BoS Ultimate Reward Switch

crazyfranky

Hi there. Looking for some advice regarding switching bank accounts. At the moment I have a Bank of Scotland Ultimate Reward Current Account. I moved to this account from a BoS graduate account when I took my Halifax mortgage out in January this year. However, there seems to be very little reward in having this account (despite the £12.50 a month charge!) and have been thoroughly unsatisfied with their customer service of late. I already have a savings account with Alliance and Leicester and I am very interested in their Premier Current Account (as I am now paying interest on my overdraft which I am only managing to climb out of very slowly!)

I therefore have two questions -

Firstly, I have been with BoS all my life - do I stand to lose anything by not staying loyal to this bank?

Secondly, I was able to take out a 95% mortgage with Halifax because I was a BoS current account holder, am I therefore obliged to stay with this bank as a requirement of my mortgage terms?

Looking to get back on the straight and narrow after ploughing all of my savings into house deposit and not finding Bank of Scotland any help in this at all, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

opinions4u

crazyfranky wrote: »

However, there seems to be very little reward in having this account (despite the £12.50 a month charge!)

One of the 'rewards' is "£150 bonus payment when you take out a Halifax First-time Buyer or Home Mover mortgage – a little extra help towards making it your home." Check you've received this before doing anything! Will you use the travel insurance? Does the breakdown cover benefit you? Did you buy their home insurance and benefit from a discount for having the account? The home emergency cover is great - it's amazing what you can class as an emergency with this!

In truth, your statement that it gives you very little reward is misleading. It got you a 95% mortgage deal when nobody else would give you a mortgage like that. It should also have got you £150 cashback too, which will cover you first year's premiums.

and have been thoroughly unsatisfied with their customer service of late.

Why not expand on this? Tell us why they have naffed you off. It might be that you can receive hep to resolve this.

I already have a savings account with Alliance and Leicester and I am very interested in their Premier Current Account (as I am now paying interest on my overdraft which I am only managing to climb out of very slowly!)

Like most banks, they hook you in and then reduce the value of the account over time. You say you used your savings as deposit for the house. But you have effectively (if not directly) used your overdraft it would seem.

Firstly, I have been with BoS all my life - do I stand to lose anything by not staying loyal to this bank?

If you move from the account they can charge you for the value of any benefits you have already used.

Secondly, I was able to take out a 95% mortgage with Halifax because I was a BoS current account holder, am I therefore obliged to stay with this bank as a requirement of my mortgage terms?

What does it say in your mortgage offer? That, ultimately, will be the agreement you have to remain with them (or otherwise), and what penalties, if any, apply if you don't. I'd be surprised if they have a system that would pick up on you moving your account elsewhere, but you never know!

crazyfranky

Will you use the travel insurance?

No because I volunteer with a group providing expeditions for young people and I am covered on a group insurance policy.

Does the breakdown cover benefit you?

No, as this was included free with my car insurance. As was mobile phone insurance when I last upgraded to a new contract.

Did you buy their home insurance and benefit from a discount for having the account?

No, I wasn't able to make use of the discount as I had already set up the insurance at the time of setting up the mortgage and this couldn't be done retrospectively - and besides this at over £700 I couldn't afford to take out the insurance with them - especially when I got it for £300 elsewhere.

The home emergency cover is great - it's amazing what you can class as an emergency with this!

This cover is only available providing you contact them first to arrange repairs - I have a plumber, roofer, joiner and electrician in the family who could do these repairs for me.

In truth, your statement that it gives you very little reward is misleading. It got you a 95% mortgage deal when nobody else would give you a mortgage like that. It should also have got you £150 cashback too, which will cover you first year's premiums.

The 95% mortgage deal was not a "reward" of this particular account, I took out my mortgage when I was still on my previous current account, one which I wasn't paying £12.50 a month for. I was then told that I should change my account AFTER having completed my mortgage. As this was a graduate account I had an interest free overdaft which was great as it allowed me to reduce it bit by bit as I could afford to without incurring interest payments.

Why not expand on this? Tell us why they have naffed you off. It might be that you can receive hep to resolve this.

There are an accumulation of things, unfortunately some being of my own doing - having gone over my overdaft limit for the first time in over 3 years I now have to pay over £160 in charges - when two of the direct debits actually went to the same company at the same time - yet thats classed as two seperate £35 charges and a £28 unauthorised overdraft charge. Having attempted to claim bank charges back in the past I was told on the phone that they would not even attempt to review these latest charges as a result. I know its probably the same with banks depending on your experience but having had accounts with both egg and alliance and leicester I absolutely cannot fault their customer service and yet every time I have dealings with BoS i'm left feeling dissatisfied with the whole experience.

Like most banks, they hook you in and then reduce the value of the account over time. You say you used your savings as deposit for the house. But you have effectively (if not directly) used your overdraft it would seem.

I had, albeit a much smaller, overdraft when I applied for the mortgage, and yes, every spare penny went into the deposit, so savings I had planned to use to pay off my overdraft went into the deposit (and whilst this comes back to the debate about keeping savings and debt, the overdraft was interest free and the savings were earning me a better rate of interset in a savings account than they would of had they been there keeping my bank account in the black.)

What does it say in your mortgage offer? That, ultimately, will be the agreement you have to remain with them (or otherwise), and what penalties, if any, apply if you don't. I'd be surprised if they have a system that would pick up on you moving your account elsewhere, but you never know!

There doesn't appear to be anything obvious in my mortgae offer (but then in a ring binder bursting full of bits of paper I still haven't waded through it all yet) so was just wondering if anybody had faced anything similar.

opinions4u

The 95% mortgage deal was not a "reward" of this particular account, I took out my mortgage when I was still on my previous current account, one which I wasn't paying £12.50 a month for. I was then told that I should change my account AFTER having completed my mortgage. As this was a graduate account I had an interest free overdaft which was great as it allowed me to reduce it bit by bit as I could afford to without incurring interest payments.

Given this, and the lack of benefits to you from the Ultimate Reward Account, I think you want to go back to them and ask them why they think the account was appropriate for you.

There is a strong chance that it has been mis-sold. Especially if you didn't qualify for the £150 mortgage benefit.

I would suggest that you should ask to be put back in the position that you were in prior to getting the account .... on the 0% student overdraft deal, no monthly fee etc and you reimburse any benefits that the account has given you (which seems to be very little!). I'd say as a matter of goodwill they should also reimburse those bank charges you mention, as well as interest charges on your overdraft.

Good luck.

crazyfranky

Have a meeting lined up so will bring up the points you have raised. Thank you!

BankofScotlandGuy

the ultimate reward account needs to be in place before completion of the mortgage to get the £150

the 15% off home insurance can be put on at any time, even on existing policies.

There is very rarely a charge to cancel the account unless you really took advantage of the benefits and they had to pay out a lot of money. most other banks have 12month contracts on these accounts, hbos do not.

bank accounts are a non-advised service so you only would have been put onto it if you chose to do so. If you were told that it was the right account for you then it was mis sold.

bearing in mind when changing that the only other option you have with BoS is the Reward account which charges you £1 per day for using an overdraft. Doesnt charge dd fees though so it may still work out for you. do your sums before your meeting an know what you want.

cheers

opinions4u

BankofScotlandGuy wrote: »

bank accounts are a non-advised service so you only would have been put onto it if you chose to do so. If you were told that it was the right account for you then it was mis sold.

So does BOS pay a bigger incentive to staff selling the fee charging account? Bet they do.

bearing in mind when changing that the only other option you have with BoS is the Reward account which charges you £1 per day for using an overdraft. Doesnt charge dd fees though so it may still work out for you. do your sums before your meeting an know what you want.

The OP was moved to this from a Student account. They should move him/her back to this.

supersavor

as bank of scotland guy says the accounts are non-advised i sell these everyday via rcc and when a customer wants to apply for a current account we do the following.

we have to point out features of both accounts the overdrafts as and how it works the £5 payment for the reward and the facilities fees associated with both accounts including the £12.50 fee with the urca.
at this point you then ask the customer what account they would like.

as bos says we cannnot sway them use emotive selling or anything of sort as the sales calls are very heavily monitored.
some people even get frustrated and say what should i pick when we say we cant pick i have even heard some cutomers saying to me i thought this was a sales line.

as for incentives well everything is points scored and a urca has more points than a normal acoount though not much more.

we have other targets that have nothing to do with salary bonus etc which is calls to app which we are heavily targeted on.
so when you phone through on a sales line to check your balances and someone trys to up sell you a product dont be to suprised were just doing our job