Top Bank Accounts Discussion Area

uncle_nick

saxmund wrote: »

As MSE Dan is hopefully reading this thread, having started it, I'll repeat a couple of comments I have made elsewhere.

(1) Customer service. For example, you recommend Abbey on the basis of their 8% interest offer. I would not recommend Abbey to anyone. They have had a string of problems recently, including major ebanking outages in May and the inability to send out debit cards on time. There is a post on this board about them being unable to pay interest, and I had a problem last Wednesday when their systems were down and they couldn't give me a banker's draft. Their complaints procedure is in meltdown and they are offering money to people not to take their complaint to the Ombudsman. I know all banks get it wrong sometimes but if you read this board they are getting far more than their fair share. So - if you are going to recommend Abbey's 8% offer, why not add a caveat to say that many customers report appalling service and direct people to this forum?

(2) What's the deal like permanently? Again, you recommend Abbey because they offer 8% for a year. But other banks offer a slightly lower rate permanently. People are not going to change their bank accounts every year because it's too much trouble, whereas they will with credit cards and savings accounts. So please can we have some analysis of what the best buy is once the initial offer runs out.

Interesting that Abbey are bribing people not to call the ombudsman...when they made a mess of my mortgage overpayments [paid off flexible primary loan, not higher interest extra borrowing] it took me 2 years to resolve: 1 bribe before I called in the Ombudsman, 2 more as they failed to fix what they had broken. I always found their staff helpful and apologetic.... but utterly unable to resolve the blatant mistakes. I won't hurry to become a customer again.

Mind you, A&L haven't done much better - account switching service does not follow up on transferred account notifications, so 50% of my direct debits were notified but did nothing, and A&L did not alert on the next payment NOT going out - though they harvested payment info from previous bank.
Not bad service, but bad process.

Gambit

Cloudane wrote: »

For a "low maintenance" customer who doesn't tend to need help from customer services, keeps an eye on things and is very careful about not going over any limits, and can take care of themselves, it's worthwhile. Only when they're offering cash incentives (which pushes them to the top of Martin's list) though.
People who 'sail close to the wind' in terms of their finances might find them a bit awkward - the combination of the slightly confusing banking system where things update on different schedules can easily make you think you have money that you don't. Combine this with high charges for going over the overdraft, and you can have some nasty surprises as people have complained bitterly about on here in the past!.

I agree with you Cloudane. I've been with A&L for almost a year now after seeing the £100 incentive and interest free overdraft that was on offer. I used the switching service but 'switched' a current account I hardly used which only had one standing order which was to another of my accounts. This way I knew that if they screwed it up it wouldnt matter as it wasnt a bill or anything important. I defo would not let them switch my salary as I tried this with Abbey once and they contacted the wrong company on the wrong side of London... but then again Abbey are in a league of their own! :rotfl:

The switch went through fine, they matched my overdraft @ 0% and I received my £100 no problem. As Cloudane mentioned their account info sometimes takes some time to be updated and their faster payment limit is a bit low (think about £250 I was told) but apart from that the account has worked fine. My pay is paid into this account every month and as I transfer it the same day, my statement sometimes looks like I am over my overdraft limit as the debits go through before the credits but I've not been charged this for this as they accept that the money is there. So pretty much as long as you have an available balance you are alright and with that in mind I am in credit once a month (on payday) and then for the rest of the money I am £10 off my overdraft limit! This works for me and hope helps people who are still considering this account :T

flower81

Is the switching such a good idea? After thinking it was a good thing to do since I am with Barclays and they charge an account fee, i read some of the bumf that A&L say please read... it says something like they will charge about £2.00 on every withdrawal not made at an A&L cash withdrawal machine. I personally haven't seen that many A&L machines and would probably withdraw more cash over a year than would be beneficial to take this on. I am I reading it right or just being a bit silly?:rolleyes:

Newbie on here!!

Gambit

I didnt know there was a withdrawl charge as I normally just transfer money out of A&L. That's a bit mean. Remember you could always just transfer your pay into another account every month and withdraw it from that other current account. A bit of a hassle I know but would be worth it for the 0% overdraft offer. Or you would only need to do this for 3 months if you just want the £100. Just an idea...

TheMoneySpider

flower81 wrote: »

i read some of the bumf that A&L say please read... it says something like they will charge about £2.00 on every withdrawal not made at an A&L cash withdrawal machine. I personally haven't seen that many A&L machines and would probably withdraw more cash over a year than would be beneficial to take this on. I am I reading it right or just being a bit silly?:rolleyes:

Newbie on here!!

I'm with A&L and I use whatever machine I come across, no £2 charges incurred.

If anyone does know anything about this I'd like to know. Possibly the bunf you refer to is talking about those ropey looking temporary private cash-machines you see in the corner of off licenses etc etc

I know that no-one uses a machine that charges by choice but if you do have an account where you get charged perhaps consider buying a newspaper or something and getting cashback....I think I'm right in saying they can't charge you for that.

TheMoneySpider

A&L seem to pay really good interest but their branches are few and far between and even in the branch you are just directed to use the telephone banking system.

That might well change once they all turn into Santander though.

What sort of rate should I be looking for on a decent high interest type account? Best I've found at the moment is 3.11% (that's Secure Trust Bank's 60 days notice account). Seen a few others around the high 2s but not a lot over 3%. Anyone got any recomendations?

andyrules

TheMoneySpider wrote: »

I'm with A&L and I use whatever machine I come across, no £2 charges incurred.

If anyone does know anything about this I'd like to know. Possibly the bunf you refer to is talking about those ropey looking temporary private cash-machines you see in the corner of off licenses etc etc

I know that no-one uses a machine that charges by choice but if you do have an account where you get charged perhaps consider buying a newspaper or something and getting cashback....I think I'm right in saying they can't charge you for that.

I don't get charged either - not so far anyway! I never use those dodgy looking cash machines though, however, I realise they are generally sited in areas of no alternative choice! Be interested to know where the source of that info was? If they are thinking of charging - then i'm off!

TheMoneySpider

andyrules wrote: »

I don't get charged either - not so far anyway! I never use those dodgy looking cash machines though, however, I realise they are generally sited in areas of no alternative choice! Be interested to know where the source of that info was? If they are thinking of charging - then i'm off!

Does anyone actually get charged nowadays unless it's one of those private machines or you are in a foreign country?

flyingscotno1

TheMoneySpider wrote: »

A&L seem to pay really good interest but their branches are few and far between and even in the branch you are just directed to use the telephone banking system.

That might well change once they all turn into Santander though.

What sort of rate should I be looking for on a decent high interest type account? Best I've found at the moment is 3.11% (that's Secure Trust Bank's 60 days notice account). Seen a few others around the high 2s but not a lot over 3%. Anyone got any recomendations?

Savings accounts have plummeted in the last few months. I used to be getting 5-6% on a 30 day notice account now down to a scandalous 0.6%. I've soon sorted that! In the end anything in 2-3% range is good at the moment- ones that stay that way without a bonus are useful. If you can save a fixed amount regularly or drip feed a lump sum in, Barclays 6% is the best around.

Cloudane

Not been charged any withdrawal fees here.

If they're planning on it, the day they introduce them is the day I switch back to HSBC or FD! Surely they'd be shooting their own foot through lost customers.