A new survey claims big traditional banks are being left behind by their internet and phone-based competitors when it comes to delivering customer satisfaction.

The magazine Which? Money said seven of the high street giants only scored two stars out of five for their dealings with customers.

Those who performed poorly in the survey included Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland.

It added that none of the big four made it into its best buy table for current accounts.

Overall, the group said five of the seven "best" accounts are internet and telephone products, with Smile judged to be the top provider in terms of customer satisfaction.

The survey also shows that over recent years many people have changed the way they do their banking.

It found that half of the people surveyed now bank online or by telephone, but some innovations have not been so readily embraced, with 93% of those questioned saying they have not used a mobile phone for banking.

Nine out of 10 people said they still visit their branch, but many do not do this regularly as half of people only go in once a month or less.

When people do go to their branch, they said it is generally to pay in cheques or amend their personal details.

Despite the low levels of customer satisfaction revealed in the poll, 61% of people questioned still bank with the big four firms.

Nearly three-quarters of people who have changed bank said they found it easy to do, with poor service cited as the main reason for switching.

And a third of people said the reason they changed was in order to benefit from better interest rates.

Martyn Hocking, editor of Which? Money, said: "If you're still with one of the big four high street banks, then now is the time to move.

"Internet and telephone banks seem to treat their customers better and you can get much higher interest too."

The research was based on responses from 4,680 Which? members who were polled during April.

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