~~~~ UPDATE AT THE END FOR THOSE WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY READ THIS OP ~~~~
Abbey National, the habit of a lifetime.
How many of us change bank accounts regularly or look around for a better deal? Let’s face it most people will shop around for the best mortgage deal before committing to one institution. How many of us are happy with our current bank or building society account? If we’re not do we actually do anything about it? Have we become complacent in keeping abreast of financial developments? How many of us keep all our receipts for debit card transactions and scrutinise our statements thoroughly when they arrive?
I’m one of those people who likes to keep up to date with what’s going on in the financial world. Not so much in the way of monitoring stocks and shares but more in the way of what’s on offer to us consumers in the financial marketplace. I am forever changing credit cards and comparing insurance quotes and most recently looking at the possibility of re-mortgaging. Why? Because I enjoy the challenge and the satisfaction of getting a good deal! I also pride myself in the fact that as well as saving myself loads of money I am able to offer advice to friends and family and save them money too.
There is one exception to this and that is my bank account. You would think that as someone who offers financial advice for a living I would have no qualms about changing banks to either get a better interest rate or a lower overdraft rate or even better customer service. I can tell you that I have considered it, briefly, and at one point even opened another bank account. I never deposited any money though and had no real intention of ‘switching’ my account. There are many reasons why I have been a customer with Abbey national for the past 15 years and many more reasons why I have decided to stay with them and will continue to do so. I will endeavour to share with you my experience so that you can hopefully have some insight in to Abbey National and what kind of service they offer.
~~~~ WHY DID I CHOOSE ABBEY NATIONAL ~~~~
Apart from the fact that they were a major high street presence, I had my mortgage with them. This was arranged through a broker but I always found them friendly and helpful both in the branch and over the telephone. I was currently banking with Yorkshire Bank and was not at all happy with their service. I found their overdraft rates to be ridiculous and mistakes were often made on my account. At the time they were close to my place of work and it was mainly for convenience. With the added increase of link machines and the ability to have a chequebook etc I no longer needed a bank so close to home and work. Abbey national have branches in most major towns and I would guess all the major cities, so I knew that if I needed to speak to someone in person I wouldn’t have far to go. They offered me a speedy service in switching my account and direct debits and the change over went very smoothly. There were no problems with my wage going in or my mortgage going out on time. They didn’t offer as many services then as they do now but at the time in comparison to other
financial institutions they were very competitive.
~~~~ PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ~~~~
Abbey National has kept up with the market leaders in offering competitive products in all areas such as banking, saving, investing, lending and insurance.
Bank Account
Most people will need a bank account, as the majority of employers will now insist on having your wages paid in to a bank account. When you apply for a bank account with Abbey National (as with most lenders) you will have a credit check. This is because with a current account you are likely to have a cash card/debit card/cheque book and possibly an overdraft facility. This is done at the time of the application and you are usually told there and then if your account application has been successful. If there is a problem they should offer you an alternative without any credit facilities. For the purpose of this review I will tell you what Abbey National offer you with their bank account as this is the most popular.
You can either have a cash card that you simply use to withdraw money from any Abbey National or link machine. There are thousands of machines in the link network and there is currently no charge to use this service, or a multifunction card. A multifunction card acts as a cash card, debit card and a cheque guarantee card. A debit card allows you to pay for goods and services over the telephone; in person or online providing you have the funds in your account. A cheque guarantee card will do exactly as it says and guarantees any cheque that you write out up to the value of £100. If you choose not to have a multifunction card, again you will be given a separate guarantee card with your chequebook. All bank accounts qualify for a chequebook. The multifunction card is an excellent idea so that you don’t have to carry too many cards around with you. Be warned though that if you loose this card you have effectively lost all three. You will be sent a pin number separately to your card within a few days and you can have the facility to change it in any Abbey National machine.
Chequebooks are sent out automatically before they expire so you should never have to order one. The statements are very clear and are sent every month. They list all the money in/out of your account and what your overdraft limit is along with each individual transaction. You can apply for an overdraft but you may not be accepted at first. My husband had to wait a few months for his wages to show regularly in his account before they offered him one.
My overdraft is renewed every six months automatically. I don’t need to keep re-applying. You can ask for this to be increased/decreased at any time and you can even do this online. There is no charge for having an approved overdraft and I would recommend it. I am not in to encouraging credit and you should always make sure you can manage any overdraft facility but I find it very helpful if for example wages are late going in or you have a few days off work. It is by far cheaper to have an approved overdraft than to just go overdrawn; this will incur a lot of charges. At the moment you can either choose an interest rate of 3% gross AER (providing you deposit £1000 in to your account each month) with an overdraft rate of 14.9% or a preferred overdraft rate of 8.7 % and interest of .01% gross AER.
The preferred overdraft rate is very competitive and as I do not to save in my bank account I choose to have the preferred overdraft rate. Remember that if you do not arrange an overdraft facility and you go overdrawn an unauthorised overdraft charge of 27.00% APR will be charged on both options!
Abbey national currently offer a switcher service where they do all the work for you, give them a ring on 0800 731 7774, check it out online or call in to a branch.
Savings and Investment
It will be impossible to go through each one in detail but I will do my best to give as much info as I can to give you a taste of what is on offer.
Saving is defined as usually a regular payment of some sort that you don’t need immediate access to. You may want to save for the short term i.e. a holiday or over the longer term. This can be achieved in different ways. The most popular form of saving and generally most beneficial is tax free saving. You may know this better as an ISA (individual savings account). Most financial institutions offer ISA’s and Abbey National has one of their own. For simple short to medium term savings you will most likely open a cash ISA, you can pay in up to £3000 under current Inland Revenue rules. The Abbey national cash ISA pays an interest rate of 3.40% gross (you don’t pay tax on an ISA no matter what tax band you are in) it isn’t very much in today’s climate but their rates are tiered and there are different types of ISA’s to choose from. Your best bet is to contact them to discuss your requirements but by all means have a look online and compare rates. This is one Abbey account that I did switch as I found a better rate with Smile. There was nothing wrong with the service offered it was simply down to the rate paid. As an ISA doesn’t involve as much as a bank account the interest is the primary concern and how quickly you can get access to your funds if you need them.
They offer branch based accounts if you like dealing face to face, Internet and postal accounts that pay higher interest, as there are less overheads involved and investment bonds.
Bonds differ in the fact that you usually have to put your money away for a set period of time; anything from 1 to 4 years is what the Abbey are offering at the moment. If you don’t need the money just yet then a bond may be suitable for you, as you will possibly gain higher interest than leaving it in an access account. Their current minimum deposit is £1000 and interest rates will depend on how much you invest and how long you invest for. There are so many options that again you need to discuss it with them direct. If you go for a children’s bond the initial deposit is only £500 and the interest rate is currently 4.35% gross (most children will not have to pay tax) and it is fixed for 4 years. You can open an Action Saver for children under 15 where you can deposit only £1 and save as and when you wish, the current interest rate is 3.45% gross and you receive a passbook. The money can be withdrawn instantly as opposed the bond having to remain intact for 4 years.
Investments are usually made by lump sum but can also be made by regular monthly or annual payments. You have to be prepared to leave the money in longer than you would your savings, as most investments are stock market based in some way. Abbey National offer a stock market ISA where you can invest currently up to £7000 a year (subject to Inland Revenue limits) You may want to invest for growth or for income depending on your circumstances. You are always best to seek financial advice and if you click on ‘apply’ when online it will give you the option of you calling them, them calling you or you visiting the branch. I was glad to see this, as I don’t think it would have been appropriate to apply online without getting financial advice.
~~~~ LENDING ~~~~
Lending is mainly in the form of loans, mortgages or credit cards. Abbey national offer all three.
The credit card currently has an APR of 15.9% variable with an introductory rate of 0% for the first six months on purchases or balance transfers, not both (new customers only) You can have a visa or MasterCard and they are provided in conjunction with MBNA Europe bank Limited. I had an Abbey national visa card for about 5 years and only recently changed it to apply for an introductory rate with another company. While I had my credit card there were never any discrepancies and the statement came on time each month. There is no annual fee so it doesn’t cost you anything to carry the card. You can also check your balance with the animated service and do balance transfers if you wish. I don’t think that the APR is very competitive and that is my main reason for switching. You can get cards with an annual APR of around 11-12% and some that offer cash back too like the egg card. Abbey National has a cash back credit card but this is separate from the other two. The introductory APR is 1.9% for six months on balance transfers and 16.9% APR for purchases. The amount of cash back is 1% if you spend above £500 and .05% below. There is a standard 59 days interest free period if you pay off the balance in full. Card protection is available if you wish for an extra fee, details can be found online.
Loans are available to existing and new Abbey National customers with typical APR’s ranging from 7.1% to 16.9% again this depends on how much you want to borrow. There is an online calculator and you can proceed to apply online if you wish. Alternatively you can apply over the phone or in the branch.
I have had two personal loans in the past from the Abbey and both were for car purchases. I applied for the first one over the phone and this took about 20 minutes. They had to call me back as they couldn’t give me a decision straight away. I think this was because I recently applied for a new mortgage and credit cards and this can affect your credit rating if you apply for a lot of credit all at once. They called me back after about 30 minutes to say that I’d been accepted and that the money would be in my account after I had signed the necessary forms. As I had done the application over the phone they send the agreement out for you to look over and you have 30 days in which to accept and return the signed documents. If you do not send them back within the time scale you will have to re-apply. I received the forms the next day and returned them immediately. As I have an Abbey National bank account I chose to have the funds directly paid in to my account. This was done within 3 working days of them receiving the signed forms. You can choose to receive a cheque if you wish. The second time I applied over the Internet and again this was very straightforward.
You receive confirmation when the loan has been repaid in full and I have had special discounts on loans sent me in the past, as they were happy with the way I conducted the loan. Existing bank account customers sometimes receive discounts as well.
As for mortgages mine was quite a while ago and as I said previously I was very happy with the way they looked after my account. They have an array of mortgages available at the moment and continue to come up in the best buy tables. If you are re-mortgaging I think they will pay your valuation and solicitors fees depending on which mortgage you go for. They are also offering 6 months free payment protection if you take it out when you re-mortgage. For more information call 0800 555 100
~~~~ EVERYTHING ELSE ~~~~
Abbey National offer insurance of all kinds ranging from house insurance, motor insurance, and travel insurance to life insurance and income protection, the prices can be very competitive. If you can have a play around with the online quotes or if you prefer to do it over the phone they have dedicated phone lines.
They can also advise you on pension arrangements through the branches or have someone visit you at home.
You can access your bank details through the branches, over the phone or via the Internet. You need to register for telephone and Internet banking, as you will be given pin numbers.
The website is very comprehensive and you can do virtually anything online. It has up to the minute account information and you can even view and cancel direct debits.
The security is excellent as you have a registration number and a pass code. They can be difficult to remember at first, as they are quite long. One thing I like about the online banking is that it tells you the last date and time of your log in, whether successful or unsuccessful, this way you can tell if someone has been accessing your account. Your main details come in a pop up box and you will be logged out if it’s inactive for more than a few minutes.
The online banking is one of the major reasons why I continue to bank with them as it’s always spot on and very reliable. It loads in a matter of seconds and I have never had any problems accessing my account online.
~~~~CONCLUSION ~~~~
Although I have swapped and changed some of my Abbey National accounts on the whole their service has been second to none. They answer reasonably quickly when you telephone them and if you wish to speak to an adviser they are there until late at night. The only problem I have encountered is when they took out a cheque for £36.00 instead of £30.00. I knew it was their mistake and telephoned them. They promised to look in to it and call me back as they had to trace the cheque. This took them about three days but the money was credited back to my account without any problems.
My statements always arrive on time and they keep me informed of new accounts and developments.
In my view they offer an excellent all round service and I am more than happy with my current account. Abbey National is certainly a way of life for me and I would recommend them to anyone, just don’t ask me to show you any of my statements I’d be too embarrassed!
~~~~ UPDATE ~~~~
Abbey National has further convinced me of their excellent customer service. I recently found out that a mobile phone insurance I purchased for £60 last year was no longer valid. When I came to contact the company I found that all their telephone numbers were none existent and that they had ceased trading without letting me know. Not only did I have no phone insurance but the free upgrade the offered me at the end of the year would not happen. I was at best £60 out of pocket.
As I paid by my debit card from my current account I wondered if I was covered by the consumer credit act. I telephoned the Abbey who informed me that the transaction had to be for a minimum of £100 to be covered. In spite of this the lady in card services was very helpful and asked me to forward my details to them for consideration. Within a week I had a letter back stating that they were unable to compensate me under the consumer credit act but as a gesture of good will the amount would be refunded to my account, sure enough the next day the money was there.
I was over the moon and I think that Abbey national deserve some credit for helping me out when they had no legal obligation to do so.
Full marks to them for top notch customer service, I won't be changing banks in a hurry!
by (2%):
20.10.2003 23:35
i had an account with three banks before moving to the abbey. NatWest, Alliance and Leicester and Co-operative were all rubbish, mistakes, queues, rude staff. since swithching to abbey i have had no problems. they're great! great op, mike xx
05.04.2003 14:05
I bank with Abbey too, have done for the past three years and also have a car loan with them. They are the best
05.04.2003 02:13
Guess who I work for? I love you - LOL!