Changing bank account

I've been with Barclays for 30 years. They were the only bank who were decent enough to lend me 5 grand without security to start my business in 1992, so I repay them by being loyal. I'm like that with people. I like their website and all my accounts are with them and linked to others. I can't be bothered with the hassle of changing, even if there was a cheaper bank.

They would have to annoy me a lot to change.

I was with the Midland, latterly HSBC, for a very long time, and found them excellent. I then did a silly thing & got lured into changing to the Alliance & Leicester for the sake of the odd quid or two they gave me as interest on my current account. They then got taken over by Santander who were a complete nightmare.

I ran screaming into the arms of First Direct, who have been super, but the changeover wasn't entirely straightforward; some direct debits didn't get transferred (not sure whose fault this was). It left me wishing I'd just stuck with HSBC. Of which First Direct is a subsidiary of course.

Well I hope she reported their larceny to the Police or are you using some rhetorical device?

Unfortunately, robbery when done by the bank is normally perfectly allowable.

I call them SHARKLEYS.

I did a 10 year Bond with them(company money) about 15 years ago for quite a large amout of money. The reason i went with it was the salesman told me they could double my money over the investment period.

My investment fell off a cliff and i only got my money back by taking them to the FOS.

Strait away i closed ALL my accounts with SHARKLEYS (company & personal) and moved to Santander,who did all the donkey work for me. Everything went supa smooth and apart from a few very minor niggles i am very happy.

Mista H

I changed from smile (The Co-Operative Bank) - and think that it must have cuased them a problem 

I moved to a Santander 1-2-3 account which - despite the crap adverts - is very good indeed and the change was simple and handled very efficiently 

I just changed from the Co-Op to First Direct, completely flawless changeover, but what I really like with First Direct is when I call them up I get to speak to a real person first time, every time no waiting, no number punching on the phone to get to where I need to be to sort out what I want to do. Great.

On BBC news tonite SHARKLEYS are to boot out 19,000 staff.......Ruthless B-------

Mista H

I'd been with the Bank of Scotland since I was a very young kid in the late 50s with few real hassles. About 3 years ago we fell upon hard times and they refused to help us out. They hung us out and left us to dry. Thankfully the Clydesdale were willing to help so we transferred everything to them and it was completely seamless. Every direct debit, S/O etc moved within a week in a perfectly smooth manner. We closed our BOS accounts immediately after although sadly we had to leave our mortgage with them.

Incidentally we still regularly receive letters from BOS offering us loans even though they refused to help three years ago when we really needed it.

From 1992

Moved bank current account from Santander (ghastly outfit) to Nationwide.  The process was managed by Nationwide and was a seamless transition. No Standing Orders were compromised, no funds went astray, and the whole process went ahead without requiring our involvement after the initial request to Nationwide.

I think with banks one strives for the least worst option. 

SJB

Opened up a 1-2-3 account with Santander last year just to keep a bit of easily accessible cash with reasonable interest handy.

It required a set number of direct debits/standing orders etc and they offered to transfer ALL of these from Barclays. I could have chosen to transfer the minimum, but would have had to do it myself.

The transfers went smoothly in the main, but a couple of them didn't and it took a bit of pushing on my part to get these finally set up. Not a big hassel, but one to be prepared for.

I never intended to close the Barclay account, so all my untransferred direct debits etc still got paid whilst they were being sorted out,

We've been with Nationwide for donkey's years and they have always been fine. Their Flexplus account, for which we pay £10 a month, includes uk and European breakdown cover, mobile phone cover and various other perks, as well as 3% in-credit interest. It's great value if you would buy the insurance products anyway. Otherwise, their bog standard flexaccount is fine. They are always helpful, whether in branch on on the phone, and their internet bank is excellent.

+1

3% interest up to £20k if you comply with their requirements and if you are flushed you can have two accounts.

Ken