Which Bank?

[Spam]

Hi ALL,

Sorry to start another "Which" thread but I'm just looking for some general opinions on personal banking.

At present I am with NatWest and have been unhappy with their service for a number of months.

I have had numerous problems with them, to name a few:

- I wanted a savings account and they set-up a current account with £500 overdraft
- I wanted an account which I could use for bills only so they set me up a first reserve
- They now tell me after 8 months that I should have DD's on my first reserve so without telling me cancelled all 10 of my DD's!! which resulted in unpaid charges from various companies.
- They now say I must visit my branch in 7 days to sort out!

So all in all I'm well and truly fecked off with them so I'm looking to change my bank.

Many people have recommended HSBC to me, excellent CS so a few people have said. Does anyone have any experience of them or could recommend another bank to me?

Also please note, this will be just normal personal banking services including savings i.e no private banking, investments etc.

Thanks,
Spam

ETA: It sounds as if I am moaning about a few problems but believe me there has been many!!

Edited by Spam on Monday 22 September 16:59

[mitzy]

HSBC or First Direct

[Spam]

mitzy said:

HSBC or First Direct

Could you add anything to that? Why do you say that?

[Munter]

I'm with HSBC. They have been ok. 1 major problem when someone stole £700 from my account and the Indian guy with an IQ of 1 on the phone swore to me it was all sorted. A while later I phone up and the next Indian guy says "Oh we were about to close that thought you'd realised you spent it".

Moral of the story always select "I want to make a complaint" on the phone system and you get to speak to a guy in the UK.

Or use First Direct. Same bank behind the scenes, but all UK call centers.

[J_S_G]

All are poor as you've got overworked staff struggling with creaking banking systems; it's par for the course. (And being British, not enough of us are actually willing to pay for banking/moan vocally enough to the point where anything is done about it)

Having worked for several of them and banked with plenty more, I'd go for HSBC/First Direct for day-to-day personal banking, if it is run of the mill stuff. If you want a plus (thrown in insurance, etc), premier, or personal banking account, I'd go elsewhere. But for mass-market products, they've got least to sg them off about in my book... as long as you're ok with more of a "direct" banking model (i.e. more ATMs/cheque deposit machines and less cashiers).

[spikeyhead]

Stand in the middle of a very dodgy area of sarf London at 1am on a Saturday morning.

Look around. There are usually a similar number of groups waiting to mug you as there are banks to choose from.

You have about as much chance of choosing the right group of muggers as you do with choosing the right bank.

[Spam]

I have read about 50 reviews online about FD and I have found it quite hard to find a bad one I have asked them to call me tomorrow to discuss options so i'll see what happens with that.

[Stigmundfreud]

nationwide

[Simpo Two]

J_S_G said:

And being British, not enough of us are actually willing to pay for banking

Yes, the banks are skint of course.







(Only joking, they're loaded)