Banking Advice

[Vanilla]

I think everyone has a different experience of banks. One person loves one, another hates them.

I've been with HSBC most of my life (back when they were Midland bank!) and have been very happy. I don't want deals or offers I just want good service when I need it. I pay the £10-15 a month for the advanced account and they just seem to be very good.

Had an issue with a DD payment not going through and AMEX said it was mine/HSBC's fault and gave me a black mark. HSBC leaped to my defence and did a full root-cause-analysis which firmly put the blame back on AMEX. They did it quickly and they were even contacting me on a Sunday letting me know what to expect.

Also lost cards abroad and have had them replaced rapidly. "Hey HSBC, i'm in Cali, Colombia and I lost my card". "Ok sir, you're there for a week so go to this address and they will give you money for a few days, come back in 2 days and you'll have new cards".

Had Natwest and Barclays for various reasons also and have closed them all off....for various bad reasons!

 

[Pez]

Out of interest, are there any specific problems you've had with Barclays?

 

[Fallen god]

Thanks for the extra info guys.

@Pez, pretty **** customer service, they have randomly decided to cancel things e.g. Phone purchase (typically get a new phone sim free ever year, **** with anytime I have needed assistance. The thing thats pushing me over the bridge is my GF and mate both brought a PS4 from a black Friday deal and the website disappeared, mate already has his money back while my GF is waiting for a form to be shipped. I had the "Tech pack" and it was a pain in the ass to replace a broken phone :/.

All in all they have burnt me at ever corner, I've always felt like it has also been my fault :/.

@Vanilla, best mate has HSBC (Got it firstly for the travel discount) and its great for him, good service, and any warranty replacement has been a breeze.

 

[rossk26]

I was with FD, but just for the £100 signing up gift, and the 6% savings account they offered. Couldn't fault them at all, however their internet banking was poor compared to the rest.

I've been with Halifax for years now since I switched from Barclays who were terrible. Halifax are brilliant. £5 a month for paying in my wage, and quite a lot of market leading deals too such as their clarity card for use abroad, oh and another £5 a month when you spend £300 on it.

I'm also with Santander for my savings and bills, as you earn cashback on both. Been with them since April this year, no complaints so far, and I've earned over £100 in cashback + interest

 

[boxman2000]

Barclays are absolutely shocking, even worse from a business point of view.

Santanders rates dropped recently did they not?

 

[RedvGreen]

So me and the GF are both with Barclays and have been since we where 16 (currently 24) and there just meh, she currently has some issues and its just a pain to get any sort of help, form after form to fill and its just getting stupid so we have decided to move.

Just here to ask for some advice, I've been reading around online and a lot of First direct seems to be good and smile.co.uk. I've been reading and looking around and I'm a bit lost so any advice will be good. I will also move my savings account over if that helps.

Just switched from Barclays to Halifax - get £5 free every month (providing paying in salary and 2 direct debits set up on account) and when you open the account, you get a free £100.

Downside was that I couldn't get an overdraft which was a bit of a crap blow, but likely due to the fact that I had a huge overdraft on my Barclays account which the credit check revealed, so probably denied me getting one!

 

[theukmoog]

I've been with FD since 1993 and they have been nothing but excellent!

I once forgot to move money from savings to current account to cover credit card payment and they rang me up to suggest that I might like to cover the massive overdraft before midnight and thus avoid any unauthorised overdraft penalties. I'm not sure any other bank would have done that!

 

[Muz333]

My dad and brother both used to be bank managers. What they told me is no matter how small the nuisance lodge a compliant to the bank. I did when they couldn't photocopy a form for me and asked me to come back another day and I got £100 for it.

 

[eGu_Ryan]

Just switched from Barclays to Halifax - get £5 free every month (providing paying in salary and 2 direct debits set up on account) and when you open the account, you get a free £100.

Downside was that I couldn't get an overdraft which was a bit of a crap blow, but likely due to the fact that I had a huge overdraft on my Barclays account which the credit check revealed, so probably denied me getting one!

I was tempted by this, I currently have an overdraft on my Barclays account as well. Do you still keep your Barclays account as well till your overdraft is cleared? Curious how swapping banks works.

 

[Semple]

Had an account with HSBC since i was about 14, in fairness i've never had any problems with the account side of things, their branches are nice and modern, and most have self-service machines so you don't have to queue up to deposit money/cheque. Their credit card department are ******* useless though. I've had to phone up about a dozen times to get a pin number sent to my address, they were completely useless. In the end I just went with another provider and need to cancel the card.

Also had a student account with Natwest (for the free railcard), they were fine until my card had expired and they sent it to an old student address twice (even though i'd already updated my details. Seems they have multiple systems that stores the address details). Moved that account over to Halifax for £100 cashback.

My GF used to be with Lloyds TSB before the split, don't know much about the service etc, but i remember going into a branch a few times with her on a saturday morning. The branches were so outdated, they don't contain any self-service machines and everyone has to join the long queue where they have 6 windows and only ever 1 of them open. She decided to move over to Halifax as well after hearing of the £100 offer.

 

[Semple]

I was tempted by this, I currently have an overdraft on my Barclays account as well. Do you still keep your Barclays account as well till your overdraft is cleared? Curious how swapping banks works.

I didn't have an overdraft so can't be too certain on the details. But from memory your barclays account would be closed ("officially" - it stays active for 13 months iirc to bounce payments on incase people have old details), then i think the overdraft would be transferred to Halifax. Depending on how much you're in your overdraft, you should check what rates the account has, as you may only have a limited time to clear the balance. I seem to remember this account has very high rates if you go into your overdraft (£1 a day for up to £1k springs to mind) so it's more advertised as a 'reward' account for those that keep the balance in credit, also to qualify for the £5 a month you need to have £750 entering the account, and 2 monthly direct debits/standing orders.

 

[eGu_Ryan]

Ah if that's the case I'll wait till I eventually get this cleared. Working full time now like but I get nothing from this account other than the no overdraft fees!

 

[RedvGreen]

I was tempted by this, I currently have an overdraft on my Barclays account as well. Do you still keep your Barclays account as well till your overdraft is cleared? Curious how swapping banks works.

Unless you can get an overdraft on your Halifax account, you'll need a positive balance (i.e. pay off your Barclays overdraft). I took out a 0% balance transfer card which I used to pay off my overdraft, transferred across to Halifax right on payday, and now I have a healthy current account for the first time in 9 years.

Obviously i've got a credit card with several balance transferred debts on it, but i'm incurring no interest for 2yrs on that balance, so what I pay off actually makes a difference instead of 60% disappearing away in interest and charges.

 

[MoDe]

I'm considering switching, Santander and their 3% cashback sounds tempting.

How much of a ball ache is it switch? Do my direct debits need informing or is it all automated?

 

[Basher]

I'm considering switching, Santander and their 3% cashback sounds tempting.

How much of a ball ache is it switch? Do my direct debits need informing or is it all automated?

Really, really simple. Everything is automatic.

 

[neil_g]

i'll join the other HSBC people in here, been with them for the last 18 or so years (when they were midland bank) and never had any bother.

others ive had experience of:

lloyds - lying, incompetent, unhelpful fools.
halifax - fine if you never need to speak to them or change anything.
santander - not direct experience but been warned off them by several family members for being a shower of poop.

 

[MoDe]

Just been doing a little bit of research on the Santander account that you can get up to 3% interest on.

"In-credit interest: 1% AER if you've £1,000-£1,999.99; 2% if you've £2,000-£2,999.99; 3% if you've £3,000 - £20,000 (on entire balance)"

"What counts as a month? Monthly anniversary from date a/c opened"

So, does the interest get calculated on the balance of your account on that day?

Just a thought, because picking which day you open your account and which day you get payed could be beneficial interest wise.

 

[Slyman2k4]

I'd be more worried about the payment bouncing on the old account if details aren't updated in time

 

[subbytna]

Nationwide, they're a building society so their assets are more tangible than banks.

Nationwide are a bank in all but name...

 

[[TW]Fox]

santander - not direct experience but been warned off them by several family members for being a shower of poop.

I have been with them for 5 years and have absolutely on complaints. The 123 products are particularly excellent.

You can avoid ever having to phone them up by not doing stuff like trying to pay for items for which you don't have funds for and then having to ring up and plead to get the charges refunded or whatever it is the people on MSE who constantly complain about Santander customer service keep doing to have to speak to them so often

I think I've called them about 3 times in 5 years!