I've had enough of Alliance & Leicester / Santander

[James J]

This also may explain whilst I'm still waiting for a standing order payment from A&L after 2 1/2 days lol.

And yeah, I pretty much wouldn't touch santader with a barge pole either. My sister banks with them, but even though they do have a better bank account for me than mine with halifax atm, their phone support and transfer utilities are garbage.

 

[James J]

Natwest is the go!!

What is all this santander spam £50 quid draw all over facebook!?

Its a student account promotion to suck in college and uni students. You register your details with them for info on bank accounts and they put you in a prize draw for £50. Theres abit more too it than that but most people think its rigged

 

[tr1cky]

Its a student account promotion to suck in college and uni students. You register your details with them for info on bank accounts and they put you in a prize draw for £50. Theres abit more too it than that but most people think its rigged

Thought it would be pointless trying it, I was tempted but couldnt be bothered putting details in. Prefer to deposit 50 squid on betfair

 

[jbloggs]

Been with Barclays for a number of years now, has been fine, never had any problems...

 

[alexakasloth]

Been with natwest and lloyds (lloyds for a few years longer) and never had any problems with either of them.

 

[MikeHunt79]

First Direct is where it's at

+1 Cheques usually clear very quickly, same working day sometimes, no complaints otherwise, so I'm more than happy with them.

 

[Brian Stuart]

I'm with Nationwide who have been nothing short of amazing during my many years with them, worth a look.

Could not agree more. They are good at customer service, they just give a great service without any fuss.

 

[schnipps]

Was with a&l for 5 years, now santander. Online banking is woefull, the screens are just out of date, everything takes too long, cheques and transfers are much longer then other banks. Cant get instant overdraft decisions, just generally not enough branches either, i cant see why anyone would bank with them when there are far better account out there.

 

[Shadows1990]

Been with Natwest for 5 years now, and never really had a problem.
Couldn't get a Student Account setup at the Wisbech branch, as the woman wouldn't believe I was at Uni (despite having a pile of paperwork from Uni and Student Finance proving I was attending ). Thats more of a problem with the advisor rather than the bank itself though.
Most, if not all, the close family are with Natwest and had no problems to speak of. My sister did work for Santander for a while, and I don't think she ever liked it there either.

 

[schnipps]

+1 Cheques usually clear very quickly, same working day sometimes, no complaints otherwise, so I'm more than happy with them.

Cheques cant clear the same working day its logistically impossible, credited to you account yes but actually cleared no.

 

[rodo]

HSBC for years who have always seemed efficient. I can't imagine who I'd move my current account to if I felt I had to move. The RBS cuts in fraud prevention are quite worrying too.

 

[HungryHippos]

I bank with HSBC and no problems so far, would recommend.

Regards Nationwide I left them in protest when they refused to give me a debit card (yes, a debit card) when I was in my teens, even though I was earning money from a part time job...

HSBC hooked me up with one though so all good there

 

[Simon]

A+L are a joke. I'm closing my account and moving back to HSBC

They seem to takes ages to clear money, Internet banking is terrible and customer services is awful IMO. No wonder they give you £100 to sign you up and trap you in by forcing direct debits over

 

[londonbairn]

Just got mortgage through Santander, they done it very fast and were helpful.

 

[VeNT]

I bank with HSBC and no problems so far, would recommend.

Regards Nationwide I left them in protest when they refused to give me a debit card (yes, a debit card) when I was in my teens, even though I was earning money from a part time job...

HSBC hooked me up with one though so all good there

happened to me too!
I've still two accounts with them with a total of about a fiver in each, just to cause maximum paperwork.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

I'm also with Santander formerly A & L. I process a cheque about once a year, and the one time I decided to do it, pops up a thread on GD My cheque is 5 days in and I can see my running balance but my available balance is lower, the difference being the value of the cheque. I'll see if mine takes 2 weeks as well.

1000th post

 

[NVP]

EDIT

 

[Sinny]

I'm with Nationwide who have been nothing short of amazing during my many years with them, worth a look.

+1

Never had a problem with Nationwide, all my family are with them which is why I went with them. never had any problems.

 

[agnes]

I have been with RBS since I was 16 (6 years), not had a single issue, recently been told they are buying all RBS branches and taking over south of the Scottish border. Great.... Nothing beats the in branch customer service I get. Let's hope they don't change the staff as well.

ags

 

[big_white_dog84]

I am one of the natwest customers being sold to Santander. I hadn't heard all these stories so i decided to beat the system, sign up myself and get £100. I wish I hadn't now! They have transferred all my direct debits for me, but not sent me the account number, sort code, online banking access, debit card etc so I have no way of paying any money into the account or accessing it if I did. Setting myself up for a huge fight over banking charges caused by their incompetence