Metro bank - new customer review

hushpuppy

I have just opened a current account solely to use in the US when we get married later this year.

Can someone clarify that as long as I have funds in my current account I can use my Visa Debit card to pay for and withdraw cash, as any other card?

Secondly I will probably be spending about £10K in total, is this the best card to use, alternatives are Halifax Clarity ir a FX pre-paid card, or indeed any advice on alternative solution?

giblet10

hushpuppy wrote: »

I have just opened a current account solely to use in the US when we get married later this year.

Can someone clarify that as long as I have funds in my current account I can use my Visa Debit card to pay for and withdraw cash, as any other card?

Secondly I will probably be spending about £10K in total, is this the best card to use, alternatives are Halifax Clarity ir a FX pre-paid card, or indeed any advice on alternative solution?

It's a Mastercard, not Visa, that Metro issue - but in 37 years I haven't found any difference in acceptability!

I used mine in Amsterdam earlier this year and felt I got a good deal - no foreign fees or loading and they claim to use Mastercard official rates..I'll be using mine again in Greece and Sweden next month..

innovate

Finally got round to opening a Metro Bank account today. Always wanted their debit card because they have (currently) no foreign currency charges or foreign exchange loading (MSE best travel money guide)

After driving what appeared to be a million miles (endless traffic Qs, bad idea to attempt this on a rainy Friday...) to the nearest Metro Bank (ok, I do live in a lovely rural area....), I was most positively surprised that they are offering free customer parking, bang next door to the bank, in an area of London where you normally pay a small fortune for 20 minutes parking, and need to walk about a mile to anything. It's only a small car park but I was lucky enough to get the last free space immediately. Instantly forgot (almost) about the seemingly endless hours it took to get there in the first instance!

Stupidly, I had not taken any proof of ID/address with me, apart from my driving licence, which just happens to live in my purse. What was I thinking!?!?!? But luckily they were prepared to process my application without additional documents because they were able to verify my existence on the Electoral Roll, where I have an uninterrupted record going back some 20 years.

All in all I spent just under an hour with a very approachable chap (advisor? consultant? rep? salesman? dunno what they call themselves, but he was a really pleasant young gent), and I walked out with a current account, a Mastercard Debit card, and a Mastercard Credit Card with several £Ks of credit. All with online management, of course. Oh, and not a mention of a cheque book - - - how refreshing!

I already have several credit cards, with well over £20K credit on them in total, and I don't really need another credit card. Annoyingly, he wouldn't tell me the max Metro would offer me, so I just suggested something a little below £10K. He didn't blink and instantly said yes - I have a feeling I could have got a lot more but since I really don't need it in the first instance, I didn't ask for more. Still, it's always good to have another no-fees CC for foreign use, alongside the Nationwide Select CC.

Shame the Metro savings interest rates are complete pants across the board - but I suppose somebody has to pay for the free parking and the very pleasant offices, with free drinks and water bowls for your dog if you have one. Not to mention the really stylish staff uniforms (all on young looking staff, nobody over 35?), which don't look like uniforms at all and must be the best in the industry by a mile. There's also fabulous background music (someone's iPhone playlist, I reckon) - what a refreshing change from the nauseating repeat of emminently boring ads that you get in a Lloyds branch! The whole environment is very much aimed at the young personal or business customer, but they seem to tolerate oldies like me very well.

They offered to arrange for the adoption of one or several dogs, too, but since I was just after a good debit card for using abroad, I had to decline on this occasion (thereby saving a heck of a lot on dog food and vet charges). To their credit, they put my needs above the dogs' needs and didn't push that dog business. There was also a seemingly endless flow of paper printed off, with T&Cs I have had to be read out to myself....does nobody care about trees at Metro? (What are the dogs you can adopt at Metro supposed to pee on?). I was also offered a tour of the offices, to see the gold fish, the kid's playing area, the [STRIKE]coins[/STRIKE] magic money machine that changes your coins into larger denominations (like wot you can do at Tescos and Asdas), and the dogs bowls - but I was by then getting a bit late for meeting a friend, so sadly had to decline.....


Still, at the end of the hour, I walked out with a fully working internet access, a debit card, and a new CC with a nice limit. Had a free [STRIKE]glass[/STRIKE] paper cup of water, no dogs, the company of a young gent [with toyboy potential! shush!!!!] and free parking for an hour. On balance, this was definitely the most fun I had opening a bank account, or going into any bank branch, ever. The chap who processed my application was smart enough to realise pretty instantly that I was not in the market for a mortgage, loan, or overdraft - so probably I scored 1 out of 10 for their ideal customer. He still made me feel welcome and was genuinely pleasant all the way through.

Mobile banking: no Metro iPhone app exists atm, but they are working on it. Not an issue for me - - I will probably need a few more years, anyway, before I will miss banking on my smartphone.

Can't comment on their loan/mortgage rates but I am sure someone else can.

expatasia

innovate wrote: »

Finally got round to opening a Metro Bank account today. Always wanted their debit card because they have (currently) no foreign currency charges or foreign exchange loading



Stupidly, I had not taken any proof of ID/address with me, apart from my driving licence, which just happens to live in my purse. What was I thinking!?!?!? But luckily they were prepared to process my application without additional documents because they were able to verify my existence on the Electoral Roll, where I have an uninterrupted record going back some 20 years.
Still, at the end of the hour, I walked out with a fully working internet access, a debit card, and a new CC with a nice limit. Had a free [STRIKE]glass[/STRIKE] paper cup of water, no dogs, the company of a young gent [with toyboy potential! shush!!!!] and free parking for an hour. On balance, this was definitely the most fun I had opening a bank account, or going into any bank branch, ever. The chap who processed my application was smart enough to realise pretty instantly that I was not in the market for a mortgage, loan, or overdraft - so probably I scored 1 out of 10 for their ideal customer. He still made me feel welcome and was genuinely pleasant all the way through.

So what were the concrete reasons you said for wanting to open the Metro account?

I'd love to open one when I'm back on my next extended UK stay for travels in Asia (no foreign currency charges). Amazed they didn't insist on more ID/address verification.

innovate

expatasia wrote: »

So what were the concrete reasons you said for wanting to open the Metro account?

They didn't ask for a reason, so I didn't give them one.

innovate

Turns out that you cannot pay the Metro Credit Card by Direct Debit from a non-Metro current account.

That renders that credit card basically useless to me, so I called them to cancel the card. Was told I need to come into a store to do that.

I reckon they should remove "NO STUPID Bank Rules" from their printed marketing bumph (I see they already removed it from their home page).

innovate

expatasia wrote: »

Amazed they didn't insist on more ID/address verification.

Their ID requirements: https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/Personal/What-you-will-need-to-open-an-Account/How-to-open-an-Account1/

1. UK/EU NATIONALS AGED 16 AND OVER

You will need:

Valid form of Photographic Idenitity
In most cases a valid form of photo identity is sufficient documentation as long as we can find a match for your current address on an electronic database held by a UK Credit Bureau. If for some reason we cannot find an address match (for example, if you have recently changed address), we will ask for 2 forms of documentation that confirm your current address.

JuicyJesus

innovate wrote: »

I reckon they should remove "NO STUPID Bank Rules" from their printed marketing bumph (I see they already removed it from their home page).

They might have had to after realising that bank rules aren't all "stupid" but are there for good reasons.

It was a vague promise anyway. They never seemed to cite a single "bank rule" that was "stupid".

innovate

Incoming Faster Payment seems to be taking ages. Been waiting for over 4 hours now for a payment I made myself from another current account. Two other payments I made immediately after from the same bank account to Nationwide and HSBC had arrived almost instantly. The amounts on all 3 payments were in the low hundreds, and all 3 show as debits on the source bank statement.

I know the guaranteed FP time is 'end of next business day' but if Metrobank want to play with the big names, they need to get their FP sorted out.

richardmk

I think Metrobank must have shedloads of secondary current accounts, it is good for free cash withdrawals overseas, but everything else is second rate to the other banks. Metrobank wins hands down on gimmicks instant cards, prizes for making cash deposits, dog portraits but when it comes to processing transactions and more than a basic account unfortunately it is very much a let down.