Nationwide tops most trusted bank poll

by Gill Montia

Story link: Nationwide tops most trusted bank poll

In a survey undertaken by moneysupermarket.com, the price comparison website, Nationwide has been voted the most trusted bank or building society in the UK.

Nineteen per cent of respondents voted for Nationwide; followed by 13% for NatWest (2nd place) and 11% for Halifax (3rd place).

Good customer service was seen as paramount by 39% of those questioned, while slightly over one-fifth of respondents looked for a bank with a good reputation.

Only 9% judged a bank on whether or not its products were the most competitive, and 8% were looking for a financial institution that could be described as “being in good shape”.

According to Kevin Mountford of moneysupermarket.com, “NatWest scored more than triple the number of votes than Royal Bank of Scotland … while HSBC greatly outranked First Direct. Nationwide performed brilliantly, not only clearly outstripping its rivals but also being the only building society in the top ten.”

Mr Mountford believes that the Northern Rock crisis has focused consumers’ thoughts “with service, reputation and lack of problems being uppermost in people’s minds, even ahead of product offerings.”

Lloyds TSB came fourth in the survey, with 10.2% of the vote, followed by HSBC with 8.9%; Barclays with 6.5%; and Abbey with 4.5%.

HSBC has, however, taken the lead in a survey to establish the cheapest mortgage provider of 2007.

According to research by Defaqto, borrowers with HSBC paid £3,361.99 on a £50,000 interest-only mortgage last year, which is £532.39 less than the least competitive product.