Saving account reviews: Owners' views
The top performers
First Direct (79%) and The Co-operative Bank (77%) are the clear winners in our survey, combining high levels of customer satisfaction with the likelihood of being recommended to a friend by account holders.
These companies were also among the top performers in the 2009 Which? current account customer satisfaction survey.
Room for improvement
Halifax (44%) and Santander (formerly Abbey) (42%), two of the largest providers of savings accounts in our survey, both did pretty poorly, having also come bottom in our survey last year.
Customers of Cheltenham & Gloucester – which is owned by Lloyds TSB – awarded the bank a paltry 42%, while the lowest score in the survey once again went to Bradford & Bingley, with 39%. Bradford & Bingley's savings accounts have now been transferred to Abbey.
All in all, the results make poor reading for members of the big banking groups. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HSBC were the only big banks to achieve close to an average score in our survey. Lloyds TSB, Barclays, NatWest, Alliance & Leicester and Bank of Scotland all scored below average for customer satisfaction.
Our research
In May and October/November 2009 we surveyed 14,153 members of the Which? online panel about their savings accounts.
The table below shows which of the 45 savings account providers that we were able to rate have the most – and least – satisfied customers.
There's a big difference between the best and the worst: the top-rated provider has a customer satisfaction score of 79%, while the worst performer gets only 39%.
Overall customer scores are worked out using a combination of overall satisfaction and how likely members are to recommend their bank to a friend. Companies need at least 30 responses to be given a rating.
| Customer satisfaction for savings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Provider | Internet | Telephone | Customer Score |
| First Direct |  | | 79% |
| Co-operative Bank | | | 77% |
| Coventry BS |  | | 66% |
| Yorkshire BS | |  | 64% |
| Cahoot | | n/a | 62% |
| ICICI Bank UK | | | 62% |
| Newcastle BS | | n/a | 61% |
| Leeds BS | n/a | n/a | 61% |
| Nationwide | |  | 61% |
| Tesco | | | 60% |
| Yorkshire Bank | n/a | n/a | 60% |
| Saga | | n/a | 58% |
| Standard Life Bank | | | 57% |
| Kent Reliance BS | | | 57% |
| Egg | | | 56% |
| Skipton BS | n/a | n/a | 56% |
| Britannia BS | | | 56% |
| West Bromwich BS | n/a | n/a | 55% |
| ING Direct | | | 54% |
| Intelligent Finance (IF) | | | 54% |
| HSBC | | | 54% |
| Birmingham Midshires | | | 54% |
| Sainsbury's Finance | | | 52% |
| Principality BS | | n/a | 53% |
| RBS | | | 53% |
| National Savings & Investments (NS&I) | | | 53% |
| AA | n/a | n/a | 53% |
| NatWest | | | 51% |
| Lloyds TSB | | | 51% |
| Northern Rock | | | 50% |
| Chelsea BS | n/a | n/a | 50% |
| Manchester BS | n/a | n/a | 50% |
| Anglo-Irish Bank | n/a | | 50% |
| Alliance & Leicester | | | 50% |
| Barclays | | | 48% |
| Derbyshire BS | n/a | n/a | 48% |
| Bank of Scotland | | | 48% |
| Clydesdale Bank | | n/a | 47% |
| Dunfermline BS | n/a | n/a | 45% |
| Citibank | | n/a | 45% |
| Marks & Spencer | | | 45% |
| Halifax | | | 44% |
| Abbey (Santander) | | | 42% |
| Cheltenham & Gloucester | n/a | | 42% |
| Bradford & Bingley | | n/a | 39% |
| Average | n/a | n/a | 55% |
Table notes
n/a = sample size too small
Average overall customer satisfaction score is 55%
Sample sizes: First Direct (564), Co-operative Bank (133), Coventry BS (287), Yorkshire BS (379), Cahoot (50), ICICI Bank UK (182), Newcastle BS (51), Leeds BS (83), Nationwide BS (2365), Tesco (202), Yorkshire Bank (44), Saga (62), Standard Life Bank (74), Kent Reliance BS (138), Egg (257), Skipton BS (121), Britannia BS (217), West Bromwich BS (43), ING Direct (518), Intelligent Finance (126), HSBC (494), Birmingham Midshires (226), Sainsbury's Finance (154), Principality BS (107), Royal Bank of Scotland (255), National Savings & Investments (178), AA (30), NatWest (658), Lloyds TSB (782), Northern Rock (199), Chelsea BS (80), Manchester BS (36), Anglo Irish Bank (75), Alliance & Leicester (674), Barclays (656), Derbyshire BS (41), Bank of Scotland (207), Clydesdale Bank (57), Dunfermline BS (42), Citibank (30), Marks & Spencer (89), Halifax (1007), Santander (Abbey) (764), Cheltenham & Gloucester (108), Bradford & Bingley (210). Total sample size: 14,153