java applet. They are a great bank imho (and no I'm not associated with them in any other way!)
Thanks Duncan. I've opted for the co-op in the end. All the banks were much of a muchness in terms of charges anyway. So, I went with the Northern one that is least likely to take work "off-shore".
Strange that the 'offshore' issue is a big issue to us IT people!