Best bank account?

1LANCS

1LANCS

1LANCS

Permabanned
Joined
1 Aug 2010
Posts
592
I've been with Barclays since I left school in 98 and after recent events I'm getting peeved with the **** poor service I'm getting.

Rather than carry cash I use my debit card to pay for day to day things, along with certain bills like phone topups, some internet services subscriptions (no not porn), and every month my card gets blocked for Fraud Prevention even though I use it in the same places, in the same shops every month without fail.

I put in a complaint and it took them 3 months to reply to me, every time I phoned I'd get a snotty phone jockey telling me about some Financial Authority gives them X amount of time to look into it, and I would get a reply 'soon'.

Finally got a letter saying that they've looked into my complaint and there is nothing they can do about it, no apologies for the 3-4 years of them blocking my card nearly every month for Fraud Prevention and no apologies for the fact that it will continue to be blocked in the future.

It also annoys me how they wont give me anything in the way of credit cards, overdrafts, etc.. even though over £1000 a month goes into my account,

So its time to change bank. I would be interested in hearing every ones thoughts on the banks they use.
 
Go into the bank and speak with a manager about all the problems you have. (ring and make an appointment).

When I red the last bit I started to think you just don't understand what is going on. Nobody intentionally prevents you from having a credit card or an overdraft. Contrary to many rants about this - many people just don't look after their account and is why they don't have the extra benefits.

It's not just about having a grand deposited into the account every month.
 
.Lethal said:
Go into the bank and speak with a manager about all the problems you have. (ring and make an appointment).

When I red the last bit I started to think you just don't understand what is going on. Nobody intentionally prevents you from having a credit card or an overdraft. Contrary to many rants about this - many people just don't look after their account and is why they don't have the extra benefits.

It's not just about having a grand deposited into the account every month.
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I did speak to the manager who forwarded my complaint on.

I do understand what is going on, I have a credit card from a different company, I pay all my bills on time and rarely miss them, I have credit in other forms as well that I have always paid on time and sometimes paid off before i needed to.

My credit rating is pretty good as well I just didnt feel the need to explain my full financial situation.
 
Moses said:
First Direct will probably be recommended, as you will have the £1000/month going in.
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You need at least £1500 pcm for FD, (unless you want to pay).

Seriously though OP, you don't make the bank any money and they don't care.

You don't go overdrawn and you don't put much in the bank. :)
 
I've just moved my current account to Santander to take advantage of their switching offer.

Shop around for the best deal.
 
I had this problem with HSBC blocking my card a lot.

They have actually got very good at this recently though. They would ring me within about 30mins of the block and discuss transactions with me.

Now they dont even seem to bother blocking my card when I make large transactions anymore....
 
1LANCS said:
How am I supposed to go overdrawn if they wont give me an overdraft.
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You can go into an unauthorised overdraft, which indicates to the bank that you might need an overdraft, which is more money for them. Its in their interest for you to be in debt.
 
I found little difference between the banks. I am with hsbc because of no specific reason. I could just as well be with any of the other banks and not notice any difference.

HSBC banks are quite clean looking generally and they have nice seating areas. But not the one by st pauls, that looks like it is under construction.
 
Been with Nat West since I was 16 (21 years now I think about it! :eek:) and never had any problems, although just recently signed up for a Halifax account (or tried to!) to get the £5 p/m interest!

Its been a right hassle - started it up online and then the branch staff lost my application and copy ID when I took it into the branch!?! :confused:

On the up side, got £25 compensation out of it! :p
 
I'm just going to throw this out there.

Those blocks on the card are done by an automated system that Visa imposes on the card issuer. Switching banks due to this may not solve your problems. All you can do to reduce the hassle is to make sure the bank has an up to date contact number on record for you. The system is set up to send automated calls/texts to ensure the validity of the transaction when it flags something up.

Speaking as someone who used to work for the fraud prevention department or Barclays.
 
They have my phone and mobile numbers but thats no use when im in a shop full of people and my card gets declined and everyone looks at me like im a scrubber who doesnt have enough money in my bank to pay for something.
 
Geckovich said:
I'm just going to throw this out there.

Those blocks on the card are done by an automated system that Visa imposes on the card issuer. Switching banks due to this may not solve your problems. All you can do to reduce the hassle is to make sure the bank has an up to date contact number on record for you. The system is set up to send automated calls/texts to ensure the validity of the transaction when it flags something up.

Speaking as someone who used to work for the fraud prevention department or Barclays.
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I disagree with this to a certain extent as I swapped by credit card for the same reason, kept getting stuff blocked (ironically the low value items not the high value ones). Now I spend in the same way and my new provider flags the stuff that's actually out of the ordinary.

I have friends in similar situations, with all different banks. Seems once the system starts flagging you, it wont stop!
 
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