Complicated current account decision to make - advice welcome

vix2000

We are a family consisting of
myself, 51, home owner with excellent credit history - halifax, Nwide, Yorks bank currents
dd 1, single parent on income support - halifax and nwide basics
dd2, student, - Halifax hbos coop student accts alliance & leic current
dd3 - college - halifax nwide under 18 accts
ex - dd3's dad - halifax current and ccash, all & leic current

We all regularly support each other financially and primarily need a bank/bs with an efficient online facility with immediate transfers for emergencies. We have this with the halifax at the mo, but have been treated shodily by them over the last few years since making money has been their prime concern and stuff the customers. I have been with them 35 years, my daughters since birth and my ex for many years and the decision has been made to show our disgust with our feet.

The obvious choice would be alliance & leicester, but on researching it their internet banking is poor, no instant transfers between accounts and online account information not up to date. All this is not acceptable as we all rely on internet banking to keep our finances in order so need up to date info. Secondly nationwide, but dd3's dad can't get an acct there and he sends her funds online. Hate first direct and rbs.

Sorry its so complicated but I'm now going round in circles trying to sort this out and the more I read the more confused I get. I've got a mega headache!!!!!!! Please help.

Meltdown_2

You say that dd3's dad can't get an account at Nationwide, yet he has accounts at both Halifax and A&L. Would you care to explain further? There might be a route to dd3's dad getting a Nationwide account (of some sort).

vix2000

Its complicated BUT here goes:- He applied for a current account with NW when his flat lease was coming to an end, and the landlord was selling the property. As he was moving to his parents temporarily, he applied at their address as he was moving that weekend. 2 days before he was due to move the sale of the landlords property fell through and he was asked if he wanted to stay and renew the lease. He literally applied for the account on the Tuesday as he was moving out on the Saturday, and the landlord approached him on the Thursday to say the sale had fallen through and did he want to stay.

Nationwide didn't get back to him so he contacted them to ask why he had had no answer re the account, and they said they had no record of (had lost) his application. He was too busy to reapply at this time so left it. About 9 mths later he decided to re-apply and was given a flex account. A week later he was sent a letter telling him his account was closed and he should return his card etc and he was being reported for fraud. Apparantly, as he had never actually left the flat, he had put on the application that he had lived there for the last X years, which he had, but as he had put another address, his parents, on the previous application, which they said they'd lost, they had taken this action. Despite explaining all this to them, they wouldn't listen and reported him for fraud (they said).

He has since, recently, got a mortgage, and, as you spotted, just got an alliance and leicester account, and he has no CIFAS flag on his call credit and experian report. But I assume he will still be blacklisted at Nationwide.

Meltdown_2

vix2000 wrote: »

He has since, recently, got a mortgage, and, as you spotted, just got an alliance and leicester account, and he has no CIFAS flag on his call credit and experian report. But I assume he will still be blacklisted at Nationwide.

Only if they are ALL jobsworths!

It might be that he put down something that was strictly incorrect on the original form (the "length of time at this address" part), but there was certainly no intention to defraud anyone. Indeed it is difficult to see what he could have easily done (in the circumstances), apart from actually writing out the full details of his moves on the form (which is perhaps what I would have done) but this would have been just as much a problem for the machines that process these things.

I am assuming that the details on the second form were actually all correct (there would seem no reason for them not to be). It's just that (someone at) Nationwide believes he hadn't spent the length of time he had at the flat - because of the "lost" original application.

Perhaps he could obtain a copy of the information that Nationwide have on him, under the Data Protection Act (though that would probably cost £10) and if that indeed shows him as "blacklisted" (I don't think they would use quite that terminology) then he could seek to get their record changed.

An alternative would be for whoever of your family has the best relationship with Nationwide to raise the matter with someone senior at their branch, indicating that you all want to bank at the same place (and how happy you are with Nationwide) but that this is causing you ALL to have to look elsewhere. It could be surprising how they might be able to address the matter when placed in that position.

vix2000

That is an option, and I will try to do that myself as I have had my account longest. Thanks for the advice.

vix2000

Can anyone give any info re: the internet banking of the co op bank, please?

ShelfStacker_3

vix2000 wrote: »

Can anyone give any info re: the internet banking of the co op bank, please?

A lot of people say that the balances displayed (available and account) don't display the most up to date figures, so you could make a lot of debit card payments and they wouldn't show on your account until the next day. Sounds a bit dodgy. Never used it myself though...

Meltdown_2

vix2000,
Have you tried this forum's search facility?

Click on "Search" at top right of screen - in the options line that starts "Main Site ... Forum ...".
When the drop-down box appears, click on "Advanced Search".
When the "Search Forums" page appears,
type "Co-operative" or perhaps better "Smile" (the name of the Co-op's internet arm),
into the "Key Word(s)" box;
change the "Search Entire Posts" option to "Search Titles Only";
change the "Search All Open Forums" option (lower right) to "Budgeting & Current Accounts";
and then click on the "Search Now" button (bottom left).

That should bring up a lot of relevant information.

Hope that helps.