Please give your feedback on personal current accounts

typos1

Bunny71, in the situation you describe, the person NOT paying in £500 ISNT being penalised, rather the person that DOES payin £500 is being rewarded

bunny71

typos1 wrote: »

Bunny71, in the situation you describe, the person NOT paying in £500 ISNT being penalised, rather the person that DOES payin £500 is being rewarded

But they are being penalised because they're no longer eligible for a regular saver account, whereas they were before.

j.moghisi

banks should provide some interface to services like Mint.com so we can manage all of our finances in one place, it is such a hassle right now using more than one bank

blueberrypie

Bob_the_Builder wrote: »

I grew up in Holland in a village with 1700 inhabitants.
...
To this day, I don't understand why you have to keep your account number and sort code a closely guarded secret.

Erm...who told you that you had to keep them a secret? Your account number and sort code are printed on every cheque you write - they're not even close to being confidential information.

jacquilou22

Big changes I would like to see in banks are:
1) Repeat charges being stopped. If you overdraw then you a bank should only be allowed to penalise you once. For example, if you go £10 over your overdraft limit then the bank should be able to levy a proporsional charge for that one "offense". When a bank charges a £30 flat rate PER DAY of you being over your overdraft rather then your finances can spiral out of control. <y experience as a student (at the height of fee charges) was that they cap the penalties within a set period (usually a calendar month), but then continue to take penalties in subsequent months in order to pay off any remainder of that "penalty". This can mean that they take 4 lump sums of £30 each month for 3 months to cover the penalties of going over your agreed limit by any amount for 12 day within one month. This leads people back to going over their limit and thus incurring further charges! So it's OK for a bank to take you over your limit but not OK for you to do so?
2) clearing funds. I read not long ago that somewhere in Northern Europe (Holland?) consumers caused such a stink that their banks eventually agreed to clear cheques and funds the same day instead of the 3-5 it takes here. UK banks take away our ability to budget effectively because the current balance is never really the current balance. Those trying to credit their accounts to ensure they have sufficient funds must sit on their hands for 5 days and not spend a penny in order to know where they actually stand financially!
3) Proportional charges. Why does it cost me £30 to overdraw on an agreed overdraft limit by £2, when it costs me £30 to go over by £100??
4) Lending - I had a colleague who had never borrowed money in his life, no cards, no overdrafts nothing - he had always saved and only spent what he had earned. About 5 years ago he tried to get a mortgage and he struggled because he had never borrowed before!! - does this seem backward to anyone else? why do you have to prove that you dont have enough income in order to be lent more? what does this say about why we have a prevalent culture of debt in the UK?

I feel that as we take a service from a bank and they are a business they do have the right to levy charges where an individual has not managed their money - otherwise what would be the incentive manage your funds? However penalties are totally disproportional and inappropriately charged and, as we are forced to use banks (I dont have a choice about having my salary paid into a bank account) then there needs to be a better appreciation for the consumer needs so that we can meet those rules and restrictions without penalty more easily.

Red_sky

Why does it take banks 3 'working days' to move money between banks electronically. My mother could do this quicker by taking the cash out and walking/driving/riding to the receiving bank and paying the money in and she's in her 90s. They should be made to use the Faster Payment System or CHAPS free of charge and transfer our money the same day if not in seconds to the receiving bank. Why does it take so long to move money between banks? Where does our money disappear to for 3 'working days' or more and who earns the interest on all our money whilst it disappears for 3-6 days including the weekends. Do the banks' computers stop working over the weekend? And why do they send cheques when they could move money a lot safer electronically rather than using the postal system which can sometimes take up to 10 days or more for cheque clearance, etc.?

Red_sky

I recently did a SWIFT payment with Nationwide and I was neither told before or after what foreign exchange rate would be used, that HSBC were going to take a 2% commission on the exchange rate, that some bank in New York was going to take an additional charge of 30 USD all without my knowledge or consent. I thought ALL charges were supposed to be 'upfront and transparent'?

jambosans

Red_sky wrote: »

Why does it take banks 3 'working days' to move money between banks electronically. My mother could do this quicker by taking the cash out and walking/driving/riding to the receiving bank and paying the money in and she's in her 90s. They should be made to use the Faster Payment System or CHAPS free of charge and transfer our money the same day if not in seconds to the receiving bank. Why does it take so long to move money between banks? Where does our money disappear to for 3 'working days' or more and who earns the interest on all our money whilst it disappears for 3-6 days including the weekends. Do the banks' computers stop working over the weekend? And why do they send cheques when they could move money a lot safer electronically rather than using the postal system which can sometimes take up to 10 days or more for cheque clearance, etc.?

Why not have a look around the forum (or even Google), where you might find answers to your questions?

Inactive

Red_sky wrote: »

I recently did a SWIFT payment with Nationwide and I was neither told before or after what foreign exchange rate would be used, that HSBC were going to take a 2% commission on the exchange rate, that some bank in New York was going to take an additional charge of 30 USD all without my knowledge or consent. I thought ALL charges were supposed to be 'upfront and transparent'?

Did you actually ask them the rate before agreeing to the transaction?

I always do, they always tell me.

However there are far better options than the banks/building societies for this kind of transaction.

Red_sky

Inactive wrote: »

Did you actually ask them the rate before agreeing to the transaction?

I always do, they always tell me.

However there are far better options than the banks/building societies for this kind of transaction.

Yes, I asked them by email but it took them about 2 days to reply by which time the rate had changed. I can't call them because I'm in Vietnam. They don't show the rate when you complete the SWIFT form, not even a confirmation page just click 'next' and without any warning or exchange rate details or additonal fees, it's gone. They didn't even tell me after the SWIFT transaction had taken place what exchange rate had been used or how much had been sent (in the converted funds without me asking and it took about a week for them to reply) so all in all, a pretty poor service. Yes, you can use an FX broker which I'll do next time.