Virgin Money 10.38% regular monthly saver

Ch1ll1Phlakes

masonic said:

subjecttocontract said:

But wasn't the reverse takeover by Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank some years ago ? Surely they have had plenty of time to sort out the mess but have chosen not to on purpose knowing their customers will continue to suffer ? What's their excuse......I bet they have one ?

They've chosen not to. It won't be because of a conscious effort to make their customers suffer. Making customers suffer tends to drive them away, leading to loss of revenue, loss of shareholder value, and ultimately failure of their company. No business owner or investor would want that. And they wouldn't want staff below them destroying the company from within.

The reason will be a combination of failure to recognise the strategic benefits, lack of appetite to find the money to invest in a new platform in the short term, unwillingness of relevant individuals to put their neck on the line, and lack of clarity over the future of the business.

It's been a rocky road throughout, starting with CYBG being dumped by National Australia Bank in 2016 at a loss of £2bn plus another £1.7bn set aside to cover misselling claims. Post floatation, CYBG went through a period of cost saving measures including branch closures, then perversely purchased VM for £1.7bn in 2018. Customers were migrated into the VM brand between 2019-2021, alongside mass redundancies, Covid, and from there things were clearly not rosy, hence just a couple of years later Nationwide is being courted as a potential buyer. Is it any wonder that through that mayhem there was a lack of strategic action?

Just to add to this. Before the reverse takeover Virgin Money had acquired Northern Rock (yes that one) in 2012, including the nasty bits that were separated from the reasonable bits after it's demise. So the merged Virgin Money today has bits of Northern Rock, the old Virgin Money, Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank. Based on the fact Nationwide has set aside 6 years to sort it out, I'm guessing that most of those parts were never fully sorted out. Hopefully, based on Nationwide's record, this should be the end of all the messy bits.

bagand96

Ch1ll1Phlakes said:

Hopefully, based on Nationwide's record, this should be the end of all the messy bits.

Long time Nationwide customer, main bank account been with them 20 years or more.  People always seem to think of them as old fashioned (maybe the building society image) but I've never had issues and found their digital services more than adequate.  In the last 18 months I've taken products with Virgin Money and Barclays and that has been an absolute eye opener, made me appreciate Nationwide!

Back to Virgin I filled in the web form at the start of the week and my Saver was closed yesterday with the residual interest in my Virgin current account.  Clunky maybe but no drama.  They're loosing my ISA funds though as to stay with them I'd have to register as a new customer on the "other" platform.  May as well register as a new customer elsewhere for a marginally better rate.

Reckless_Saving

Nationwide have a long integration road ahead of them, this month Virgin Money current account holders originating from Northern Rock have started being notified that in a few months their current accounts will be closed sighting technology as the reason for closure.  Customers are left to sort out another current account for themselves which isn't great for keeping a customer or treating a customer fairly, any accounts left open will have the money transfered to a Virgin Savings account.  

Not great for the elderly, I'll be getting heavily involved sorting this out for my parents, last year our local branch closed, was a challenge getting them used to banking online, need to now delve into whats coming in/out, ensure it's not missed on a new current account.

ThePirates

I'm a 20+ year Nationwide Current Account customer too, I use them for my main account but I do think they are a little behind the times with their app and notifications. Hopefully merging in Virgin will also introduce some new features too?

masonic

Reckless_Saving said:

Nationwide have a long integration road ahead of them, this month Virgin Money current account holders originating from Northern Rock have started being notified that in a few months their current accounts will be closed sighting technology as the reason for closure.  Customers are left to sort out another current account for themselves which isn't great for keeping a customer or treating a customer fairly, any accounts left open will have the money transfered to a Virgin Savings account.  

Not great for the elderly, I'll be getting heavily involved sorting this out for my parents, last year our local branch closed, was a challenge getting them used to banking online, need to now delve into whats coming in/out, ensure it's not missed on a new current account.

That is quite poor. You would have thought they'd provide a simple migration to a Nationwide current account for those who wanted it.

gt94sss2

Reckless_Saving said:

Nationwide have a long integration road ahead of them, this month Virgin Money current account holders originating from Northern Rock have started being notified that in a few months their current accounts will be closed sighting technology as the reason for closure.  Customers are left to sort out another current account for themselves which isn't great for keeping a customer or treating a customer fairly, any accounts left open will have the money transfered to a Virgin Savings account.  

Not great for the elderly, I'll be getting heavily involved sorting this out for my parents, last year our local branch closed, was a challenge getting them used to banking online, need to now delve into whats coming in/out, ensure it's not missed on a new current account.

I presume they can CASS to someone else including Nationwide?

Virgin Money closed so many branches in the past few years, they no longer have any south of Northampton which means huge parts of the country are not covered..

Eco_Miser

masonic said:

Reckless_Saving said:

Nationwide have a long integration road ahead of them, this month Virgin Money current account holders originating from Northern Rock have started being notified that in a few months their current accounts will be closed sighting technology as the reason for closure.  Customers are left to sort out another current account for themselves which isn't great for keeping a customer or treating a customer fairly, any accounts left open will have the money transfered to a Virgin Savings account.  

Not great for the elderly, I'll be getting heavily involved sorting this out for my parents, last year our local branch closed, was a challenge getting them used to banking online, need to now delve into whats coming in/out, ensure it's not missed on a new current account.

That is quite poor. You would have thought they'd provide a simple migration to a Nationwide current account for those who wanted it.

Actually, I'd have thought they would provide a simple migration to a (Clydesdale) Virgin Money current account.