Financial Advisors

isofa

I agree with earlgrey. Personally I've used Lloyds for many years and service in general has been pretty good, a few niggles, but always sorted out. I'm not interested in the rate they pay, just the service, the on-line banking is good, the statements are clear and accurate, the telephone banking and "speaking to an adviser" on the phone is good too.

Abbey, again I totally agree, the worst there is, avoid at all costs, even if they offer 10% I'd rather put my money under the floorboards, had terrible service and experiences with them. They don't deserve to be in business, I would never bank or save with them again.

My personal favourite are Skipton BS, fantastic customer service, beats anything I've experienced before, professional, quick, helpful and you can always speak to the right person in the local branch. If they had a local branch here and a current account, I'd move my day to day account to them.

mr_rush

I think if you are willing to do some research then an IFA is simply not worth spending money on.

I've spoken to several IFA's over the past couple of years and none have filled me with confidence. I remember looking for a mortgage last year and asking an IFA to search for the best deal. They came back with something from Abbey. When I showed them a better deal from Direct Line I'd found myself, the IFA just tried to ignore it.

The same goes for investment products.

JJmcClure

[quote=earlgrey;11764101__You_could_also_look_at_the_Coventry_BS_current_account_who_are_good_to_deal_with,_offers_a_good_rate_on_the_whole_balance,_but_provides_limited_functionality.__As_always_it's_a_trade-off.[/quote]

I was quite impressed by Coventry BS's website and the interest rates on offer, etc, what do you mean by limited functionality?

Thanks again everyone for your help

earlgrey_3

JJmcClure wrote: »

I was quite impressed by Coventry BS's website and the interest rates on offer, etc, what do you mean by limited functionality?

The main limitation is that it doesn't come with a chequebook though it does offer what they call a "cheque service" by which I assume they mean they'll write a BS cheque for you if you need one. They also don't have branches in some parts of the country if you pay in a lot of cash.

It's not very often that most of us write cheques now and that aside it seems pretty decent. Comes with a debit card and can pay direct debits and standing orders. It pays the high rate of interest on the whole balance rather than just the first couple of thousand like most current accounts. Could be ideal for a lot of people. I've got savings accounts with them and found them very good to deal with by phone.