I am a busy mother of two lively children. I run two carer and toddler groups and am a school dinner...
I am a busy mother of two lively children. I run two carer and toddler groups and am a school dinner lady.
Member since:17.11.2002
Reviews:12
Members who trust:26
Up to about 14 months ago we banked with a different bank. The cheque card guarantee was only £50, and there was no switch card facility.We eventually found out that they were not opening any new current accounts and that they were concentrating on the loan side of their business - it was time for a change.
I had been checking out quite a few local banks , I was much more disenchanted with the bank than my husband. Neither of us are fans of the big banks. So eventually we decided on the Alliance and Leicester (A&L). I had made an enquiry about charity accounts earlier that year as well as ISA's and on both occasions they had been very helpful.
We also wanted to change our mortgage so we decided to ask about this as well. We
ended up changing both to the A&L. But more about the mortgage for another op. maybe.
The A&L have at least two different current accounts , I think depending on income . When we opened the account you needed to be earning £24,000 a year to open Premier Account Plus , so we just qualified . The lady that helped us at the branch was very helpful and sorted out the new mortgage , the current account , a phonesave account which comes with the Premier account and a money backcredit card. By the time the mortgage was all sorted out we felt we had become friends .
We had loads of problems when we first opened the account .The old bank supplied the new bank with details of our standing orders (SO) and direct debits (DD) , as they are required to do by law. But the print was minute and some of the details were wrong . For example they stated that our standing order for electricity payments had finished! It was very good that an assisstant from A&L went through all the instructions with me over the phone , on their bill as well! Anyway we sorted that out and the account progressed until---
We noticed that some annual payments were being sent every month. When we checked the details from the old bank again they had stated that all the SO's and DD's were monthly. Back to A&L assistant they helped retrieve some of the money but we had already received cheques from some puzzled companies and had to write and explain what had happened. The person at A&L was again helpful and went through the list to check which were annual payments and when they were due. What a fiasco!
The premier account incudes the following benefits :-
-Cash abroad, in local currency from a cash machine with a Visa or Plus sign.
-Cash card and cheque card and a Delta card all in one card .Delta enables you to pay for goods and takes the money straight from your account. The cheque card limit is £100.
-All the usual services at a cash machine ,check balances ,deposit cash and cheques ,get a mini statement with up to 10 redcent transactions on it,order cheque books and change PIN number .
-A cheque book.
-An overdraft facility ,if you want one. You don't pay any fees or interest on this in the first six months.
-For as long as the account is held you get free travel insurance for the account holders. You can pay to include children for specific holidays . I have read through the travel insurance document and it seems as comprehensive as any other I have come across.
-You can check your balance, arrange payments and transfer of funds all by phone. I think it is intended to be mainly a bank by phone service but you can go to a branch and they are setting up internet access to your account now. The phone service operates 24 hours a day.
-When we opened our account they had an offer whereby some money was paid into your phonesave account as a thankyou for opening the account, I think it was £100. You can transfer funds between the savings and current account just by phoning and check the balance in either account.
-Slightly on the down side - cheques clearance takes at least 4 days after the arrival of the cheque at their processing centre. I would imagine it is quicker with the bigger banks, but they are not a clearing bank.
The current interest rates are - 2.48% net rate p.a. on balances of £1 or more . And 9.9 % EAR or 0.79 per month on overdrawn accounts.
I have found that the account has run smoothly after the initial problems and that the staff,both over the phone and at the local branch have been helpful and friendly.
I'm sure I must have missed something out, and if you are still awake ,thank you for reading ,Susan.
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Dec 23rd, 2002
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