Metro bank - new customer review

innovate

I support your list of needed improvements, richardmk.

I would add that they should allow their Credit Card to be paid by Direct Debit from any UK bank/BS the account holder would like to pay it from. Last I know is that it has to be a DD from the Metrobank Current Account. Very restrictive, terribly old-fashioned to expect people will not use the services of other financial institutions on a regular basis. I cancelled my Credit Card when I found out.

Specifically on the points you raised:

richardmk wrote: »

2. When depositing across the counter the register takes along time to process transaction, and you are left waiting for a receipt after the teller has moved on to serving the next customer.

I am an online convert myself and don't want/need to use a counter service other than for the most exceptional transactions (for which I would use the phone long before the counter), but what you are reporting is quite unbelievable! I think it is completely off that anyone moves to the next customer before they have finished serving you. All thumbs down for Metrobank if they thin this is acceptable.

richardmk wrote: »

3. Faster payments are slow - both in and out

Confirms my experience.

blackrat779

labp04 wrote: »

As we've said before MetroBank meets our needs very well and we've experienced none of the issues some others go on about

As a potential new customer I came to this thread to gain an insight into this bank to help prevent me wasting my time if it was a load of rubbish.

My impression has been that opinion is deeply divided within this thread, however I can't imagine that many satisfied customers come here or for that matter all who have a complaint and that is why I decided to go ahead and open an account.

So far and lets face it, it has only been a couple of days my experience has been good.

I phoned their customer service to ask some questions about joining the bank and the service I received there was excellent even if my questions weren't too difficult.

On going to the bank I was greeted at the door and then dealt with in a professional and friendly manner whilst my account was opened. My cards were checked and everything worked. I was introduced to all the services and had a tour of the premises. On leaving the bank I had an active debit card and an active credit card with a tiny balance. I was told that I would receive a letter to help activate it. The following morning, less than 24 hrs, I got the letter and was able to activate the card to full operation and a proper credit limit. Again the lady at the call centre couldn't have been more helpful.

Some of the issues that have been raised ie paying a Metro Bank credit card with a direct debit only affect some people ie those who pay it in full each month and of those people you have to pay with your Metro Bank current account. They told me this up front. You can still pay it part or in full from another account using your other banks online payment service, just not DD, so hardly a problem.

Many of the other problems quoted here are similar non-problems.

So, for what its worth and please do your own research, my experience has been very good. Just for customer service, late opening and 7days a week availability it seems there are benefits that other banks can't or wont give.

Don't be put off by what some are saying, for me it is at least worth spending an hour in a branch/store to make your own mind up. I may yet experience problems, if I do I will report them here.

It's probably worth saying that I am nothing to do with the bank other than being a customer trying them out.

Cheers,
Blackrat

innovate

blackrat779 wrote: »

Some of the issues that have been raised ie paying a Metro Bank credit card with a direct debit only affect some people ie those who pay it in full each month and of those people you have to pay with your Metro Bank current account. They told me this up front. You can still pay it part or in full from another account using your other banks online payment service, just not DD, so hardly a problem.

I beg to disagree that it is hardly a problem that I can't pay off my credit card by DD, from whatever source I choose to.

No bank should think they should have the right to dictate what source people pay their bills from automatically in full each month. Alas, Metrobank does.

What's more, no other Credit Card provider does.

blackrat779

innovate wrote: »

I beg to disagree that it is hardly a problem that I can't pay off my credit card by DD, from whatever source I choose to.

No bank should think they should have the right to dictate what source people pay their bills from. Alas, Metrobank does.

The point I was making was that many people wont be affected by the problem as they wont be able to pay off their credit card in full every month.

For folks like yourself who can, they can still pay off the card from any bank using electronic transfer/bill payment and with some of these you can automate them so they make a payment on a specific date. Of course you could make an automated payment to your Metro Bank account which in turn has a direct debit to your credit card to get around the problem to make it fully automated if you chose to.

As for rights, well this is where I have to disagree with you. It's the bank's rules and they can dictate whatever they want. They let you know up front and it is your choice whether to accept it or not. As with most things if people don't like it they wont bank with them. I suspect most people wont care. In my case, not a deal breaker.

I would be interested to know why they do it though, is it a cost thing?

Cheers,
Blackrat

Hazzanet

blackrat779 wrote: »

My impression has been that opinion is deeply divided within this thread, however I can't imagine that many satisfied customers come here or for that matter all who have a complaint and that is why I decided to go ahead and open an account.

I think with any public commentary on the internet, you have to take the view that more will criticise as opposed to praise, and there are those who overreact to minute problems to the point of pedantry. For example, if I refused to stop at every hotel that had received a review of less than 3/5 on TripAdvisor, I'd never go on holiday.

My view is that you take on board what is said and watch out for it in case it happens to you. Alliance and Leicester had a bad rap sheet here for a while, but in my dealings with them I had no real problems. Similarly, those who praise First Direct ad nauseum will be surprised to know that I've had two run ins with them in the course of 18 months.

blackrat779 wrote: »

On going to the bank I was greeted at the door and then dealt with in a professional and friendly manner whilst my account was opened. My cards were checked and everything worked. I was introduced to all the services and had a tour of the premises. On leaving the bank I had an active debit card and an active credit card with a tiny balance. I was told that I would receive a letter to help activate it. The following morning, less than 24 hrs, I got the letter and was able to activate the card to full operation and a proper credit limit. Again the lady at the call centre couldn't have been more helpful.

A similar experience to me, although I didn't receive a cheque book as expected. That said, I left with a warm and fuzzy feeling clutching my debit card and a shed load of leaflets.

blackrat779 wrote: »

Some of the issues that have been raised ie paying a Metro Bank credit card with a direct debit only affect some people ie those who pay it in full each month and of those people you have to pay with your Metro Bank current account. They told me this up front. You can still pay it part or in full from another account using your other banks online payment service, just not DD, so hardly a problem.

I may be way off here, but working closely with the technical aspects of Direct Debits, this suggests (to me at least) that they actually don't have access to a 'real' BACS Direct Debit service. This could be cost related or they can't yet get the required sponsorship to join the scheme (in fact their commercial web pages state that they cannot yet give access to the DD scheme which would look to confirm this).

I'd further suggest that the 'Direct Debit' from the Metro Current account is actually an 'automated internal transfer' rather than a DD.

blackrat779 wrote: »

So, for what its worth and please do your own research, my experience has been very good. Just for customer service, late opening and 7days a week availability it seems there are benefits that other banks can't or wont give.

Don't be put off by what some are saying, for me it is at least worth spending an hour in a branch/store to make your own mind up. I may yet experience problems, if I do I will report them here.

Per my comments above, this is good advice. Take your own risks, make your own decisions and form your own opinions.

Of the two immediate niggles I had, one has now been sorted (cheque book) the other (Internet Banking) is still a work in progress. There is a message on IB now saying that they're working on it Sat night/Sun morning, so we could see an improvement by Monday.

Hazzanet

blackrat779 wrote: »

As for rights, well this is where I have to disagree with you. It's the bank's rules and they can dictate whatever they want.

Need I say more...?

blackrat779

Hazzanet wrote: »

Need I say more...?

Fair point. They have rules, it is only a question of whether they are stupid.

As far as customers go, you may have a point, some will see it as a stupid rule as they will with some of the other rules.

Not having any direct debits set up at the moment, is this a problem if they are not (fully) signed up with BACS? I would like to set up my day to day banking there as I'm sure many other prospective customers would but will probably hold off if this is an issue.

Cheers,
Blackrat

Hazzanet

blackrat779 wrote: »

Not having any direct debits set up at the moment, is this a problem if they are not (fully) signed up with BACS? I would like to set up my day to day banking there as I'm sure many other prospective customers would but will probably hold off if this is an issue.

They have access to DDs outwards, so there's no problem setting up your monthly DD to the council.

To collect DDs from Joe Public's accounts, you have to jump through several hoops (money on deposit with a sponsoring bank, Director's personal guarantee among other things) before you can get a Service User Number. I'm guessing that Metro are still jumping through these hoops with a sponsor as their liability would be significantly more than mine.

Their sort-code seems to belong to the Barclays range, so I'm guessing they do their clearing through them.

Hazzanet

blackrat779 wrote: »

Fair point. They have rules, it is only a question of whether they are stupid.

Indeed - a matter of opinion.

Some people may think the ID requirements are a 'stupid rule', other more rational people may think they're trying to comply with money-laundering rules. It's all how you look at it.

alanq

blackrat779 wrote: »

Don't be put off by what some are saying, for me it is at least worth spending an hour in a branch/store to make your own mind up.

Whilst I agree that comments posted here are more likely to come from unhappy customers than happy ones I think that they are likely to be far more informative that what one can learn simply by visiting a [STRIKE]branch[/STRIKE] store. Only by actual experience can one learn what an organisation is like.