A&L Premier Current Account - was it worth the switch?

moomin82

Hi All

I have recently opened an account with A&L.
Feeling quite nervous as I have not had a good impression of them - they have not written to my employer in time to have my salary paid into my new account.

Also not managed to Switch all the D-Debits.

I do not find their Customer Service very helpful after leaving me on hold for around 15 minutes to rack up £7.50 on my phone bill. I had to hang up as they left me hanging too long.

I am reading some real horror stories online..

Should I cancel the account now and save further grief??

A couple of my DDs have been set up but there is no money in there yet They also said they'd match my old overdraft amount and haven't.

Kavanne

It's been great for me as I got £100 and now I have an account that i ONLY have DDs coming out of, which I didn't have before. They did offer to overdraft match but lost my paperwork so I gave up with that.

moomin82

That's cool when did they credit you with the £100?

All my DD's are set up now which is good just my salary didn't get set up in time.

I guess I should stick with it for a while and see how it goes.

They weren't too bad on the phone today but just slightly long waiting time.

The number for them is 0844 this can be costly :rolleyes:

Kavanne

have you tried searching their number on saynoto0870.com?

I got my £100 in the 3rd month after opening

moomin82

Yes I dialled one I found in there.

It took me to an automated system asking me to call another 0844 number >_<

So do you withdraw the money every month and pay it back in? What is the easiest way?

I still have my old account from HSBC open so I guess I could move the money around like that (electronically).

I've read that they do not update the online balances straight away have you had any problems with this?

Kavanne

I have a standing order from my salary account into A&L each month for the total of my DDs

The available balance, from what I Can tell, is always up to date. But the balance is a bit slow.

Jennifer_Jane

It's my experience that whenever there is a switch you need to ensure that you have enough money in both accounts to cover the direct debits. I switched from one account to Co-op and one debit didn't go over, and then to Abbey and the same thing.
Not for the faint-hearted, I think.

I'll be sticking with Co-op, I like them better than the others.

Jen
x

Kavanne

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

It's my experience that whenever there is a switch you need to ensure that you have enough money in both accounts to cover the direct debits.

This is the key, I think!

Salamanca_2

Hi Kavanne and everyone!

I'm in the process of switching all my direct debits and standing orders so that I qualify for the £100 bonus with A & L.

I was just wondering if you have to switch your salary over as well? From reading your post Kavanne, it seems you don't but I just wanted to check with you all first.

Thanks, hoping it's all worth it.

Salamanca :money:

Kavanne

I didn't switch over my salary, no. They only specify that DDs are needed to qualify for the bonus. I even left one SO on my old halifax account and A&L didn't care about that.