I have been Banking with Abbey National, oops, should I say Abbey, now for about a year, after having a series of problems with my old bank, NatWest.
Abbey, is on every high street you go to, well, it is in this city anyway. This was one of the main reasons I went with the Abbey-they have more branches than any other bank. And this is good compared to some other banks, namely Barcalys who seem to enjoy closing down branches.
~Abbey's New Pledge~
Abbey National, a few weeks ago, changed its name and logo to plain simple 'Abbey', to go with their promise of turning themselves into the simple bank of the high street.
And yes! Thank god, they are barring financial jargon from their branch assistants lips, and from all their leaflets and advertising materials. Lets face it. There is not a time when you go into the bank and you are confused by the terminology used in leaflets and such things like that, is there?
To back this up, I saw an advert in the paper the other day for Abbey, saying 'If i want bread I go to the supermarket, If I want petrol I go to the garage, If I want confusion I go to the bank.' Quite clever I thought.
They have ditched the dingy red and green corporate colours, and scrapped the Umberella Couple symbol off the front of their branches, and replaced it with bright green blue and pink colours, which makes a change.
~Products~
Abbey offer a wide range of products and services. They include Mortgages, bank accounts, young people's bank accounts, savings accounts, IsA's, loans, insurance...The list is endless.
I have the Abbey Account with them, and a cash only easy ISA. My mum is considering moving the mortgage to Abbey after seing their rates at abbey.com.
Interest rates are quite good, my interest rate for my Abbey Account went up by 25% when the company changed its ways a few weeks back.
In the branches, or at least most of them are a range of facilities for customers who have no time to queue. These include a computer for customers to bank using the internet free of charge, an extra Abbeylink machine, in addition to the two outside, two 'Phone booths' for customers to bank over the phone, again this is free to use.
This is brilliant compared to other banks. In NatWest there is only 4 un-manned positions and a chair with queues out the door. Pathetic!
The branch itself is quite dingy and old fasioned but I guess this will be refurbished soon to go with the new image. It is large and airy though, with four or five desks,3 separate rooms, and about 6 cashier positions at the back.
The only thing I find a bit annoying is If I go in and, for example, wanted a new card and to cancel my old one as I lost it, they will say go and use the phones. Which I dont like as I dont like speaking to people over the phone!
~AbbeyLink Machines~
These are brilliant compared to others!
I can top up my mobile, request chequebooks, bank statements, pay in cheques and cash, register for internet banking, all at an Abbeylink machines, which are also, like their branches, everywhere.
~Staff~
I can find no fault with the staff at my branch, if not a bit bored-looking, they are always helpful, friendly and chatty whenever I go in. There are plenty of them about and the queues seem to be minimal, if there are any at all. Which is good considering this is quite a busy branch.
~Overall~
Overall, Abbey is a great bank, there are many advantages with banking here over the others, they are less stuffy, old fasioned and confusing than the likes of Barclays NatWest and HSBC.
Give them a go!
www.abbey.com
thanks for readin, i hope yopu found it useful! please leave a comment! Mike xx
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Oct 9th, 2003
very helpful by (84%):
helpful by (16%):
