“Branch only” savings accounts

Darnhall123

I’ve been with Kent Reliance for a few years hold a 12month fixed rate ISA that is due to mature in December. 

I’ve had a few different products with them and they’ve always been good to deal with. 

Every now and again they introduce a limited edition rate that’s competitive and worth consideration.  

They currently have a 5.10% 12 month fix, where you can deposit £500 a month.
Definitely decent and worth looking into.
Then I spotted that it’s “in branch only”. 

Now bearing in mind they’re based in the a r s e end of nowhere and only have a handful of branches in the same geographical location, it’s  not really very customer focussed is it?! (I’m in Cheshire). 

Is this kind of “offer” the norm with other building societies?!

nologo

Kent reliance do online as well, but logging in is a disaster, password/secret code only works about 70% of the time, went to local branch they won't let me withdraw, even with passport,  photo driving licence, utility bill, because it's "online account”, I ended up closing it because I can't access my money.

eskbanker

Darnhall123 said:

Is this kind of “offer” the norm with other building societies?!

Not necessarily the norm, but far from unheard of - building societies were primarily set up to serve local communities and it's only really in the internet age that they've been in a position to offer nationally-available products, but they're not under any obligation to, so can still choose to go with local ones sometimes, either by making them branch-only or restricting availability based on postcode.

flaneurs_lobster

Darnhall123 said:

Now bearing in mind they’re based in the a r s e end of nowhere and only have a handful of branches in the same geographical location, it’s  not really very customer focussed is it?! (I’m in Cheshire). 

Is this kind of “offer” the norm with other building societies?!

Well it's very customer-focused if you happen to live within 10 miles of Maidstone.

There's a fair few of the locally-based BSs (and at least 1  bank) that only offer products to locals and a larger set of institutions offering branch-only products.

Darnhall123

nologo said:

Kent reliance do online as well, but logging in is a disaster, password/secret code only works about 70% of the time, went to local branch they won't let me withdraw, even with passport,  photo driving licence, utility bill, because it's "online account”, I ended up closing it because I can't access my money.

In fairness, I’ve never had any issues with them either on the telephone or online banking. Their online security measures are pretty weak, but other than that ok. It just peed me off to see that you have to physically go into a branch to take advantage of this deal. Wouldn’t be so bad if they had branches in other areas, but they’re all way down south and not accessible by most. 

Darnhall123

flaneurs_lobster said:

Darnhall123 said:

Now bearing in mind they’re based in the a r s e end of nowhere and only have a handful of branches in the same geographical location, it’s  not really very customer focussed is it?! (I’m in Cheshire). 

Is this kind of “offer” the norm with other building societies?!

Well it's very customer-focused if you happen to live within 10 miles of Maidstone.

There's a fair few of the locally-based BSs (and at least 1  bank) that only offer products to locals and a larger set of institutions offering branch-only products.

Fair enough. 

I just think that if you’re an existing customer with other products, you should be offered these same special deals when they’re launched. 

Every other product is nationwide, so doesn’t seem fair that they pick and choose who they offer good deals to. 

35har1old

Darnhall123 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Darnhall123 said:

Now bearing in mind they’re based in the a r s e end of nowhere and only have a handful of branches in the same geographical location, it’s  not really very customer focussed is it?! (I’m in Cheshire). 

Is this kind of “offer” the norm with other building societies?!

Well it's very customer-focused if you happen to live within 10 miles of Maidstone.

There's a fair few of the locally-based BSs (and at least 1  bank) that only offer products to locals and a larger set of institutions offering branch-only products.

Fair enough. 

I just think that if you’re an existing customer with other products, you should be offered these same special deals when they’re launched. 

Every other product is nationwide, so doesn’t seem fair that they pick and choose who they offer good deals to. 

The regular saver has been on the go for many years and it has always been branch only
Its not a fix rate
That rate has been on since Feb 24

IanManc

Darnhall123 said:

 

Is this kind of “offer” the norm with other building societies?!

By saying "other building societies" it looks like you think that Kent Reliance is a building society.

It isn't. It is a bank. KRBS stands for Kent Reliance Banking Services.

surreysaver

There's plenty of building societies oop north that only offer decent accounts to locals which people in Kent cannot access 

clairec666

eskbanker said:

Darnhall123 said:

Is this kind of “offer” the norm with other building societies?!

Not necessarily the norm, but far from unheard of - building societies were primarily set up to serve local communities and it's only really in the internet age that they've been in a position to offer nationally-available products, but they're not under any obligation to, so can still choose to go with local ones sometimes, either by making them branch-only or restricting availability based on postcode.

And to be fair to Kent Reliance, it's made fairly clear on their savings products page which accounts are branch only and which ones are available online.

Can't be sure of their reasons for making some accounts branch-only, but they're well within their rights to do so.