possibly switching from barclays to A&L or other?, advice needed

ewokuk

if i was getting A&L it would most likely be the premier direct account as i get the online banking which doesnt seem to be on the non direct one. also get 8.5% on 2500 for a year then 1% below base rate, while the savings accoung you get with the non direct account is 12% for a year but you can only pay in £250 a month and up to 3000 so not much point in that for me i think.

i may end up not switching at all. i very very rarely ring them about anything, and would prefer a paper statement like the one i get with barclays now, once every quarter. now i wouldnt mind having electronic statements IF they at least held the last few years statements online so i could go grab them if i ever need them, but by the sound of it, they dont!

dragonsoup

My personal experience with A&L has been extremely poor and I regret switching my account. I am currently locked out of my online banking as they have managed to inactivate my PIN when changing my ID number. Requests for a replacement PIN still have yet to produce one. This is merely the latest in a string of issues I've had with them.

I will be switching back to Lloyds as soon as the June DDMs have gone through.

neil9313

ewokuk wrote: »

if i was getting A&L it would most likely be the premier direct account as i get the online banking which doesnt seem to be on the non direct one. also get 8.5% on 2500 for a year then 1% below base rate, while the savings accoung you get with the non direct account is 12% for a year but you can only pay in £250 a month and up to 3000 so not much point in that for me i think.

i may end up not switching at all. i very very rarely ring them about anything, and would prefer a paper statement like the one i get with barclays now, once every quarter. now i wouldnt mind having electronic statements IF they at least held the last few years statements online so i could go grab them if i ever need them, but by the sound of it, they dont!

Have a look at first direct, i found them otstanding, 14 years now with them!

ewokuk

first direct seemed ok but i dont get anything with them other than the £100 for joining, no interest and nothing else that benefits me as far as i can see, and yet they want to charge for anything under 24k a year, why? they dont seem to be providing anything special. That £100 is also less than i would get from A&L if i just keep £2500 in there for the year of 8.5%, and then after that ill still get 1% below base rate, so 4% on whatever is in there.

ewokuk

well they wont budge on this 50p overdraft charge and as said previously i dont think i have ever been charged a penny by barclays for going overdrawn with my platinum current account.

Also just noticed that their foreign transaction fee is 2.95%, barclays is only 2.75%.

I am now looking more closely at first direct who provide the first £250 interest free on overdraft which is much more useful, plus give you £100 for joining. The only downside i can see with them is 0% interest.

I am now thinking I may open BOTH first direct and A&L. i can get salary paid into first direct to avoid fees, transfer £500 to A&L each month to get interest and keep them happy and the rest to my savings accounts, then use first directs 'internet banking plus' to let me keep track of everything in A&L, barclays and my savings accounts.

hmmm could get complicated. and ive just discovered their 'internet banking plus' does not work with firefox for some stupid reason, and "is not compatible with pcs on a local area network" which these days makes probably 90% of them incompatible since most people now use a router of some sort. back to A&L only I think.

Night-owl_6

A&L are very good - BUT I must warn you, you may find it hard to get your OD, so makesure that you take copies of your statements in with you to confirm your current OD limit

ewokuk

something screwed up and I ended up applying twice, both got accepted

i am wondering though, if you dont get proper statements with A&L even online (someone said its only a few months of transactions and they arent proper statements), how would i be able to do something similar in future and show someone a bank statement as proof of something? not getting a paper statement is not a problem, PROVIDING they keep these details available on my account and in a good format so that I can retrieve them when required.

HMC121212

A & L overdraft fees are NOT capped at £5 per month - they have a 'Monthly' charging period which is actually 2 weeks so if you are overdrawn in each of these 2 week periods you pay £10 - be aware of this - I am switching back to my old bank - unless anyone can suggest a decent bank to go with, or are they all bad?

PROLIANT

HMC121212 wrote: »

A & L overdraft fees are NOT capped at £5 per month - they have a 'Monthly' charging period which is actually 2 weeks so if you are overdrawn in each of these 2 week periods you pay £10 - be aware of this - I am switching back to my old bank - unless anyone can suggest a decent bank to go with, or are they all bad?

Then go to a bank that charge 17% APR on their overdraft rates.

ewokuk

17% is probably less than this 50p a day charge is.

lets say you go £100 overdrawn for a year, if A&L charges at £10 for every 2 weeks would cost you £130 in a year, so thats a nice 130% APR. Other banks that may charge 17% APR would charge you..... £17. And the lower amount you are overdrawn, the worse it gets.

Now lets say you arent overdrawn by £100 for a year, lets say you are overdrawn by around £50 for 4 seperate weeks in total during the course of a year which is more realistic. that incurs a £20 charge, which is a HUGE 40% APR.

So A&L are being very sly by claiming there is no APR, because if you are only overdrawn by smallish amounts or for short periods, it can easily add up to a far higher APR than even the worst banks charge.

I should also point out that their charges for foreign currency transactions (like amazon.com etc etc) are the highest ive seen at 2.95%. even barclays is only 2.75.

ill take it for now to use the 8.5% then see if i need to change it after.