Have some banks lost the ability to let us manage our money?

Pmatt

Virgin Money acquired Northern Rock, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank but it manages them independently. Their credit card can now only be managed using an app, they have withdrawn their website. Their original savings account however does not have an app and can only be managed online. Their current account, based in Newcastle along with an associated savings account is not linked to their savings accounts with Clydesdale bank in Glasgow. This means I have three different access routes using three different account details and passwords. They seem to have no interest in resolving this.
HSBC on the other hand likes to allow its IT department to choose how to manage their affairs independent of us. The have recently revamped their web and app so that you can not set up a Standing Order payment to a known commercial account and I have been told that I must use the telephone banking option to perform this basic banking transaction. At the same time there are numerous users finding that the app will not work with their latest OS. Does the IT department feel we all need to be technically challenged occasionally to keep us on our toes? There seem to be little other reason for their stupidity.
HSBC have also withdrawn the option to send a secure message from their website so you have to use the robotic chat function that seems not to comprehend anything or wait for an advisor who eventually tells you to phone customer support.
Why do banks do this?
Please leave any logical suggestions in reply.

Nebulous2

It seems to be very difficult to move on from and amalgamate legacy systems. Then again you could start from scratch, a la TSB, but that doesn’t appear to work any better. 

Just to correct your above information though, it was Clydesdale that took over Virgin, not the other way round. 

RG2015

Nebulous2 said:

It seems to be very difficult to move on from and amalgamate legacy systems. Then again you could start from scratch, a la TSB, but that doesn’t appear to work any better. 

Just to correct your above information though, it was Clydesdale that took over Virgin, not the other way round. 

The legacy system problem does explain why VM banking, savings and credit card have three different platforms. It is doubly confusing that some VM savings accounts are on the current account banking platform.

 If I understand correctly, Clydesdale Bank plc did indeed take over Virgin Money.

However, its holding company CYBG plc (Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group) was renamed as Virgin Money plc.

Hence it is understandable to think that Virgin took over Clydesdale.

masonic

I do wish current account best buy tables rated banks on things like different channels of communication phone/secure messaging/live chat, features like in-app cheque deposits, card freezes and other modern advances so that people can weigh these up in advance. At the moment, all you can do is experience a range of different current accounts, all of which have strengths and weaknesses, and use them accordingly.

RG2015

masonic said:

I do wish current account best buy tables rated banks on things like different channels of communication phone/secure messaging/live chat, features like in-app cheque deposits, card freezes and other modern advances so that people can weigh these up in advance. At the moment, all you can do is experience a range of different current accounts, all of which have strengths and weaknesses, and use them accordingly.

You have a good point, but a lot of these features/characteristics are good for some and not for others. I have had recent experience of 10 current accounts and 10 savings accounts and their IT platforms are quite different. The same applies to online and app offerings.

My view is to try them and see. There is also the familiarity factor and my personal favourite remains my bank of 40 years, NatWest.

The other option is to use a money saving website to canvass the views of others.

I seem to recall a thread somewhere giving the positive and negative features (albeit subjective) of several banks.

masonic

RG2015 said:

masonic said:

I do wish current account best buy tables rated banks on things like different channels of communication phone/secure messaging/live chat, features like in-app cheque deposits, card freezes and other modern advances so that people can weigh these up in advance. At the moment, all you can do is experience a range of different current accounts, all of which have strengths and weaknesses, and use them accordingly.

You have a good point, but a lot of these features/characteristics are good for some and not for others. I have had recent experience of 10 current accounts and 10 savings accounts and their IT platforms are quite different. The same applies to online and app offerings.

My view is to try them and see. There is also the familiarity factor and my personal favourite remains my bank of 40 years, NatWest.

The other option is to use a money saving website to canvass the views of others.

I seem to recall a thread somewhere giving the positive and negative features (albeit subjective) of several banks.

This is sort of my point. Have a table that lists what can/can't be done so that customers can quickly look up the aspects that are relevant to them and see which accounts meet their needs. If an account lacks a feature that is absolutely needed then a customer can quickly narrow their search. It's also good to try, and many banks are kind enough to reward us for our evaluation efforts, but it's also good to know what to expect before taking the plunge.

I've picked up bits and pieces of knowledge about various banks' offerings here (and also shared what I know), but I wasn't aware of anyone pulling all of this information together. That would be a really useful resource if kept up to date.

ItsComingRome

Pmatt said:

Virgin Money acquired Northern Rock, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank but it manages them independently. Their credit card can now only be managed using an app, they have withdrawn their website. Their original savings account however does not have an app and can only be managed online. Their current account, based in Newcastle along with an associated savings account is not linked to their savings accounts with Clydesdale bank in Glasgow. This means I have three different access routes using three different account details and passwords. They seem to have no interest in resolving this.
HSBC on the other hand likes to allow its IT department to choose how to manage their affairs independent of us. The have recently revamped their web and app so that you can not set up a Standing Order payment to a known commercial account and I have been told that I must use the telephone banking option to perform this basic banking transaction. At the same time there are numerous users finding that the app will not work with their latest OS. Does the IT department feel we all need to be technically challenged occasionally to keep us on our toes? There seem to be little other reason for their stupidity.
HSBC have also withdrawn the option to send a secure message from their website so you have to use the robotic chat function that seems not to comprehend anything or wait for an advisor who eventually tells you to phone customer support.
Why do banks do this?
Please leave any logical suggestions in reply.

The logical suggestion is to find a bank that operates exactly the way you want them to.  If none do this you could start your own bank or take over an existing one and require them to change their systems.

kaMelo

masonic said:

I do wish current account best buy tables rated banks on things like different channels of communication phone/secure messaging/live chat, features like in-app cheque deposits, card freezes and other modern advances so that people can weigh these up in advance. At the moment, all you can do is experience a range of different current accounts, all of which have strengths and weaknesses, and use them accordingly.

The best you could do is to compare whether banks have or have not got a feature, even then it's impossible to allocate a weighting to determine a "best buy" as everyone has different wants or needs and will give a particular feature more or less weighting depending upon their wants or needs.

Even then it's not that straightforward. Take cheque deposits, many have the feature but the specifics are vastly different, per cheque limit, daily limit, number of cheques per day, etc.

I get your point but don't think it could ever be a simple as rating banks in a "Best Buy" table.  

RG2015

When we moved house a little while back, our estate agent asked us to list what attributes we required (and what things we didn't want). We compiled a list of 12 requirements and we just about got them all. Pretty soon however, we found out some annoying things we could not have anticipated or even known to ask about.

There is no substitute for experience, but if someone lists their requirements here, there will be numerous responses about which banks offers these attributes. The user can then enter a dialogue with others to build up a picture of what is available, what is good and what bugbears they have.

masonic

kaMelo said:

masonic said:

I do wish current account best buy tables rated banks on things like different channels of communication phone/secure messaging/live chat, features like in-app cheque deposits, card freezes and other modern advances so that people can weigh these up in advance. At the moment, all you can do is experience a range of different current accounts, all of which have strengths and weaknesses, and use them accordingly.

The best you could do is to compare whether banks have or have not got a feature, even then it's impossible to allocate a weighting to determine a "best buy" as everyone has different wants or needs and will give a particular feature more or less weighting depending upon their wants or needs.

Even then it's not that straightforward. Take cheque deposits, many have the feature but the specifics are vastly different, per cheque limit, daily limit, number of cheques per day, etc.

I get your point but don't think it could ever be a simple as rating banks in a "Best Buy" table.  

Perhaps I have confused people by mentioning best buy tables. What I meant was a feature comparison table without any weightings, just facts. So have the accounts being compared in columns (Account 1, Account 2, Account 3 etc) and then each row would have a specific feature. For example:

"Mobile cheque deposit"... Account 1: "No"; Account 2: "Up to £100/day"; Account 3: "Up to 3 totalling £200/day"

"Live chat"... Account 1: Mon-Fri 9-5; Account 2: No; Account 3: Yes, Unspecified availability

"Faster Payments"... Account 1: Branch, Phone, Online £10,000; Account 2: Phone, Online £50,000; Account 3: Online £10,000, Phone £100,000

Hopefully that paints a picture.

colsten

masonic said:

kaMelo said:

masonic said:

I do wish current account best buy tables rated banks on things like different channels of communication phone/secure messaging/live chat, features like in-app cheque deposits, card freezes and other modern advances so that people can weigh these up in advance. At the moment, all you can do is experience a range of different current accounts, all of which have strengths and weaknesses, and use them accordingly.

The best you could do is to compare whether banks have or have not got a feature, even then it's impossible to allocate a weighting to determine a "best buy" as everyone has different wants or needs and will give a particular feature more or less weighting depending upon their wants or needs.

Even then it's not that straightforward. Take cheque deposits, many have the feature but the specifics are vastly different, per cheque limit, daily limit, number of cheques per day, etc.

I get your point but don't think it could ever be a simple as rating banks in a "Best Buy" table.  

Perhaps I have confused people by mentioning best buy tables. What I meant was a feature comparison table without any weightings, just facts. So have the accounts being compared in columns (Account 1, Account 2, Account 3 etc) and then each row would have a specific feature. For example:

"Mobile cheque deposit"... Account 1: "No"; Account 2: "Up to £100/day"; Account 3: "Up to 3 totalling £200/day"

"Live chat"... Account 1: Mon-Fri 9-5; Account 2: No; Account 3: Yes, Unspecified availability

"Faster Payments"... Account 1: Branch, Phone, Online £10,000; Account 2: Phone, Online £50,000; Account 3: Online £10,000, Phone £100,000

Hopefully that paints a picture.

moneyfacts.co.uk provides pretty comprehensive "at a glance" info for all current accounts. Albeit not in table form like you described. I suppose there is a limit to which comparators can be shown on a single page / view before the whole thing becomes unwieldy.