trouble getting bank account

rb10

willo65 wrote: »

Don't mind rb10, he has something against Natwest and never has a good word to say about them also rarely has arguments to back up his statements.

If you want the arguments why I have found that Natwest are not the best bank to be with ...

1) They have messed up my account to the extent that I have had to make complaints to them on three separate occasions, and it has taken time and effort to put these problems right. On no occasion was it my own fault (sending me someone else's statements, sending my cheque book to someone else, and Natwest failing to comply with their own T&Cs). I have not had such issues at other banks.

2) I find that their online banking is more difficult to use than that of other banks (although I have made this clear that this is my opinion and no more than that).

3) Many people who I know personally have also had similar issues with Natwest, and find them difficult to deal with. I know someone who has not been allowed to access their own account because Natwest (for some unknown reason) changed the signatories on the account to different people. Another person has only just managed to be able to send payments on online banking - although he could access online banking with no problem, making payments was blocked for some reason, and no one could tell him why or put it right.

4) In my line of work, I speak to many people about banking, and Natwest is by far the most complained about bank of the people who I see - more so than Santander/A&L, who do not have a good name on these forums.

5) Their highest paying current account pays 0.1% interest.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and this is simply mine.

If Natwest were offering a particularly good deal, then I might be tempted back, but otherwise, I have found that there are plenty of banks who give me a much better service than Natwest ever did.

System

I've had some minor issues with NatWest, but nothing major.
I found their Internet banking much better than Halifax's unstable offering.
Each is entitled to their own opinion though.

With my limited knowledge of basic accounts, their Step account would be amongst the best, others would be Barclays Cash account or Yorkshire Readycash.

As for the rate, I believe NatWest/RBS are amongst the few banks that pay any credit interest on a basic account.

rb10 wrote: »

If you want the arguments why I have found that Natwest are not the best bank to be with ...

1) They have messed up my account to the extent that I have had to make complaints to them on three separate occasions, and it has taken time and effort to put these problems right. On no occasion was it my own fault (sending me someone else's statements, sending my cheque book to someone else, and Natwest failing to comply with their own T&Cs). I have not had such issues at other banks.

2) I find that their online banking is more difficult to use than that of other banks (although I have made this clear that this is my opinion and no more than that).

3) Many people who I know personally have also had similar issues with Natwest, and find them difficult to deal with. I know someone who has not been allowed to access their own account because Natwest (for some unknown reason) changed the signatories on the account to different people. Another person has only just managed to be able to send payments on online banking - although he could access online banking with no problem, making payments was blocked for some reason, and no one could tell him why or put it right.

4) In my line of work, I speak to many people about banking, and Natwest is by far the most complained about bank of the people who I see - more so than Santander/A&L, who do not have a good name on these forums.

5) Their highest paying current account pays 0.1% interest.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and this is simply mine.

If Natwest were offering a particularly good deal, then I might be tempted back, but otherwise, I have found that there are plenty of banks who give me a much better service than Natwest ever did.

cottager

We can only call it as we see it: if you've had a bad experience (or few) it's fair comment.

We had one horrendous experience just over a year ago caused by Natwest's online banking section (serious for us, as it denied online access to OH's business accounts for about 3 weeks) so did consider moving at that time; but weighed it up against near enough 40 yrs of both personal and business banking with them which had been trouble-free and efficient... so we're still there and haven't regretted the decision.

I don't have any issues with the NW online banking interface apart from increased advertising clutter: works well for us (but then I would say that, as I've been used to it since it began); but I have Halifax accounts as well and appreciate the additional features there... or did, till they began disappearing recently with the LTSB platform merger!