I’ve just spent 10 minutes on the phone with a Scottish bloke working in the new accounts department of ‘The World’s Local Bank’.
It all started well with him asking my personal details, place of employment etc.
About 5 minutes into the conversation, when telling him my email address (which is basicaly my full name), he discovers that he has got my surname wrong.
This puts a spanner in the works and means he has to begin the whole application again. Not a problem. I’m using work’s phone and I’m feeling patient so I give him the benefit of the doubt.
He asks me virtually all the same questions again, but I have to repeat some of them about three times as he has to back track through his computer screens a few times.
Eventually, he asks if I don’t mind being put on hold briefly. I reply that I don’t an endure about two minutes of the latest RnB tripe hold music.
…Then the line goes silent…Then I’m greeted with the familiar constant disconnected line tone.
Welcome to HSBC.
Someone please recommend me a decent bank for a current account to deposit my cash.
You may ignore this request if you were going to recommend Abbey, Alliance & Leicester or HSBC.
Not been impressed to much by my bank, HBOS (Huge Bag Of Shite) recently, so add that to your avoid list. Alliance & Leicester is part of the Santander group and has minimal exposure to the credit crunch, and I was considering swapping to them, any reason to avoid/
I have had various accounts over the years, but I still use the Coop account my parent opened for me when I was a kid as my main account and have apersonal loan with them.
They have never pestered me, screwed me or been a pain in the **** and have always helped me out when I have needed it.
Big pluses -
Owned by their customers so if you sign up for the Coop membership scheme you earn dividend on your bank dealings etc.
Because they are owned by their customers they have little insentive to **** you off.
They have an ethical investment policy so go elsewhere if you want your savings invested in manufacterers of torture equipment.
24 hour UK call centres staffed by real people who really try and help. Whenever they have said “leave it to me here has been a problem and I will call you to let you know when I have sorted it out” they have done so quickly and efficiently.
They have ten branches across London (although I have almost never needed to use them in the last ten years)
You can deposite and withdraw cash from any post office
You can get cach from any Link machine
No connection other than being avery happy customer.
Natwest - always get through to someone quickly when I need to, no stupid menu systems to navigate through & I’ve never had any problems banking with them. Barclays on the other were **** and still are, girl next to me was on the phone to them for almost an hour to them last week having to repeat herself over and over because the person in the call centre didnt understand what she was on about, she was only trying to find if her mortgage payment had been taken out! On hold here, put through there, on hold again etc etc
I got my current acc, savings acc etc with them & not had a prob in 14 years
Really? Every time I phone it’s someone on the Indian subcontinent I speak to. Maybe you’ve got more in credit than me so they treat you preferentially or something!
Nationwide Building Society is what I use. Moved away from Barclays as they were messing things up every time I moved home (only 3 times) and they were a total pain. Nationwide have been great. Easy to contact and sort things quickly and politely.
Left Abbey because on Christmas eve 06, they put £180 worth of bank charges on my account within the space of minutes because they kept trying to put a charge through despite my account not having sufficient funds.
Then when I called them in the new year for a simple enquiry, I couldn’t get beyond the ‘May I have your date of birth’ security check stage with the Asian operator because he just couldn’t understand me after about 5 repeated efforts.
When Scamtander took over Abbey, that’s when everything went tits up IMO.
Remember the inspired idea they had a few months after taking over, where they decided that it would be ‘cool’ to colour branches on the high street different colours from pink to green. In the process eroding years of branding and instant recognition?
I remember trying to find a branch of Abbey on the High Street, and thinking the one there had closed down because the familiar red logo had changed to green on that particular branch.
Just stupid!
I can’t talk about Alliance at the moment due to a case open against them, but I can say I’ve found them equally incompetent.
Moved to First Direct this year from RBS - who I spent 3 months having to phone back about a mistake they made repeatedly with an account going overdrawn when it shouldn’t have. RBS people helpful but seemingly unable to make a change actually go through without repeated calls.
First Direct by contrast are helpful and have a better designed online banking site. They’re worth the move at the moment too with £100 incentive.
sorry guys but your all barking up the wrong tree, they are all great until they make a mistake and then they are shite…I have been and am with one or two banks and they are all good and bad in their own way…current favourite are barclays because they have been the most helpful for the moment…it will change but I have HSBC, LLoyds, Virgin, Natwest, RBS, RBOS, HBOS, COUTTS, LPB, and other bank accounts all there as well…and each one has been my favourite at some time or another…
I’ve been with the Nationwide for the last year and a half and can’t fault them, I use their online banking all of the time and it’s straightforward to move money between my accounts. I’ve not had any cause to complain so far so would recommend them.
Barclays I would steer well clear of, apart from their extremely unethical working practices they are complete sharks if you so much as make a mistake with your account, charges are what appear to make them a great deal of money, and no amount of reasonable discussion cuts any ice with them in my experience!
