Bank Accounts - Why Do We Bother?

Badger_Lady

I've been with Barclays since my student days, and to be honest I've only stayed because of my local branches. The branch that opened by account had good opening hours and I used to visit regularly to talk to a Personal Banker there...

Last summer, I did meet my Bank Manager who sent me a magazine in the post with a handwritten message after I expressed an interest in starting my own business (it wasn't a promotional item, but a commercial magazine with a £3.25 price stamp).

When I moved here, I discovered a small local branch at the bottom of my road (in a residential area) - there are never any queues there and the staff are always chatty and helpful.

So I know that my bank account doesn't pay great interest; I detest the new online security system that all but blocks me from my own account, and I know that I could take advantage of acquisition deals by switching... but I would risk all that "shocking customer service" that everyone else complains about!

The_Affs

Do you think it's a bit of better the devil you know then? People don't seem to expect much interest on a current account anyway, so they would rather join a bank due to a personal recommendation or a reputation of decent customer service?

Mark7799

I would agree with that with regard to interest on current accounts. Halifax offering me 5%, assuming an average cleared balance of £500 would mean an extra £25 per annum before tax. Personally, as I'm happy with the level of service I get from my main current bankers I'd want more than that to move.

I believe in the quality of what you get (in everything) and don't see the point in chasing the lowest price just for the sake of it)

Elise1309

The acid test is what happens when you hit financial problems. I would venture to that suggest it's very easy for a bank to offer 'good' or even 'great' service when all you are doing is paying more money in than is going out. As long as payment facilites such as dd's and so's are set up properly first time round, there is nothing that can go wrong, really, is there?

What bugs me about the current state of banking is no discretion eg charges deducted automatically even if it's your first financial !!!!-up in 20 odd years and they have made a mint out of you in the past. And lack of ethical treatment for those in financial difficulty. There are multiple rules/guidelines re debt collection, consideration to customers in difficulty that are just not being adhered to.

Call Centre staff can be woeful. Letters to branches when there are problems go unanswered. In short, there often is no service whatsoever when it's most needed.

Badger_Lady

^ My experience with Barclays wasn't too bad. Yes, there were charges (£1200 over the years!), but they weren't rolling on top of one another and they were informed. Very often, a quick visit to the branch would sort out my cashflow issues - I don't know how many times I filled out a "budget" with their Personal Banker.

When I had a joint account with HSBC for only a month or so and my ex started breaching contract, they were a complete nightmare - charges compounding and causing other charges, harassment by telephone from unreasonable people, and messed up my credit file for the next few years meaning my mortgage rate is higher than it should be :mad:

Thank God they didn't have my main account, which was £2,500 overdrawn for so many years! :eek:

storminbalder

be_alright wrote: »

I've been with Yorkshire Bank for years now and they are fantastic. Counter service is a bit slower than most, but the service is fantastic. I had some card transactions I didn't recognise and the person I spoke to at the contact centre to block the card phoned my branch to let them know and make sure they had all of the forms ready for me to go in and take it from there.

Last week I had to cancel two direct debits that were going to be coming out in a few days, previous banks haven't been willing to cancel them with such short notice but Yorkshire did and there was no problem.

If you play the game then you don't get any grief from the banks.

I Have to agree 100%. Best bank I've ever come across. Good old fashioned friendly banking.

aintavinit

Hi to everyone here...Please except my apologies...but i cant figure out how to use this site! So if its ok i'll do my intro here...I'm aintavinit, and the reason Ive joined today is because ...i aintavinit any longer...I'm hoping that someone will be able to advise me (ASAP) as im facing eviction due to the incompetence of my bank natwest. Where to start? Ok around about March this year i tried to create a standing order with my bank (natwest) to pay my rent on a weekly basis, this was the first time i had completed a standing order form...i filled it out in front of the lady in the bank...i hadn't seen the preferred date of payment options..ie weekly...fortnightly...and monthly, so the lady asked me which option id like...i specifically told the lady that i would like the money to come out every Thursday (which is my pay day..that way at least i can feel assured that the most important bill gets paid first)Today i received a letter from the council stating that they will be applying to the courts for repossession of the house...because i was now 521 pounds in arrears, and unless i can pay the full amount by the 5th of august..I'll be evicted, i spoke to the council and they said that only one payment of 50 pounds had been received from natwest...so i went to natwest and spoke to a lady at enquiries and explained the problem...she brought my details on screen...and immediately saw the problem, and said "Oh i can see the problem ..it looks like we may have made a mistake" those are her own words, she then went to see a manager who asked me to sit down, i explained the problem to him...to which he said "well that's your fault because you didn't circle the appropriate box...i told him that at the time of filling in the form i was asked by the lady which date id prefer ..and again i told him every week on Thursday, he then continued to explain that the fault was mine, i told him that even the lady at enquiries admitted the fault was theirs...so he went and spoke to her rather quietly and then called a manager over who invited me to sit in her office, i explained the problem again and by this time i was getting rather annoyed at how they keep trying to pass the responsibility back to me (by the way Ive had three big problems with natwest..which I'll explain later) so i told that im in the process of getting evicted due to inability to do their job..and i said this in a raised tone ..she then said look dont you talk to me like that..i said well if you didn't try and pass the buck and stopped talking !!!! to me i would...she threw me out of the bank! also i needed an overdraft facility (i had to get to work and was so broke i couldn't even pay attention,) so i asked for an account that had overdraft facilities...i was in a hurry and the lady new i was desperate, they gave me an advantage gold account (yep the 12 pound a month one) i said please take the 50 pounds from my account when i get paid in two days and balance out my advantage gold account) that was in february...i received a statement 3 weeks ago, saying i now owe 300+ pounds, i later found out that they could have given me a current account that would cost me nothing (i was told this by their own staff) so basically they took full advantage of my situation and now i owe them a considerable amount of money and eviction..CAN ANYBODY PLEASE PLEASE ADVISE ME OF MY RIGHTS HERE (DO I HAVE ANY?) WHAT THEY HAVE DONE IS DISGUSTING i cant believe they can get away with this...and im getting really [EMAIL="p*@sed"]p*@sed[/EMAIL] off to the point where im thinking about feeding all the natwest staff sleeping pills and then cutting their eye lids off, can anyone help..would be so much appreciated. thank-you

LongTermLurker

The_Affs wrote: »

I just wondered whether a bank has ever truly impressed you through a product or their service.

Halifax Building Society - they impressed me for years.

Then they turned into a bank; staff were tasked with haranging you for business you weren't interested in giving them and it all became really faceless and commercial.

Still, I got some shares out of it.

LongTermLurker

aintavinit wrote: »

Ok around about March this year i tried to create a standing order with my bank (natwest) to pay my rent on a weekly basis, this was the first time i had completed a standing order form...i filled it out in front of the lady in the bank...i hadn't seen the preferred date of payment options..ie weekly...fortnightly...and monthly, so the lady asked me which option id like...i specifically told the lady that i would like the money to come out every Thursday (which is my pay day..that way at least i can feel assured that the most important bill gets paid first)Today i received a letter from the council stating that they will be applying to the courts for repossession of the house...because i was now 521 pounds in arrears, and unless i can pay the full amount by the 5th of august..I'll be evicted, i spoke to the council and they said that only one payment of 50 pounds had been received from natwest

I don't know about these things, but don't they normally send several letters before the red one? What happened to the non-demanding letters?

aintavinit wrote: »

CAN ANYBODY PLEASE PLEASE ADVISE ME OF MY RIGHTS HERE (DO I HAVE ANY?) WHAT THEY HAVE DONE IS DISGUSTING i cant believe they can get away with this...and im getting really p*@sed off to the point where im thinking about feeding all the natwest staff sleeping pills and then cutting their eye lids off, can anyone help..would be so much appreciated. thank-you

That's one sick puppy! Sorry I can't help.

storminbalder

Proliant.

Why on earth are you thanking that post (no 18 above).

Did you actually read it?

Reported.

Well I tried to report it, but the reporting software doesn't seem to work with my machine!