RBS are diabolical - need new bank

spyrothedragon_2

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a bank that isn't staffed by liars, thieves, and incompetents?
I have a business account with RBS. Last September I paid a fee of £200+ for my annual business overdraft arrangement. I thought that "annual" implied a 12 month period, but they wrote to me in March to say that the O/D facility was being withdrawn because although I was breaking even every month (in a recession) and operating within agreed limits, I wasn't reducing the size of the overdraft. The small print apparently allows them to breach our contract any time they see fit. I was given the option of paying back thousands of pounds within a week :rotfl:or taking out a consolidation loan. That would be the same consolidation loan that I applied for last year on the advice of my business manager, but got refused... Not having a spare couple of grand, I took out a loan. The exact loan amount is based on a "snapshot" of the amount overdrawn on a particular day, so one day, without telling me when, RBS transferred enough funds to my account to bring the balance up to £0, and instantly removed my overdraft facility. They forgot about the direct debits due the very next day, which bounced. RBS apologised and assured me that I wouldn't be charged, although no doubt my credit rating has been hit. As it was the bank's fault I was offered a temporary £200 overdraft. When my next bank statement came in I was delighted to find I'd been charged £50 to set up the temporary overdraft that they brought in to cover their own mistake, as well as a list of charges adding up to £140 that would be taken in a week's time. Turns out that a standing order hadn't been paid despite there being enough cash in my account, I'd been charged an arrangement fee for our new "business agreement" (remember they stopped the last one) and a further 2 debits couldn't be paid as a result of that £50 being taken out of my account. There was also a fee charged because an insurance policy installment hadn't been collected. That was my overdraft insurance that RBS cancelled as soon as they removed my overdraft facility! I called them last week expecting a battle, and in under 2 minutes was told that all charges were being dropped without a fight. No apology, just lots of tutting and comments like "that shouldn't have happened". I was a happy bunny for a few days, but I've just looked at my accounts on-line tonight and discovered that the £140 has been collected, the £50 fee hasn't been refunded, and I now have a cheque that's going to bounce sometime tomorrow. :mad:
Somebody at RBS is going to be on the wrong end of a major tantrum about 9.05am.
This is another in a long line of RBS !!!!-ups, the jewel in the crown being when they set up someone else's standing order on my account and siphoned off £600. They then took over 4 months to repay me, despite admitting their mistake as soon as I told them.
There is a branch of Santander just a couple of doors away from my RBS branch, and I'm seriously thinking about going to see them. My loan will remain with RBS, so all I'm asking for is a business account. If they offer me an overdraft facility then great, but no big deal if they don't. I'm slightly wary about moving to a Spanish bank, given the state of the European economy. Santander are not part of any bailouts and it looked like they'd ridden out the recession well, but all the news about Greece being bailed out and predictions about the Spanish economy being next makes me wonder if it's worth moving. Anyone got any advice or opinions?

The bottom line to all of this hassle is that I'm self-employed and find it impossible to get paid. As I type this I'm owed almost £3000 in unpaid invoices, and late payment every month is crippling me. If anyone here uses local small business, PLEASE pay your bills on time!

Consumerist

If you can believe many of the posts on this site then it's fairly clear all banks are pretty much the same.

Mark_In_Hampshire

I had a business account with Lloyds and couldn't fault them.

I don't know what you do for a living - I'm a consultant/developer, and I tend to find that if I withdraw services entirely from people who haven't paid, and they have an urgent issue (what isn't urgent these days) I tend to then get paid quite quickly. Should an issue persist, I insist on payment in advance and refuse credit. It does mean I might lose the customer, but a customer who doesn't pay is no better than no customer.

I also insist on payment in advance if amount < £500, otherwise 50/50.

Can you "tighten up" your collection procedure and policy in dealing with late payers?

I do also provide a settlement discount for cash or BACS payments which reach my account on or before the due date.

Re: Santander - the only reason, from what I read, that it has any "strength" is because it is permitted to value its loan book based on property prices at the time of the loan despite the fact those properties are now in negative equity - amazing what you can do when you're a big company. I don't think it's as strong as it makes out to be.

But then, neither is Lloyds.

mattcanary

In my experience, HSBC offer a decent level of customer service.

I currently bank with Barclays. They seem efficient enough (although there are often big queues to be served in my branch)

spyrothedragon_2

Thanks for the replies.
Mark, I'm an architectural techonologist. I'm going to have to try getting payment up front more often. I have done that occasionally, but apparently my local competitors don't. I usually invoice clients when I issue architectural drawings at various project stages, so it's not always so easy to withdraw my expertise until my clients pay up - the work has been done by then. I have occasionally used (or threatened to use) a debt collection agency. A letter from them seems to be very effective at making clients remember where they left the cheque book, and at £30 it's often worth it. Tends to burn bridges, although I'm a firm believer in the old saying that if you lend someone money and never see them again it was probably worth it.

chambta

If you think RBS are bad you haven't seen incompetence on the scale of a Santander group bank.

Rupert_Bear

spyrothedragon wrote: »

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a bank that isn't staffed by liars, thieves, and incompetents?
I have a business account with RBS. Last September I paid a fee of £200+ for my annual business overdraft arrangement. I thought that "annual" implied a 12 month period, but they wrote to me in March to say that the O/D facility was being withdrawn because although I was breaking even every month (in a recession) and operating within agreed limits, I wasn't reducing the size of the overdraft. The small print apparently allows them to breach our contract any time they see fit. I was given the option of paying back thousands of pounds within a week :rotfl:or taking out a consolidation loan. That would be the same consolidation loan that I applied for last year on the advice of my business manager, but got refused... Not having a spare couple of grand, I took out a loan. The exact loan amount is based on a "snapshot" of the amount overdrawn on a particular day, so one day, without telling me when, RBS transferred enough funds to my account to bring the balance up to £0, and instantly removed my overdraft facility. They forgot about the direct debits due the very next day, which bounced. RBS apologised and assured me that I wouldn't be charged, although no doubt my credit rating has been hit. As it was the bank's fault I was offered a temporary £200 overdraft. When my next bank statement came in I was delighted to find I'd been charged £50 to set up the temporary overdraft that they brought in to cover their own mistake, as well as a list of charges adding up to £140 that would be taken in a week's time. Turns out that a standing order hadn't been paid despite there being enough cash in my account, I'd been charged an arrangement fee for our new "business agreement" (remember they stopped the last one) and a further 2 debits couldn't be paid as a result of that £50 being taken out of my account. There was also a fee charged because an insurance policy installment hadn't been collected. That was my overdraft insurance that RBS cancelled as soon as they removed my overdraft facility! I called them last week expecting a battle, and in under 2 minutes was told that all charges were being dropped without a fight. No apology, just lots of tutting and comments like "that shouldn't have happened". I was a happy bunny for a few days, but I've just looked at my accounts on-line tonight and discovered that the £140 has been collected, the £50 fee hasn't been refunded, and I now have a cheque that's going to bounce sometime tomorrow. :mad:
Somebody at RBS is going to be on the wrong end of a major tantrum about 9.05am.
This is another in a long line of RBS !!!!-ups, the jewel in the crown being when they set up someone else's standing order on my account and siphoned off £600. They then took over 4 months to repay me, despite admitting their mistake as soon as I told them.
There is a branch of Santander just a couple of doors away from my RBS branch, and I'm seriously thinking about going to see them. My loan will remain with RBS, so all I'm asking for is a business account. If they offer me an overdraft facility then great, but no big deal if they don't. I'm slightly wary about moving to a Spanish bank, given the state of the European economy. Santander are not part of any bailouts and it looked like they'd ridden out the recession well, but all the news about Greece being bailed out and predictions about the Spanish economy being next makes me wonder if it's worth moving. Anyone got any advice or opinions?

The bottom line to all of this hassle is that I'm self-employed and find it impossible to get paid. As I type this I'm owed almost £3000 in unpaid invoices, and late payment every month is crippling me. If anyone here uses local small business, PLEASE pay your bills on time!

Have you never heard of paragraphs. I do know what is more annoying RBS or trying to read through your post.:mad: