Our experts trawled through the features and fees of accounts from all the big providers and fintech challengers worth considering, and we’ve scored them. Plus, see scores for service from the people who matter most – customers. We reveal the top accounts for spending abroad, earning interest on your balance, cashback and more, to help you choose the perfect account.
Best for
Linked savings account
Promoted for
Welcome bonus
Best for
Overseas spending
Best for
Extra features
“Best for” picks are those we’ve evaluated to be best for certain product features or categories – you can read our full methodology here. They’re chosen from among the brands we work with. If we show a “Promoted for” pick, this means it’s been chosen from among our partners and is based on factors that include special features or offers, and the commission we receive. Keep in mind that our picks may not always be the best fit for you, and it’s important to compare for yourself to find a product that works for you.
Expert analysis: Banking expert, Cathy Hudson, gives her thoughts
The bank that’s right for you depends on your priorities and your financial situation. If you’re simply looking for a bank with the best customer satisfaction, Starling Bank, Nationwide, Lloyds and Monzo received the highest scores for overall satisfaction. Two of these are digital-only banks so you would need to make sure this would suit you before choosing one of them.
The vast majority of their customers also said they’d recommend them - Starling Bank came top with 94%, followed by Nationwide with 90%, but the other 3 aren’t far behind with percentages in the high 80s.
If it’s interest on your credit balance you’re looking for, Kroo – another digital bank – is currently offering an impressively high rate that is more than on some savings accounts. Starling is best if you’re spending money abroad, as it doesn’t charge you fees when you’re paying by card or taking cash out overseas and uses Mastercard’s exchange rates.
For those looking to maximise the return on their savings, first direct is a winning option as by taking out its current account you get access to its top-paying Regular Saver account, which lets you save £25 to £300 a month for 12 months. The interest you’ve earned will be paid to you at the end of this period. I you save the maximum £300 a month, at 7% gross AER, you'll earn around £136.50 at the end of the 12 months.
Best bank in the UK by customer satisfaction in 2024
In 2023, we published our independent customer satisfaction survey on current accounts in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Here’s the full list of providers, including banks and e-money providers that we considered and how many of their customers said they’d recommend the brand to a friend. Learn more about the results and the winners.
| Brand | Logo | Overall satisfaction | Customers who’d recommend | Review | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starling Bank |  | ★★★★★ | 94% | Starling Bank’s digital-only current account is quick to open and efficient to manage, and the app is packed with features. Starling’s customers in our survey praised the app for being easy to use, and highlighted the bank’s great customer service. | Visit Starling |
| Nationwide |  | ★★★★★ | 90% | The last building society that does banking on a national level, Nationwide offers a good range of current accounts, some of which come with great incentives and perks, from interest paid on your balance to insurance options. It offers generous switching incentives, from time to time. | Read our review |
| Revolut |  | ★★★★★ | 89% | Revolut’s multi-currency digital account is good for travelling and for sending money abroad. You can exchange and hold 29 different currencies for free, and also use it as a standard UK current account – although you can’t deposit cash or cheques. | Visit Revolut |
| Lloyds Bank |  | ★★★★★ | 88% | Another big bank that also got five stars in our survey was Lloyds. It offers current accounts that suit a wide range of needs, has a large branch network and has been investing in its digital banking features too. | Read our review |
| Monzo |  | ★★★★★ | 86% | Popular digital challenger bank Monzo offers app-based current accounts that are packed with features, with customers in our survey highlighting the useful money management and savings tools. | Visit Monzo |
| Santander |  | ★★★★★ | 85% | High street bank Santander comes with all the advantages of a big bank and offers a wide range of current accounts. Among its top-selling points is the option of earning cashback on your bills. | Visit Santander |
| NatWest |  | ★★★★★ | 82% | With NatWest, you can choose between free current accounts and paid-for rewards accounts. Customers praised its dependable service and easy to use mobile banking app. | Read our review |
| Barclays |  | ★★★★★ | 81% | Current accounts by Barclays come recommended by 81% of its customers in our survey. Respondents praised the bank’s helpful customer service, as well as its banking app. | Visit Barclays |
| Bank of Scotland |  | ★★★★★ | 81% | Bank of Scotland is a subsidiary of the Lloyds banking group. Its bank branches are mainly in Scotland, although you can live elsewhere in the UK to open an account. Its customers in our survey were mostly pleased with its friendly and helpful customer service. | Read our review |
| Halifax |  | ★★★★★ | 79% | Last year’s winner, Halifax has several current account options, ranging from basic accounts up to reward accounts. Many customers in our survey highlighted its reliability and range of services on offer. | Read our review |
| Virgin Money |  | ★★★★★ | 75% | Virgin Money has been steadily growing its current account range since its launch in 2019. It now has one free and one paid-for current account to choose from, and its customers that we polled were fairly happy with the customer service and banking app. | Read our review |
| HSBC |  | ★★★★★ | 80% | HSBC has three everyday current accounts in its roster, depending on your personal circ*mstances and income. Many of its customers in our survey were long-standing account holders and were pleased with the customer service. | Read our review |
| The Co-operative Bank |  | ★★★★★ | 75% | The Co-operative Bank prides itself on its customer-led Ethical Policy, which was a main draw for a lot of customers in our survey. It has one standard current account and a packaged current account. | Read our review |
| Monese |  | ★★★★★ | 74% | Another digital-only account, Monese, is especially good for frequent travellers or people who often have to work across different countries. Overseas purchases and ATM withdrawals can be free, depending on which plan you’ve signed up to, and you can also set up a euro account for free. | Visit Monese |
| RBS |  | ★★★★★ | 74% | Royal Bank of Scotland is NatWest’s sister bank. Just like its peer, it offers a selection of current accounts that include cashback at selected retailers. | Read our review |
| TSB |  | ★★★★★ | 74% | The TSB banking brand returned to the UK high street in 2013. Some customers in our survey praised its good level of customer service, while others highlighted the bank’s recent branch closures. | Visit TSB |
| first direct |  | ★★★★★ | 73% | Known for providing great customer service on the phone 24/7, the UK’s first telephone bank and HSBC sibling First Direct only offers one current account. But it’s a solid banking option that’s recommended by nearly 4 out of 5 customers in our survey. | Visit first direct |
| Metro Bank |  | ★★★★★ | 65% | One of the few challenger banks that also has a network of branches, Metro Bank only offers one current account, whose top feature is that it doesn’t charge you for using the card to make purchases or withdraw cash in Europe. | Read our review |
Customer satisfaction scores methodology
In December 2022, we ran a customer satisfaction survey on current accounts. 2,944 people answered and told us how happy (or not) they were with their current account provider.
The survey asked respondents how satisfied they were with their current account on a scale from 1 to 5, and also whether they would recommend their banking provider to a friend or not. We turned the results into stars and shortlisted the top-performing brands for our awards. Where there was a draw in terms of satisfaction stars, we used the recommendation score (the percentage of customers who said they would recommend the brand to a friend) as a tie-breaker.
Full details of our star ratings for this sector are on the banking ratings methodology page.
Banking ratings
★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor
The customer satisfaction score is based on a survey of 2,944 customers carried out in December 2022.
The best bank accounts in the UK for 2024
Finder’s best current accounts in the UK 2024
| Bank | Best for | Expert score |
|---|---|---|
| Starling Bank | Best all rounder and for overseas spending | 4.7/5 |
| Monzo | Best for extra features & green banking | 4.6/5 |
| Lloyds Bank | Best for payment features | 4.4/5 |
| Nationwide | Best for linked savings account | 4.3/5 |
| Chase | Best for cashback | 4.0/5 |
| Kroo | Best for in-credit interest | 4.0/5 |
Best all rounder and best bank account for overseas spending: Starling Bank
Finder rating
★★★★★
Customer rating
★★★★★
£0
Min. opening balance
£0
Account fees
3.24% AER
Interest (AER)
- Account info
- Pros/cons
- Details
No fees overseas plus refer a friend and earn a free National Trust day pass – redeemable at hundreds of the places it looks after.
Overall, Starling’s current account is a strong choice and our pick for best all rounder. Our banking experts rate it 4.7 out of 5 stars, the highest score out of our rated accounts. It has a lot to recommend it. As one of the largest digital-only banks, it has built a service which has a variety of payments and budgeting features for customers to use directly through their app. This includes savings pots, virtual cards, round-up spare charge options and all the regular banking payment services.
It’s also a great option if you’re looking for fee-free spending when you can pay with your debit card or withdraw cash without being charged. Starling is continually adding to its service and now has saving account options as well as paying interest on current account balances.
Representative example: If you use an arranged overdraft of £1,200, you'll be charged interest at 15% EAR variable.
- No monthly-fees
- 100% digital sign-up
- 24/7 UK customer support
- 'Settle up' feature to split joint bills
- Pays interest on current account balance
- Overdrafts available (only on personal accounts)
- Lower ATM withdrawal limit than some other digital challengers
- No group savings feature
- Doesn't have a specific monthly budgeting tool
- No rewards program
| Minimum opening balance | £0 |
|---|---|
| Minimum operating balance | £0.01 |
| Switch service guarantee | Yes |
| Account fee | £0 |
| Overseas card transactions | £0 |
| Overseas cash withdrawals | £0 |
Best bank account for in-credit interest: Kroo
Finder rating
★★★★★
£0
Min. opening balance
£0
Account fees
4.35% AER
Interest (AER)
- Account info
- Pros/cons
- Details
Earn interest on your current account balance.
You might not have thought about earning interest on your current account balance, but there are some competitive rates out there. Kroo has one of the highest in-credit rates on the market. Its rate easily matches some of the top easy access savings accounts, but is available on your current account balance, up to £500,000. A fully licensed UK bank, Kroo offers a current account that’s free to open, comes with an overdraft subject to availability and has all the useful budgeting features you’d expect from a digital bank including a shared expenses tracker and real-time transaction information. Our banking experts awarded it an overall score of 4/5.
- Free to use
- In-credit interest
- No fees for using card abroad
- 2 trees planted for every new customer
- Can only be accessed through the app
- No branches or face-to-face support
- Card can’t be used in certain countries
| Minimum opening balance | £0 |
|---|---|
| Minimum operating balance | £0 |
| Switch service guarantee | No |
| Account fee | £0 |
| Overseas card transactions | 0% |
| Overseas cash withdrawals | £0.01 |
Best for payment features: Lloyds
Finder rating
★★★★★
Customer rating
★★★★★
£1
Min. opening balance
£0
Account fees
0% AER
Interest (AER)
- Account info
- Pros/cons
- Details
Everyday Offers - Earn up to 15% cashback from selected retailers when shopping with a Lloyds Bank credit or debit card.
Making payments is an essential service for a current account but Lloyds’ does this and much more. It has a strong branch presence where you can make cash deposits and cheque deposits and allows you to make and receive international payments. Beyond these basic services, it also has its Everyday Offers cashback programme where you can earn up to 15% cashback. We gave it an overall score of 4.4/5.
As Lloyds is also part of the Lloyds Banking Group, Halifax and Bank of Scotland have many of the same payment features.
Representative example: If you use an arranged overdraft of £1,200, you'll be charged interest at 39.9% EAR variable.
- No monthly fee
- Earn cashback on spending
- Overdraft available
- 24/7 banking
- FSCS protection
- Interest charged on overdraft
- No interest paid on balances
- Limited account features
| Minimum opening balance | £1 |
|---|---|
| Minimum operating balance | £1 |
| Switch service guarantee | Yes |
| Account fee | £0 |
| Overseas card transactions | 2.99% |
| Overseas cash withdrawals | 2.99% |
Best for extra features & green banking: Monzo
Finder rating
★★★★★
Customer rating
★★★★★
£0
Min. opening balance
£0
Account fees
0% AER
Interest (AER)
- Account info
- Pros/cons
- Details
Monzo Instant Access Savings Pot earns you 4.10% AER interest (variable), paid monthly into the Pot you create.
Monzo’s current account is designed to help you manage your money better through a range of budgeting tools. But the challenger bank hasn’t rested on its laurels. It’s also introduced extra features such as cashback alongside its existing services like automatic spending categories, spending notifications and Savings Pots. This is why our banking experts rate it 4.6/5.
If you’re looking for a bank that also has strong green credentials, then Monzo is definitely one to check out. It earned a Finder green banking rating of 4.5/5, after scoring well for its ambitious net zero targets and its policy not to invest in or lend to fossil fuel businesses. Meanwhile, as a digital bank, its operational emissions benefit from a lack of branches.
- Easy to set up,
- Good for budgeting and categorising spending
- Automatic saving feature
- Fee-free spending abroad
- Slick app with face login
- Overdrafts and loans available
- Free ATM withdrawals outside the EEA limited to £200,
- £1 fee for depositing cash at PayPoints,
- Maximum cash deposit of £1,000 every 6 months
- No rewards program
| Minimum opening balance | £0 |
|---|---|
| Switch service guarantee | Yes |
| Account fee | £0 |
| Overseas card transactions | 0% |
| Overseas cash withdrawals | 0% |
Best bank account for linked savings account: Nationwide
Finder rating
★★★★★
Customer rating
★★★★★
£1
Min. opening balance
£0
Account fees
0% AER
Interest (AER)
- Account info
- Pros/cons
- Details
£200 for accounts switched when at least 2 direct debits are switched using the Current Account Switch Service.
As a Nationwide current account customer, you also get access to its Flex Regular Saver. At the time of writing, this has the top rate on the market but it’s worth knowing that you can deposit a maximum of £200 a month (other accounts may have a lower rate but a higher maximum). The account term is 12 months and you’ll be able to make up to 3 withdrawals during that period without impacting your interest rate. Just keep in mind that if you make 4 or more withdrawals, your interest rate will be reduced. Account management can all be done via the app or online banking, and you can set a monthly standing order from your Nationwide current account to the Flex Regular Saver.
Overall, we gave Nationwide’s current account a score of 4.3/5. It stood out for the number of options for accessing its account and receiving support as well as its payment features and linked saver account.
Representative example: If you use an arranged overdraft of £1,200, you'll be charged interest at 39.9% EAR variable.
- No monthly fee
- Arranged overdraft available
- Access to exclusive products such as linked savings account
- Easy to apply for
- FSCS protection
- Interest charged on overdrafts
- No interest paid on balances
- Limited account features
- Withdrawal limit on linked savings account
| Minimum opening balance | £1 |
|---|---|
| Minimum operating balance | £0 |
| Switch service guarantee | Yes |
| Account fee | £0 |
| Overseas card transactions | 2.99% |
| Overseas cash withdrawals | 2.99% |
Best bank account for cashback: Chase
Finder rating
★★★★★
£0
Min. opening balance
£0
Account fees
1% AER
Interest (AER)
- Account info
- Pros/cons
- Details
Receive 1% cashback on everyday purchases capped at £15.
While there are more cashback offers available today than there have been in recent years, Chase’s cashback offer is head and shoulders above the rest in how much you can earn each month. New customers can earn 1% cashback on their debit card spending for the first 12 months, but cashback is capped at £15 a month. This applies to a wide range of purchases including groceries, travel, meals out, entertainment, fashion and homewares. Chase also pays 1% monthly interest on your current account balance, and comes with no monthly fees and free spending and cash withdrawals abroad. We’ve given it an overall score of 4.2/5.
- No monthly account charge
- No fees for spending abroad
- 5% interest on savings generated by “round ups”
- 24/7 in-app customer support
- No branches if you prefer face-to-face banking
- Can’t deposit cash or cheques into the account
- Overdrafts not available yet
| Minimum opening balance | £0 |
|---|---|
| Minimum operating balance | £0 |
| Switch service guarantee | Yes |
| Account fee | £0 |
| Overseas card transactions | 0% |
| Overseas cash withdrawals | 0% |
How did we rate our bank accounts?
Deputy editor Kate Steere shares our research
To come up with our Finder scores and picks for the best bank accounts in the UK, our team looked at every free-to-use current account and scored them across 9 key areas.
We looked at their app scores in the Google Play Store and the App Store, their monthly fees, their transaction fees for things like ATM withdrawals or having your bank card delivered, their customer satisfaction scores including how they were ranked in our Finder survey, their green credentials and how they fared in our green banking ratings, their account access including in-branch and online, their payment features and their extra features like spending categories or reward programmes.
We scored each category out of 5. For example, if a bank account had no fees for transactions like direct debits, card purchases, deposits and withdrawals, it would score 5 out of 5. We also like to think about what matters to you, so each factor in our scoring is weighted based on what priorities users themselves have said are important to them.
You’ll also see accounts we picked as being outstanding in certain categories, such as the best bank account for cashback or the best bank account for payment features. What you need from a bank account is personal, so these picks are just a guide to help you with your decision.
Which bank account should I choose?
Before you answer this question, you should ask “what do I need from my bank account?”
- Are you looking to spend money regularly using a debit card, take out cash at a ATM machine or pay bills electronically? If so, you want a current account. There are joint bank accounts if you wish to open a current account with a friend, family member or a partner.
- If you looking for an islamic or Sharia-compliant bank account then you can visit our guide on this type of account.
- Are you looking to save a bit of money each month but want to have access to it at any time? You may want an easy access savings account.
- Do you want to put some money away and restrict access to it? Try a fixed-rate savings account.
- Are you after rewards or hoping to maximise interest? You may want a current account with rewards, a packaged bank account or a premium bank account if you hold a large sum of money.
- Are you a student and you want to open up your first bank account and get access to rewards? If so you may want a dedicated student account.
- Are you running a business and want to handle transactions separately from your personal account? Try a business bank account.
- Do you have a child and would like to open an account for them? Take a look at bank accounts for children.
- There are also prepaid cards available where you can control your spending and load money on to your card. Learn more about prepaid cards for adults and prepaid cards for kids.
Work out what you need before comparing the options.
Bottom line
There are plenty of good deals available if you’re looking to switch bank account, whatever you want from your bank. Just make sure you consider your needs before choosing one. Some of the newer digital-only banks are among the best for customer satisfaction so if you’re happy to only do your banking online or through an app, with no branches offering face-to-face help, these are definitely worth a look.
Frequently asked questions
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Safety is a common concern among banking customers, especially for online banking. If you’re keen to discover which banks offer the best safety precautions, check out our guide to the safest banks.
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Here are the main factors you’ll want to consider when choosing your bank account.
- Branch access. If you would like assistance from staff in a local branch, you may base your decision on which banks have branches near your home or workplace.
- Interest rates. It’s worth comparing which banks offer the best interest rates on in-credit balances, and maybe which ones offer the most generous overdrafts.
- Incentives. A lot of banks offer “packaged” accounts, which come with gadget insurance, travel insurance, breakdown cover and other incentives. However, these also come with a monthly account fee.
- Customer service. There are plenty of surveys out there that rate the customer service delivered by the best banks.
- Other financial products. Some banks offer better mortgage/credit card/savings deals to their current account holders, so bear this in mind if you’re looking for other financial products.
- Switching incentives. Banks from time to time offer switching incentives to close down your old account and switch to a new one. It may be worth browsing the latest switching bonuses on offer which can include rewards of £100 or more.
-
Current switching deals
Below we have listed the latest switching deals on the market. This list is checked weekly and was last updated on 2 January 2023.
- first direct – 1st account – £175 bonus
For more information about how to switch, head over to our switching deals guide.
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You can switch as often as you like, which you might want to do to get a better service or more credit interest, for example. If you’re doing it to get the switching rewards, you can only get it once from some banks. Others will give it to you again if a number of years have passed since the last time.
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When you’re choosing a savings account, your main consideration will be the amount of credit interest you’ll get. You can find the best accounts with our savings comparison table.
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circ*mstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you.
We brought together an expert panel of academics, economists, mortgage experts and savings experts, asking them for a range of predictions and opinions on what will happen with the base rate and the impact this will have on the economy, savings rates and the housing market.
- 91% of experts predicted the base rate would remain at 5.25% by the end of 2023.
- Almost half of experts (46%) predicted the UK would enter a recession in 2024 if the base rate did not come down before the end of the year.
- 8 out of 11 experts predict that house prices will fall between 5% and 10% in 2024, but only 1 expert believes a housing crash is on the horizon.
All the content may be republished with a link to this page
Press enquiries
Banking news & launches
Monzo introduces cashback feature
You can now earn cashback with Monzo. Discover how this new feature works and how it stacks up against other offers.
Barclays launches £175 switching deal
Barclays has launched a new £175 switching offer when you open a Barclays current account and join Barclays Blue Rewards.
Starling Bank boosts interest rate for current account holders
The new rate of 3.25% for current accounts kicks in from 1 October for both new and existing customers. Here’s what you need to know.
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