UK Banks
From what I've read in this qotw the UK banking system is apparently fucked.

Like me, there are hundreds of thousands of Kiwis who never carry cash. I use EFTPOS cards as every business accepts them. For internet purchases or the like I use a bank issued Visa Debit card (Much safer than a credit card). Most banks offer either a one of payment ($5 per month) to cover every transaction or a 10 cent loading per transaction.

ALL the banks are connected to a central system so any deposit to any bank is credited at midnight, cash deposits are available immediately at the same Bank not just the same branch. All ATM machines accept every flavour of EFTPOS card including credit cards and every ATM machine is fitted with an anti-skim device.
You're never more than 5 mins from an ATM machine, some shops/clubs even have their own private ATM machines connected to the network. Ideal for a busy club, they can fill the machine with notes from their cash tills.

Lost or stolen cards are replaced within 5 working days and it is possible to get a vanilla card - no name/expiry date from the bank branch in an emergency that will last 5 working days.(Actually happened to me last year)

I've banked with 3 different Banks here and they make it easy to move between banks. Sign the form and the Bank will arrange everything, moving your account, closing down the old account, setting up existing automatic payments and arranging similar overdrafts. If you've got a good credit record will even move your mortgage at the same time unless you got one of those 'got you by the balls' fixed rate mortgages. (Ask a banker about the pitfalls and penalties re fixed rate)

So having banked for 30 years here without any major dramas the only real cock up in all that time was with the Royal Bank of Scotland which I use for holding external funds when I'm travelling. The account is always in credit and yet I've been hit with overdraft fees (difficult to sort out being far away and in a different time zone) which were eventually credited.
A charge to a new RBS credit card in South Africa which I found more than highly suspicious as I'd never used that particular card so how did the arseholes get the number and the account name?
And once they 'lost' a deposit I'd made in a bank in Hamburg. Took me a few weeks to notice the account hadn't been credited and then untold phone calls that got me nowhere. Finally I complained to the UK Banking Ombudsman (http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm), filled out the form, attached the deposit slip and some other papers and six weeks later the account was credited. No apology or explanation as to what happened from the RBS
(Jimmyinnz was sprung at work on b3ta on, Sun 19 Jul 2009, 2:20, 5 replies)

Yeah, but what about that 2.4 billion?
Hmm?

Hmmmmmmmm?

Dicks.
(Scritty Bakerman., Sun 19 Jul 2009, 9:37, closed)

i miss new zealand
i lived in NZ for a year and miss it so much, especially my eftpos card. No matter how much the transaction you could use it, in the UK you get the same look a child rapist gets in the dock if you try to use your debit for a transaction under a fiver. Allegedly the banks charge businesses a small fortune for the privilege of using the system.
(CaptainCuntyBollocks the man who can with a frying pan full of lamb, Sun 19 Jul 2009, 11:58, closed)

Difference is...
...in Kiwiland, the customer pays for the EFTPOS card; in the UK, the shop pays. So no wonder the shopkeepers here are less happy to accept it.
(stalinism, Sun 19 Jul 2009, 12:34, closed)

A system
I am more than happy to live with. Same with the phones - do not want to pay to receive calls.
(Potty Jag har smör i min rumpspringa, Mon 20 Jul 2009, 9:24, closed)

Most of this happens in the UK, too
All the ATM is exactly the same as you describe; lost cards in the UK are replaced within 5 days unless there's a fuck-up; and banks offer automated moving services that mean you don't need to lift a finger.

The only difference is EFTPOS for small amounts, and the vanilla cards - the former reflects the fact that you're paying for banking; the latter the fact that you're a smaller country with less determined crooks than ours...
(stalinism, Sun 19 Jul 2009, 12:36, closed)