A load of bankers

Who do you bank with?

Abbey
3
5%
Alliance & Leicester
1
2%
Barclays
4
6%
Co-Operative
1
2%
Egg
2
3%
Halifax / Bank Of Scotland
7
11%
HSBC
19
31%
Lloyds TSB
4
6%
Nationwide
6
10%
Natwest
7
11%
RBS
2
3%
Some other
6
10%
 
Total votes: 62
User avatar
nidave
Posts: 697
Joined: Wed 19 May, 2004 14.39
Location: Manchester

Nini wrote:Everyone else was thinking it yknow, just you blurted it out and got a small ripple of laughter. The clap is apt sir, apt!
Nope - I am 100% sure it was me that started it, for one small moment I was a god of humour.
(or it might not have been, I cant remember the details. )

I will have you know I don't just "Blurt" anything, I have a commanding voice!
Nini
Banned
Posts: 1617
Joined: Fri 19 Oct, 2007 17.14

Well, I don't think I can take that sort of glory from you. Sput however can so I'll leave it to him.
Stuart*
Banned
Posts: 2150
Joined: Fri 24 Jun, 2005 10.31
Location: Devon

Because Woolwich were foolish enough to give me a mortgage I moved my current account to them from Halifax 10 years ago, just to keep everything in one place. Barclays bought them and have now closed their branches and moved all the accounts to Barclays.

I quite like their on-line services, but they have a rather over-zealous fraud department which blocks some on-line transactions for the flimsiest of reasons. They ring you up immediately and just ask you to confirm that you are actually making the payment. Not really a negative aspect though, as no doubt I would be eternally grateful if they were stopping someone else from spending my pennies.
User removed
User avatar
Netizen
Posts: 197
Joined: Wed 17 Oct, 2007 19.16
Location: Wakefield

I've really gone off HSBC, despite being a Midland bank customer to begin with. They seem to have spent an enormous amount tarting up their branches to look like a BBC News set only with more perspex, which should be an utterly ace thing but isn't. The staff are all geared up for business banking rather than normal people, and they're always snotty when I actually get a chance to speak to someone. But that's probably because I insist on asking stupid questions.
Nini
Banned
Posts: 1617
Joined: Fri 19 Oct, 2007 17.14

Nice to see you again sir, haven't seen you around since late November.
User avatar
iSon
Moderator
Posts: 1632
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 23.24
Location: London

Netizen wrote:I've really gone off HSBC, despite being a Midland bank customer to begin with. They seem to have spent an enormous amount tarting up their branches to look like a BBC News set only with more perspex, which should be an utterly ace thing but isn't. The staff are all geared up for business banking rather than normal people, and they're always snotty when I actually get a chance to speak to someone. But that's probably because I insist on asking stupid questions.
Seeing as I've not actually put my thoughts down. I used to bank with HSBC. I still have an account with them as I'm paying off a large credit card and it's easier to transfer the money between that account and their credit card using internet banking. About a year ago I switched to Lloyds TSB and haven't had a lot of dealings with them during that time but I don't think I've got anything bad worth telling. I like the fact they don't charge an arrangement fee on your overdraft, whilst not the most competitive interest rate, it makes things that little bit better when everyone else is charging £25 for the pleasure. They also tell you there are then whether you've been accepted or not which a lot of banks don't.

Also I like their "save the change" feature which will round up debit card transactions to the nearest pound and take the difference and automatically put it in your internet savings account. You're never going to get rich from it, but I have found it useful when I need a couple of quid. It's a nifty feature.

I guess my only gripe is that I tried to apply for a personal loan with them to "consolidate my debts" and they offered me an astonishing interest rate of 24.9%. Seeing as this was more than the credit card and overdraft I'm trying to pay off, it simply wasn't worth it. Although, it could be down to the circumstances at the moment, what with the credit crunch like it is. I did try for a loan elsewhere and was turned down. Probably did me a favour in the long run!

Shame you can't do faster payments over the internet though but I think it's hit and miss with almost every bank. You can do them over the phone which never you let down, so that's good.

I was thinking of changing and being a bank tart. Now I live in a village I was attracted by the option of paying in money at my local Post Office. I can do it with Lloyds but it takes around 9 nautical days to clear so isn't worth it. I know you can do it instantly with the Co-Op or Alliance & Leicester. The latter I've heard nothing but bad things about.
Good Lord!
User avatar
DVB Cornwall
Posts: 519
Joined: Fri 24 Jun, 2005 21.42

Primary - HSBC First Direct, efficient and clean operation, assisted with their onoline banking trials when they started.

Dislike intently Abbey, why over six months after it's introduction they have done nothing to introduce Faster Payments mistifies me.

HBOS are on the surface good, but still stuck in the Building Society mode of operation. They wont let you post date transfers between accounts for example.
Image
User avatar
Mr Q
Posts: 381
Joined: Tue 05 Sep, 2006 11.31
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

No one here with IceSave then?
Image
User avatar
TG
Posts: 282
Joined: Sat 18 Mar, 2006 00.32
Location: Chandler's Ford

The bf amost did - he had been looking around for a good rate ISA.

Then the whole collapse thing came.

We're enjoying the money instead...
cwathen
Posts: 1309
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 17.28

A niggle I had with early online banking services (I even made a rant about it here a couple or 3 years ago) was that you registered for the service, had to enter a ton of personal information to prove you were who you said you were, then for no obvious reason had to wait for a registration ID/password/some other bit of information to come in the post before you could use the service, therefore completely removing the immediacy which probably led you to sign up for it in the first place. I am pleased to see that Natwest and HSBC (don't know about anyone else) have finally realised the pointlessness of this extra hoop to jump through and will now let a new registration access online banking immediately.

My main banks are HSBC and Natwest (I do a little bit with Nationwide aswell). I'm quite happy with both of them in the way in which they treat me and my accounts, they also both have brilliant online banking serices, but IMO both have lost the plot when it comes to branches.

HSBC seem to now be obsessed with scrapping tradtional counter-based branches and replacing them with banks of ATMs to handle straightforward transactions, and desks where you can make appointments for things slightly more complex. Plymouth city centre branch did somehow hold onto its traditional counter until late last year but it too has recently fallen victim to this refurb. As others have said though, these new style branches are all geared for business banking and people wanting to borrow, everything else which can't be dealt with at a machine has suddenly become a problem. Simple things like withdrawing more than an ATM wants to give you, paying in a large amount of cash, or paying in on someone else's behalf where you won't have a card have suddenly become difficult (an impossibility on first sight in fact) at these new style setups.

Hot on the heals of the idiot now enjoying his big fact bonus by turning branches of HSBC Bank into consultation offices with a few machines thrown in for people who might actually want to do some banking at a branch is the person in charge of customer service at Natwest.

In reality, all a customer cares about when entering a bank is that their business can be dealt with speedily and to their satisfaction. The most straightforward and effective way of ensuring this is basically a 'bums on seats' policy to their staff; there should IMO always be an absolute priority during busy periods in having staff occupying cashier windows so that they can serve customers. The people who designed big city centre branches didn't design in 12 windows so that only 3 or 4 will ever be open at any one time, they designed in 12 windows because they saw a need for that many to be there at peak times.

Over christmas Natwest Plymouth (and doubtless countless others up and down the country) descended into a farce. I needed to transfer some money to someone elses's account which wasn't set up on my online banking. My card reader necessary to do this I've left at my parent's house. This means I need to go into the branch. I visited the bank several times at different times of the day over the course of several days. Each time they were virtually queued out of the door. When I finally had time to actually join the monolithic queue, it took about 20 seconds to work out what was wrong. There was a person standing behind a little podium greeting you and apologising for the wait, there were 3 people talking to people in the queue again apologising for the wait and trying to intercept people who could actually do their business at a machine without the aid of a cashier - and there were only 4 cashier windows open completely overwhelmed by all this traffic. The reason for this is simple - some overpaid twat invented this policy as a 'brand standard' in order to show customers how much they are valued and making them feel loved and cared for and appeased by the multiple apologies for the delay - but If they weren't fucking about doing this in the name of 'customer service' they could have had 8 cashier windows open - thus making the queue move twice as fast, thus meaning the staff could keep on top of the business and eliminate the problem.

There's been much written about how banks adminster their charges and run their call centres, imo the new focus should be on how they run their branches - atm this is an easy way for needless levels of middle management to make an easy bonus by reinventing the wheel, and screwing up effiiency in the process.
Nini
Banned
Posts: 1617
Joined: Fri 19 Oct, 2007 17.14

They were lying when they said shit rises to the top, it sits in the middle. Got to have somewhere for these useless middle management types to make themselves busy, can't go around charging people extortionate amounts of money for overdrafts anymore or creating a job hole by outsourcing call centres to a country who'll be holding your nuts in fifty years or so.

No, that sort of shit will be cut out quick so why not go and fuck around with the branches further, call it efficiency or a new method of giving a fuck about the customer for making them wait in the first place in some form of twisted Machiavellian logic that gave us the overseas outsourced call centre and bingo, guess who got a new company car and half your yearly wage (less tax) as a bonus for this collective brainfart?
Post Reply