Page 1 of Best bank? Fed up with Abbey

Becoming increasingly frustrated with Abbey National, who appear to have entirely become a giant computer and foreign call centre, the latter of which has one terrible connection to so half the time you can hardly hear the person at the other end, and the other half when you can, it breaks up every now and again, oh and beyond reading out stuff on their screens they can`t actually help me when I can actually hear what they are saying.

The only good thing about Abbey now for me is their online banking system, and Link multi-function card.

Anyone particularly like their bank?


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Ive got two accounts with two different banks. With very different experiences...

ive had an RBS royalties account for nearly ten years now and I would recommend them. For 6 quid a month I get a whole bunch of benefits, including cheap insurance, accident cover and a whole host of other stuff. saves me about 20-30 quid a month all in all, if you make the most of it. They also gave me an £300 interest free overdraft when we moved house and was a bit short. See site for benefits

The second account is with Halifax. When we first moved to Oxfordshire, There wasnt an RBS within a convinient distance, so my GF and I took it as a good sign to open a Joint account. Firstly, despite flawless credit records and pulling in a reasonable combined income, they wouldnt give us switch cards with the accounts, only electron, whatever the hell that is. Meaning we couldnt buy train tickets, anything from boots or woolies and much more. We had to stay flawlessly within the realms of our account to get any kind of features on our account. Unfortunately, an error with my companies BACS system meant i was paid 4 days late one month, by which time the NTL phone bill had gone out. So despite getting a letter from my company stating this and only being 26 quid over drawn, the account went back to square one again. This added to many other pedantic, non-customer friendly policies means that I have totally binned that account and its been sat unloved with £20 in it for the last year. Halifax seems to be great if you are pulling in over 35k a year. They cant wait to shower you with benefits and discounts. But if you are on the lower end of the spectrum you can knackers as far as they are concerned. Which is funny, because, the Mrs and I have recently had pretty substantial payrises and promotions and use a lot more banking services now. But i`d rather stick it under the matress than give it to those f***ers.

/rant

So there you have it........

I like the Royal Bank of Scotland

They mis-sold me an endowment mortgage and coughed up £11.5 compo whilst sorting this out they stuffed up again and it cost them £150 compo.

When my son was born I asked for a deal on my mis-sold mortgage, they gave me 1% of my already reduced rate for 12mths but it took them 18mths to put back he he.

Any mistakes have always been in my favour, my only complaint is thier are a lack of young girlies going into banking these days so on the rare visits to my bank its spotty blokes and some mature ladies, although some of these are quite foxy lol

All in all RBS is a great bank.

Stuff the high-street ones and go to an Internet bank (e.g. Cahoot)
I`ve been with them for 2 + years now and they have never once messed up....I`ve never had to contact them for anything anyway! (Great rate of interest as well - 4% ish)

I`m with Barclays as well, and they thought I was wealthy enough to be upgraded to a Barclays Premier account - on asking them what this actually meant for me they said "its just a better account" - better in what way I asked - "please see the documentation we`ve posted to you". Documentation shows naff all benefits IMO.
The downside is getting more and more junk statements showing my incomings/outgoings every month (even though I keep minimal amounts in the account).
Interest rate is poor as well.

For some good advice on accounts - check out www.moneyextra.com

HTH
Miles

I`d second Cahoot. I`ve been with them for 4 years and not one error or problem either. They have great flexible loans as well if you need that.

My only complaint is you just can`t go into any branch and pay money straight into your account. It has to be done by bank giro credit which takes a few days to get there.

Apart from that excellent.

Gordy

I tried switching to the Alliance and Leicester.
It was a frikkin nightmare and I quickly reverted back to the Clydesdale.
For all their faults (and there are many) my salary is in my account faster than my colleagues` and a damned sight faster than it was with the A+L.
Moneysavingexpert.com is your best bet for advice.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 29th March 2005, 14:10

Stay away from Lloyds TSB. A right bunch of miserable bastards.

And the one with the singing potato. Never trust a singing potato.

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They kidnapped Santa? That does not rock!
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This item was edited on Tuesday, 29th March 2005, 14:01

Quote:
Moneymakingexpert.com

Bowfer you mean moneysavingexpert.com

That`s what I said !

;) :D

I`ve been with First Direct for about 14 years now, and honestly can`t fault them. I do most of my banking online now, but call them from time to time, and they`re polite, friendly, courteous and very efficient. I can`t recommend them highly enough.