Current Account Discussion Board

reddog_4

Refering to note from PF, "how can we deal with the big banks."
My son also had an account with Nat West. He had paid into it for sometime and had accumulated a sum ready for university. When he went in to ask for a cheque account they told him it would cost £10 a month , neverthe less being young and naive he continued to use the account with just his cashcard.
There was no branch in the city when he started his studies, home early November he went in to close the account. The lady told him they would send a cheque to hie uni. address. HOWEVER the bank failed to send him the cheque and it was a pain trying to sort out why they had somehow lost the details. He eventually got the money (approx £1800) about 7 weeks later.
Why can't they be charged in the same way as if had been the other way around ?
So PF I estimate, judging by the way they dealt with you, they must owe my son at least 7 x £30 don't you ? So far they haven't even replied to our letter.

jimbo1_2

Switched from Halifax to Lloyds 12 months ago basically because Halifax had closed local branch. Used the very helpful switching service only one error that was a Halifax loan Direct Debit(a bit dubious), plus Halfax insisted on sending a bankers draft to me for the remaining balance of our account! Losing days of interest.
Overall Lloyds' customer service have been excellent, and their internet banking is easy to use (once you get passed the log in security). I hope they keep the interest rate on their current account going and not knock it down when they have their quota of new account holders.

M_Thomson

Smile are great apart from a small hiccup I have had with them this month, with an error they made on my credit card statement, I have always had fantastic service from them.

realaledrinker

The thing about smile is that they represent a niche that their parent, the Co-operative Bank, can exploit. They're too small to take on the Big 4 on the high street, but on the internet they have the chance to hit them where it hurts. My own experience has been excellent. Rates are not quite market leading but the customer service is worth a few quid a year of anyone's money.

System

Following Martin's advice have just applied for Lloyds Current Plus Account. If you apply through link in Martin's email you also get £30 added to account when first deposit goes in!! Goodbye to NatWest and 0.1%

dealseeker

My bank has making a mistake for years! I have been getting 5% fixed interest and my current account has all usual facilities cheque book etc. and have been for years (before internet banking came along).

Only got the rate confirmed when I got online banking with the account and I could view the rate (didn't want to ask.) Only issue is I get charged 10p for direct debits 10p but this is more than made up for by this interest rate!

May have been set up as student account years ago but there is nothing on statement to indicate this. I'm not inclined to point out the error of their ways.....

You win some, you lose some!

travlinpat

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to open a current account with several of the banks who are giving £25 or £30 . Then could I set up a standing order to have the minimum amount of £500 transferred through each of these accounts .This would allow me to get the cash from each of the banks but not have to bother changing my Salary and normal monthly debits in my present bank.
If this is so are there any minimum term that I have to keep the accounts before closing them ?
Anybody see any problems with that ?

Thanks

bridiej

HSBC are good, never have any problems getting through on the phone and the internet banking is very straightforward.

Only problem I have with them is everytime I go into the branch to pay in cheques etc they always ask totally irrelevant questions like "who's your mortage with?"

I find it INFURIATING!!!! >:(

System

Today I had the unfortunate necessity of calling up Barclays to stop a cheque lost in the post. I went through the usual security questions, mothers maiden name, phone no., dob... but then the number of direct debits on the acc, the amount they are for... managed to answer correctly so far...but... then they wanted to know what the last transation on the account was (date, who to, and amount) couldn't answer that!!!!!

I have to ask is that really necessary when I have answered everything else. I pity those who have more direct debits than me speeling those off.

Because I only got 2 out of 3 they are sending me more PIN nos to use the phone banking system!!! ( Luckily I can seem to remember PINs more easily than transactions that are constantly changing!

System

I bank with lloyds and have done for years.
I put in 27K per annum.
My o/draft of 2K is costing me too much.
I wont ask for a reduction to 0%.
I'll take the advice of a contributer to this dicussion.
A&L here I come.