Handelsbanken

awolo1

MARTYM8` wrote: »

I was surprised to see how many branches they have - from Truro to Aberdeen and Canterbury to Glasgow.

Seems a bit restrictive through to require you to move your current account to them - couldn't you just have a secondary current account with them to pay your mortgage from?

it's not really a bank designed for personal customers, unless you have wealth.

they are a little bit smaller than retail banks so review risk differently somewhat.

jonstodge

Thanks guys. I'll let you know how I get along, and provide a review if I go with them.

AlbertoBarney

If you are happy with small branches knowing exactly what transactions you make on business and personal accounts then this is the bank for you. However, bear in mind that small branches and limited accounts per manager mean a number of things -

1. Personalities make a big difference. If a manager decides they don't like you for whatever reason they appear to be able to withdraw their bank facility on a whim. They can appear and act unaccountable to outside of branch.
2. They are not a bank for business IMHO. Their charges are high and facilities limited. They have no high street branches and all counter services are through (rapidly disappearing) HSBC branches. HSBC branches only take cheques with a paying in book and cannot access your account to see any information. Nor can you use counter slips to pay in as they are only for HSBC customers. Your nearest Handelsbanken 'office' may be some distance away and they allocate your area so you cannot change branches/managers to suit your needs. You fit in with their demands or go elsewhere.
3. They do not appear to be interested in personal customers unless they are high net worth and they 'fit' the particular branches own specs. There is a certain snobbery in branch even if you are high net worth. They act superior for some unknown reason.

We banked with them for two years, personal and business, and couldn't get away fast enough in the end. We found them invasive and unhelpful in many respects.

These were our experiences. Make of them what you will.

We found some experiences of people who have worked there after we had left. Perhaps we should have looked more closely before joining. They were not so glowing either - I can't post links apparently but the site we found them on is a review site called 'Glass Door'. Search on their if you are interested.

Hope this helps.

crystal_pixie_2

I am a Handelsbanken customer. I like the personal touch and they were very good to me when I was trying to get myself out of financial problems due to divorce.

Pros - good customer service. They have a very good mobile banking app which is very easy to use. You have a direct number to a person in your local branch. They don't use credit scoring.

Cons - they asked me to close my Lloyds account. I didn't just created a donor account and switched that one. Some of their interest rates aren't great - ISAs etc and no interest on my current account.

BTW you have to go through Natwest Branches for general banking rather than HSBC - not a problem and you can go into the local office and make payments etc, they are happy to help where they can. I do most of my banking online so that side of it doesn't bother me. When I had some large cheques they walked them through Natwest and made sure they were in my account. Not many banks would help you like that.

If I was going to go for another mortgage I wouldn't hesitate to approach them. They pride themselves on knowing their customers and wanting a good relationship with them.

Any more information you can pm me.

Paul_1977

I tried to open an account with my London branch, as soon as they heard my common accent they introduced a £20 charge for the account, and kept repeating there was a £20 per month charge I suspect trying to deter me, yet I still went along with the intention of opening the account.

So I booked an appointment to meet with the manager and open an account, he said he would email me and phone on the day.

The day went by and they did not get in contact or email.

They were very stuck up and I would not want to bank with them now. I did have 12k savings at the time ready to go in, but did not mention this, I suspect its peanuts to them anyway.

AlbertoBarney

Perhaps they use different banks for counter services in each area because for two years we used HSBC not NatWest, crystal-pixie.

They also did have a phone app but we never used it. The Internet banking was functional, basic but clunky. We often had to call the office to sort stuff.

There were advantages of having them know you but we found calling the branch when you were making a payment online and then saying 'ah yes, we just saw that going through a minute ago' a bit too much.

pertgave

Handelsbanken are the leading Swedish bank. Appear to be very serious, nordic / Hanse type bankers. I found they were very good and professional with a good network of branches across Europe.