nationwide trying ditch portman accounts

plasisaf

HI

I saved with both Lambeth and Portman Building societies, no problems both nice and efficient. Lambeth merged with Portman (I got a bonus for that which as nice) then Portman merged with Nationwide so I got a second bonus and all my accounts wound up with Nationwide, including my original Lambeth Building Society instant saver account..:EasterBun

On trying to put money into one of my accounts Nationwide told me that I must take in ID if I wanted to continue to save so that my Portman savings books could be updated to Nationwide ones.

So I went off and got ID and returned to the Nationwide only to be told that only a few branches of Nationwide had the technology to update the savings books. I went to one of these branches with ID and they then updated all my books. I asked them if this meant I could go into any branch from now on to save and they said yes.

Recently I went in to deposit money. I was told that I would have to wait as the only person on the counter wasn't authorised to deal with ex Portman accounts. I said that I now had a Nationwide account but was told that this didn't mean I could deposit money at any branch and with any building society clerk. it has to be one with a special code at a special branch.

While queuing I had seen a poster called 'putting the customer first'. This urged people to fill out a leaflet if they experienced problems. I asked for a leaflet. Someone eventually came out and unlocked a door to another office and returned with the wrong form. After futily insisting that it ws the corect one they then said they didn't actually have any of the correct ones 'as the box had fallen off the wall'.

So I asked for a leaflet to be sent to me.

It seems to me that Nationwide are discriminating against ex Portman customers by making it difficult for them to save. I suspect that the motive is that Nationwide offer very low rates for instant saver accounts and don't want to honour the Portman instant saver account (as these pay a higher rate of interest). Nationwide are therefore deliberately making thing as difficult as possible for ex Portman (and Lambeth Building Society) customers.

IvanOpinion

I think you will see the Portman accounts being phased out. at the minute the nationwide eSaver offers 5.8% interest which is pretty much instant access (although it has to be serviced through a Flexaccount (which is a pain in the butt, however easy enough to do online). Would it not be worthwhile investigating the Nationwide options?

Ivan

Milarky

IvanOpinion wrote: »

I think you will see the Portman accounts being phased out. at the minute the nationwide eSaver offers 5.8% interest which is pretty much instant access (although it has to be serviced through a Flexaccount (which is a pain in the butt, however easy enough to do online). Would it not be worthwhile investigating the Nationwide options?

Ivan

It is now possible to get money out of your Nationwide e savings account via 'telephone self service' without going on the internet but calls may not be 'free' (01793 758 666)

Cazzkins

The problem here is the computer software. Nationwide Branches, where there are ex-Portman staff working, are running part of the Portman system alongside the Nationwide system and, as yet, the 2 systems don't 'talk' to each other. Transactions on ex-Portman accounts are made on the 'old' system and it should be possible to make any transactions (Portman or Nationwide) at these branches. If there are no ex-Portman staff because there wasn't a Portman Branch previously in the vicinity, then the Nationwide Branch is unlikely to have staff that can operate the Portman system, hence many transactions may have to be sent to Head Office for completion. It's possible that any Lambeth, Staffordshire or previous society accounts which Nationwide has 'inherited' with the merger of Portman may also have to go to Head Office to be processed as they may not have been updated for so long that neither computer system can recognize the account number. There is no desire to penalise ex-Portman customers but since they were members of a smaller, regional Society and Nationwide literally is 'nationwide' the Portman knowledge required is unfortunately insufficiently spread around the country. If you compare current interest rates, you might note that if you have less than £250.00 in a Portman Instant Access account, you would get a higher rate of interest in a Nationwide Cashbuilder account! Next year, ex-Portman accounts should be fully integrated into the Nationwide computer system which will improve service for customers. Patience is a virtue in this case!

MattB_4

plasisaf wrote: »

It seems to me that Nationwide are discriminating against ex Portman customers by making it difficult for them to save. I suspect that the motive is that Nationwide offer very low rates for instant saver accounts and don't want to honour the Portman instant saver account (as these pay a higher rate of interest). Nationwide are therefore deliberately making thing as difficult as possible for ex Portman (and Lambeth Building Society) customers.

Aaah if only you knew quite how far off the mark you were! Working in Nationwide Savings if we could give branch staff all the knowledge they needed and make the technology work how we would like it would be a dream come true! Mind you I still don't expect that would keep all the former-Portman cash in there

The Portman accounts (as mentioned in the merger booklet I think) will be migrated into the best fit Nationwide account later on (not sure if the 'when' it public information at the mo).