Switching to Abbey Current Account?

pjbltd

Hi guys

I wanted to find out if anyone has had any experience with using Abbey's transferring service:

http://www.abbey.com/csgs/Satellite?c=GSProducto&cid=1127562791538&pagename=Abbey/GSProducto/GS_InfProducto

It looks great that they'll do all the work but after reading posts about their service on this forum, I am now quite scared to in case they mess it up.

Should I stay clear of them?

YorkshireBoy

Rule 1: Never, ever, use a switching service*.
Rule 2: If in doubt, refer to rule 1.

Not sure why you're considering moving to Abbey, but if you're really set on them you might want to wait until they've ironed out their 'problems' (as reported on these boards).


* Unless you're simply exploiting a loophole by switching a couple of dummy SO's.

daveyjp

We switched from Yorkshrie Bank to Abbey a few years ago (before Santander issues) and it went very smoothly. Used Abbey since and the only problem was the new debit card issue.

Main issue when transferring accounts is to keep both open for 3-6 months so you can check all has gone smoothly. Be careful too of annual debits from cards such as insurances, they can easily be forgotten.

stuartm100

My Mum switched from Lloyds to Abbey last year and it all went really well.

When she was filling in all the forms in branch she said that she would close the Lloyds account herself, she kept some money in the old account until everything had been transferred so nothing went wrong....she then went from earning 0.1% with lloyds to over 6% with Abbey :T

exel1966

I 'switched' to ShAbbey back in July to take advantage of the 8% Current account (which i basically use as a £2500 savings account) and to give me access to a 10% Regular Savings account.

The transfer was smooth, took approx four weeks, but thats becauseI did a very limited switch by just switching 2 non-important direct debits and leaving my other account open. I wouldn't dream of letting ShAbbey do a 'full' switch as they really are the most incompetent financial organisation I've ever come across. With them for 5 months, four official complaints (so far), though I have received 4 x £30 in compensation, but would rather have been without the hassles.
There are literally dozens of threads on this forum relating to various problems ShAbbey customers have faced since their tie-up with Santander and the new computer systems. The problems are still ongoing as BBC's Watchdog confirmed just 2 weeks ago.
If you plan to use this as your main account I'd think again.

Spark

Not sure why you're considering moving to Abbey, but if you're really set on them you might want to wait until they've ironed out their 'problems' (as reported on these boards).

I would think twice before switching to Abbey right now. Hopefully they will sort out their mess, but how long they will take is anyone's guess.

pjbltd

Thanks everyone for all the replies.

I thought the switch would be a good idea as I am currently a HSBC customer and therefore by switching I would be able to take advantage of Abbey's better rates. Like this:

Current HSBC situation:

Current Account: Interest Rate Negligible
Online Saver Offer: 6.25% AER (lose month's interest if make a withdrawl )

New Abbey situation:

Current Account: 8% AER on £2500 for 12 Months
Fixed Rate Monthly Saver: 7.25% AER for 12 Months
Use there Sweep facility for any left over into a eSaver Direct: 6.4% AER

Reasons not to Switch!

I've been a customer at HSBC for many years, I like the people in my branch, I have my internet banking codes memorised (which is very handy) and I have not had any problems and all in all enjoyed a good service (touch wood). So I wouldn't think about switching if the rates weren't just so uncompetitive!

exel1966 wrote: »

four official complaints (so far)

It sounds like I wouldn’t get as good service with Abbey, Exel1966 could you explain more about what happened between you and Abbey?
If there have been so many problems with Abbey, why didn’t Martin pick up on these in his article?

Cheers, Pjbltd

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

gt94sss2

pjbltd wrote: »

I thought the switch would be a good idea as I am currently a HSBC customer and therefore by switching I would be able to take advantage of Abbey's better rates. Like this:

Current HSBC situation:

Current Account: Interest Rate Negligible
Online Saver Offer: 6.25% AER (lose month's interest if make a withdrawl )

New Abbey situation:

Current Account: 8% AER on £2500 for 12 Months
Fixed Rate Monthly Saver: 7.25% AER for 12 Months
Use there Sweep facility for any left over into a eSaver Direct: 6.4% AER

As others have said, I woudn't be tempted to join Abbey atm due to their various issues.. - Abbey's new Spanish owners are in the process of moving Abbey's old IT systems to their own systems.. and well the process is not going as well as it could.

For what its worth:

HSBC offer a Fixed rate Regular Saver at 8% for 12 months so better than Abbey and the Online Saver account you mention is no longer available for new customers - its been replaced with an 'Online Bonus Saver' which pays 6% if you don't make a withdrawal in a month or 3% if you do.

They also have a Flexible Saver account for short term savings - the interest rate for this isn't great but if you open an account now you get an extra 1.25% for a year..

Otherwise, have you considered an account with First Direct instead? Its owned by HSBC so you can still use your local branch and they offer their customers a 'Everyday e-Saver Account' where you can sweep your savings and that pays 5.5%

Regards
Sunil

Spark

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=515980
pjbltd, that's one thing that had gone wrong.
Now I have one credit card with them, they couldn't lower my credit limit because the new system wouldn't let them to, and now I can't log onto my credit card online account, and I saw in another thread that they have sent the statements late and some have incurred a late payment fee.
They take twice as long to process anything, and the way the customer service staff is dealing with you leave a lot to be desired. Until those little glitches are resolved, I wouldn't recommend them.
They used to be very good before Santander, now it's a shamble.

notungrateful

I've finally got some documents through for opening the Abbey Current Account (8%) [sidenote: despite the initial online application form & existing account, they still spelt my name wrong]! In order to get the 8% on balances up to £2500 I have to use their switching service (otherwise it's only up to £1000).

Fine, not a problem as I was going to close my other account anyway and it's only got one DD.

My worry is, in order to complete the transfer forms it asks for the Account Number (that's for the New Account). How am I supposed to know what this is if I'm in the process of applying?!
I phoned customer services (which in itself was a lengthy ordeal ) to be told just leave it blank.
Is that really wise? The forms basically contain statements to my old bank along the lines of "Please close my account and transfer fund to the following account: Sort Code, Account Number, Payee, Signed..."
I've signed it and put my name down as the Payee but leaving the Account number blank seems like a dumb thing to do, especially if I have to then put it in the post.

Anyone else found an Abbey Acceptable way around this? (I don't want to get dumped with the £1000 limit nor identity fraud).

PBA

notungrateful wrote: »

Anyone else found an Abbey Acceptable way around this? (I don't want to get dumped with the £1000 limit nor identity fraud).

The account number is blank because the account isn't opened yet. The only way round this would be to apply in a branch, as the account gets opened there and then, so the advisor would be able to fill it in in front of you.