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
Chie
Posts: 979
Joined: Fri 31 Aug, 2007 05.03

I've been with HSBC since it was Midland, signed up through school. I haven't got a good word to say about them, but I wouldn't bank with anyone else.
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iSon
Moderator
Posts: 1632
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 23.24
Location: London

Excellent points made by cwathen there! On the surface of it, HSBC is making our lives easier. You can walk it, use a machine to pay in your money and be gone in a MUCH quicker time than you could by standing and waiting for a cashier. But that's the problem. What if we want to do something other than this?

It's why I switched to Lloyds TSB about a year ago. It sometimes frustrates me that there's no quick paying in machines when you just want to offload some cash into your account. But then their deposit points and cashpoints are processed regularly so the money you drop in there usually doesn't take too long to get in there. At busy times they advise customers to drop it in there and promise it will be credited by close of business. I've seen it a couple of times in different brances and they've always been true to their word.

Lloyds is an odd one in one of my local towns though where there are two branches which are literally just round the corner from each other. This isn't a big town and on the surface of it, there doesn't seem to be a lot of logic apart from it being a hangover from the TSB merger. But most people who live here will bank with Lloyds because you can always see a cashier! I've often wondered if they perhaps do each other's business and declare as "one" to make paperwork easier. But then, knowing banks it probably isn't ever that simple.
Good Lord!
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DVB Cornwall
Posts: 519
Joined: Fri 24 Jun, 2005 21.42

Very unusual for an ex Lloyds and an ex TSB to be continuing, the only reason I can see being some covenant on the old TSB for banking use from it's Trustee days.
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m-in-m
Posts: 259
Joined: Sat 05 Apr, 2008 22.26
Location: West Suffolk/Cambs

Isonstine wrote:Excellent points made by cwathen there! On the surface of it, HSBC is making our lives easier. You can walk it, use a machine to pay in your money and be gone in a MUCH quicker time than you could by standing and waiting for a cashier. But that's the problem. What if we want to do something other than this?

It's why I switched to Lloyds TSB about a year ago. It sometimes frustrates me that there's no quick paying in machines when you just want to offload some cash into your account. But then their deposit points and cashpoints are processed regularly so the money you drop in there usually doesn't take too long to get in there. At busy times they advise customers to drop it in there and promise it will be credited by close of business. I've seen it a couple of times in different brances and they've always been true to their word.

Lloyds is an odd one in one of my local towns though where there are two branches which are literally just round the corner from each other. This isn't a big town and on the surface of it, there doesn't seem to be a lot of logic apart from it being a hangover from the TSB merger. But most people who live here will bank with Lloyds because you can always see a cashier! I've often wondered if they perhaps do each other's business and declare as "one" to make paperwork easier. But then, knowing banks it probably isn't ever that simple.
In my town they continued to have a former Lloyds and former TSB branch. Last month they closed the former Lloyds branch to allow a refurbishment to take place and provided full banking services in the former TSB branch. Following this they then permanently closed the former TSB branch which I understand prior to this had been used for appointments only and provided no cashier service. It does seem rather illogical from a financial perspective to run two branches this many years after the merger.
all new Phil
Posts: 1965
Joined: Sun 13 Feb, 2005 00.04
Location: Next door to Hell

I do some of my banking with Natwest and some of it with Abbey, purely because I find it easier to manage my finances with 2 accounts. I don't know why, but it helps - I get paid on the 23rd of each month, so if I have a direct debit or something that goes out after the first week of my wages going in, they get paid from the account my wages don't go into, and I transfer the money into it to cover them. Stops me spending all my wages and not having enough to pay them.

I find Abbey quite funny, especially when they went though their pastel-shaded cuddly-wuddly period when they were "turning banking upside down". Hell, my branch even had a Costa frigging Coffee in it. What a crock of shit that was, and I love how they obviously realised that and have now completely eradicated all traces of this brand for something completely the opposite.

I'm planning to pay off any debts I owe to Abbey and tell them where to shove their account, though. I have a 0% balance transfer credit card with them, which I pay off via a standing order from my Abbey current account. Well, I try to pay it off anyway - when I was on holiday, they decided to randomly not pay it and the date it was set up for mysteriously moved from the start of the month to the middle of the month. It certainly wasn't me that did that, but it meant that a month's payment was missed and, therefore, they ended up constantly phoning and threatening to send round the heavies to claim their rightful £40.

Natwest, on the other hand, I have no problems with whatsoever. They're a lot more lenient if I somehow end up going over my limit ever-so-slightly. In fact, I don't recall them ever actually charging me for anything like that. I'll probably stick with them, even though they once phoned me up, offered me a loan to consolidate my car loan and my credit card, and then refused it when I applied. Surely if they offer you something, they should know whether or not you are eligible for it?
Chris
Posts: 845
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 19.03
Location: Surrey

I seem to have a small flotilla of bank accounts, as it happens.

I have been with First Direct since the summer, and have found their service to be pretty good. Always willing to answer queries on the phone, no press this, press that, and internet banking isn't too bad either - although I'd have preferred it if they also displayed the dates on which the transactions were made, as opposed to the dates which they cleared. Had some problems getting cards to me because of their insistence on using some rubbish courier service who never delivered (Special Mail Services) but they paid me £25 compensation for my time, and I also got a £100 incentive, so can't complain I guess. And, you also get to use some of the shiny machines in HSBC! Great for paying in coppers and the like, no need to bag them up - just tip them in and it hits your account in an hour's time, and no fee to count either.

Counter service is still available if you need it, in pretty much all branches it's squirreled away in a corner on on the next floor in the bigger branches, such is their bias towards the machines. But what I do find odd is that you can't simply present your card and withdraw cash over the counter - you need to bring your chequebook along, together with some ID (if you're taking out a large sum).

Previously, my main bank account was with Lloyds; I have banked with Lloyds for many years, ever since I was a wee one. They were alright, up until when I had some fraud on my credit card over the summer, which took around 2 months to resolve, and they managed to send replacement cards down to my branch at uni, which was some 80 odd miles away. Twice. They also managed to send a load of credit card and bank statements to the wrong (my old uni) address for about 2 months, despite me telling them I was going to move back home, and could you change my address to soandso about 2 weeks before I left! They also managed to send the duplicate copies there too, even though they apparently had my home address set to the address as the place to send mail to. Predictably, the accounts are now mothballed.

The other thing I'm not getting is why they are refurbishing branches, but not actually introducing any technology into them, like they are in HSBC. All it does is make it look less dated, the queues don't seem to get any shorter. Whoever mentioned the deposit-points - I'd rather either deposit it to a cashier or a machine which would give me a receipt, so in the event of a dispute, they won't have much to stand on.

I also have my student account with Natwest. Their online banking isn't too bad, but all this fart-arsing around with that stupid device with your card, and typing a load of numbers in makes things a bloody hassle. And the branches aren't too good either, every one I've been to in various parts of the country seems to have a queue snaking out of the door. "Another way" ... what, to queue?!

I've also got a Barclays account, but the current account isn't used - I only got it so I could view the monthly saver online, such is their emphasis on their card driven system. Their internet banking is rather awful, transactions older than 30 days don't show, and you have to have that silly device and your card with you to be even able to login - it all seems to be geared towards making it as much of a pain in the butt as possible. The way they record stuff is odd too, I once deposited a large (few grand) cheque and it showed as an overdraft for several days (!) - even the staff at the branch were pretty miffed when I explained to them my deposit was being shown as an overdraft.
People in my local branch are nice enough though.
tvmercia
Posts: 601
Joined: Sat 10 Jan, 2004 03.15
Location: Low Birk Hatt

Chris wrote:The other thing I'm not getting is why they are refurbishing branches, but not actually introducing any technology into them, like they are in HSBC. All it does is make it look less dated
apparently the scaled back the branch refurbishment programme significantly when they signed the sponsorship deal with the london olympics.
Chris wrote:the queues don't seem to get any shorter.
i've been told it is policy to make customers wait at least x minutes - to ensure you have enough time in the queue to notice the wonderful deals on the point of sale displays.

oh and its taboo to apologise for the wait, they're allowed to thank you for waiting though.
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Gavin Scott
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Posts: 6442
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 13.16
Location: Edinburgh
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Cashpoints which pay out £5 - I've found a few of them in Edinburgh now - but why are they programmed to give our 2 x £5 and 1 x £10 when you request £20? I understand the notion of giving customers useful change, but this simply causes the machines to empty themselves of the lowest denominator note first, leading to it saying, "No £5 notes available" - which is catastrophic if you've only got a balance of £7 or something.

What's with the banks for not spotting this flaw? What a bunch of pricks.
James L H
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon 18 May, 2009 18.52
Location: North East

Gavin Scott wrote:Cashpoints which pay out £5 - I've found a few of them in Edinburgh now - but why are they programmed to give our 2 x £5 and 1 x £10 when you request £20? I understand the notion of giving customers useful change, but this simply causes the machines to empty themselves of the lowest denominator note first, leading to it saying, "No £5 notes available" - which is catastrophic if you've only got a balance of £7 or something.

What's with the banks for not spotting this flaw? What a bunch of pricks.
I haven't seen a £5 Cashpoint where I live for a good few years! My main gripe with Cashpoints are the ones that are slow to respond to key presses. My local Sainsburys Cashpoint is shocking for this, meaning you have to wait a good 5 seconds or so for the machine to catch-up, before pressing the next number when entering your pin. I have also seen many people complain that the machines have ate their cards, after they have entered their pins in wrong, because of seemingly the lack of response on-screen.
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Gavin Scott
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Posts: 6442
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 13.16
Location: Edinburgh
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James L H wrote:I haven't seen a £5 Cashpoint where I live for a good few years!
The banks made a commitment to stock fivers in the machines for the benefit of those with less than a tenner (and more than a fiver, obviously), left in their accounts. That's why giving them away to people asking for £10+ is mental, and makes a mockery of their reintroduction.
Alexia
Posts: 2999
Joined: Sat 01 Oct, 2005 17.50

On the other hand, my local HSBC / BP / Spar cashpoint only gives out a £20 when I ask for a £20, which is annoying, when I want two tenners. £40, I'd love two £10s and a £20... nope, two purple things come out.
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