How helpful is your bank?

Just spoke to mine and they were ace.  HSBC.  Decided to put an overdraft on the biz account as a safety net and all sorted in 10 minutes.  

Lloyds are dreadful.

Anybody know anybody that does an offest mortgage on Buy to let?

Santander. Erm...

Don't think I've spoken to any of their employees since I set up the account four and a half years ago. It's therefore impossible to say whether they're helpful or not, but if they are they don't go out of their way to demonstrate it!

I'm with HSBC too...haven't had much need to contact them, but do have one individual who looks after my account.  On the couple of occasions I have needed to contact them they've been very helpful.

I've found this after my bank HBOS were taken under Lloyds wing.

I'm with Nat west. Helpful banking my arse. Invisible, uncontactable, unaccountable, uncaring. I'm supposed to have a 'Relationship Manager',  who is worse than useless and doesn't seem to understand how a Business, or even a bank is actually run.

Brendan

I sat with my relationship manager 0 to 2.5million turnover businesses. He scrolled through his portfolio - just to the G's. Overall he must have over 500 active accounts. At this level the managers of most banks must be reactive rather than proactive. So it is a bit hit and miss in regards to who you get.

HSBC have good systems but their managers are overall much the same as other banks.

Both Nat west and Barclays change their managers without telling customers as they dont want too many enquiries at a time of change.

... I'll let you know later today...  Contacted them yesterday to alert them to potentially a major breach of security i.e. just received a letter addressed to my address, but containing another customer's details and was treated by those who I spoke to yesterday as though I was complaining about 'being inconvenienced'.  Have just sent through an e-mail to the Chief Executive to seek a more appropriate response and I guess if he is as uninterested in this as his staff believe he will be, I will a) be reporting the matter to the Information Commissioner and b) seeking an alternative bank!!!!!!

Helen, things like that happen more often than you think.  I had once a pile of statements for five different companies in an envelope clearly addressed to me, none of the five were actually with my bank (or any subsidiary) Its a transaction processing center which failed here, those are used by many competing banks. Nobody I contacted at the time was intersted or at least apologetic about this. Not my bank, and surprisingly not even any of the five affected businesses. Eh? Your steps a) and b) may be a waste of time. Nobody cares.

Back to the actual topic here: Threads like this almost always end up in that all major banks get mentioned, most with some negative experience, very few postive experiences sprinkled in. 

It s not the bank brand, its the individual person of a given bank in YOUR town who can (in theory) serve you well. This person might not be there anymore two weeks later. Retail banking is seen (by the banks) in this country as a necessary evil, or at best as a tool to rip you off even more (unsuitable deals in any shape and form)

(enough bank bashing now for this week, its Friday after all....)

Finally, I am convinced that mortgages of any type should only ever be bought via a qualified and experienced  IFA. Sure they all just use a sourcing system to obtain their whole of market overview, but that is already way better than trying to research yourself.

During my eight years of running a business we have had three different managers (all the same bank) - two of them were very good, one was very poor. Reinforces the point being made by Michael. The major banks al have the same basic model and approach to risk - it's down to the individual you deal with and how much you put into that relationship (... although don't put in too much because they'll naff off at some point!)

I just rang the call centre.  Didn't bother going in.  

Have just sent you a PM.

Thanks

Stuart

I have been with Lloyds over 30 years and other than when very young and not enough deposit for a mortgage, they have been fab.  We have moved extensively but always kept with the branch nearest our hometown so everyone at the branch, which is quite large know of us.  I can even remember one time when my daughter was in a bit of a sticky patch at uni, one of the managers organised £600.00 in cash for her to pay her landlord as we were out of the country at the time!   There was no extra charges for this neither - they just acted in her best interest!

One up for Lloyds TSB here!

I've been with Natwest for over 10 years and have just left them in favour of HSBC (whom I've had smaller accounts with for about 6 months) ... my mother who is a High Net Worth Individual is also now threatening to leave Natwest.  Why?  Because at the point that I needed their help I got a brick wall and a kick in the teeth.  Thanks for the memories Natwest ... by reckoning about £500K worth of my memories and and awful lot more of mummy's   xx

You have some wonderful times ahead of you when you call customer service. It became the second most complained about bank UK this week - if my experiences with them are anything to go by they should easily be number 1 (6 months to change an address!)

Lloyds are only interested in stats and this is how they run their service. They advertise that they approve 80% of small business loans and overdrafts. That is because most people abandon the process when they hear the fees. They wanted £100 + interest for a £500 overdraft for 5 days. In total that works out around 3000% APR. By scaring away the majority of applications in this way they just get left with the cream of the crop and can easily approve 80% of the applications. What they dont say is that the number of loans and overdrafts that get through the application process has dropped by about 90%