What made you choose the bank you're with at present?

Originally I went with HSBC, because I needed a business account and figured I may as well set up a personal one while I was there. Because it was easy to transfer cash across, and also cash cheques for both in one place, it became my main account.

Since I moved to Scotland though it's been an issue, because currently HSBC only have 3 branches in Scotland - I have to take a 50 min train journey to cash cheques now for my personal account.

I'm assured that HSBC are opening over a dozen new branches over the next 2 years across Scotland, though, which should be helpful.

For me I'm with Bank of Scotland because it was the local branch in our town as a teenager so my parents got me started there... over the years I've pulled my hair out on many an occasion with them to the point that I now always look to another bank for accounts, savings or loans, etc.

The other bank that I use that I have to admit I cannot say a bad word against is Alliance & Leicester. I've used them for business banking as well as personal account and they have yet to leave me high and dry without access to my accounts... unlike a certain other organisation.... grrrr

Corty

We had a couple of reasons why we picked the bank we picked. The first reason is we had moved and the bank that we were at did not have a branch where we moved. We looked athe banks around where we moved and picked the one that offered us what we wanted.

I didn't choose my current bank; a series of mergers chose for me. I miss my old bank (few banks ago) and hate what I'm stuck with now. We'll be eliminating all our accounts with this bank when I've found the institution I want to replace it with.

My first bank is where my regular salary is directly deposited.
I choose the 2nd one because of I can transact online and offline. I can also receive payments from other provinces without them paying extra charges because of geographical locations and that's a plus factor with businesses. It's rate is also higher as compare to other banks.

I went ahead with my local bank, as they offered to most flexibility and lowest fees. It has proved to be a good decision thusfar.

I search around to look at their various account options. I like to have one that does not have as many fees or restrictions on minimum balances and so forth. I also went with a bank that was highly rated by friends and family.

Look for the following things:
1. Online banking/atm access - today if a bank isn't allowing online access it will be bought out by one that does.
2. Rates - not just promotional rates, but standard deposit rates, loan rates, etc. compare across all of them because most institutions allow benefits for customers that do more business.
3. Fees - This is where banks make their money, ask for a fee schedule from each institution you're considering, certain regulations make these easy to compare with one another.
4. Service - Do the employees know their products? Grab a checking brochure and ask a question about one of the checking packages. If the employee answers it correctly you know that they understand the products and therefore are more likely to recommend the best products for you.
5. References from other customers - Ask people who are leaving the institution why they choose to bank there and see if their reasons sound like reasons you would bank somewhere.

i am agree with unique. thanks

walking into many different branches sitting down and seeing what each had to offer. Be careful the bank employees are just like sales people, so don't get sucked in. Visit around 5 banks and by the end of the day you'll eliminate several.