I have had an account with the Woolwich for all of my 26 years, my Grandmother having opened an account for me when I was born. Throughout that time I have tried and tested many of their accounts and feel suitably qualified to comment.
My overall opinion of the Woolwich is that it is a bank that has just got too big for its boots. It's savings products at one time competed with the best of the best, offering high rates and good incentives. Following privatisation there appears only to be one word on the lips of the directors - "profit".
I currently run several accounts at the Woolwich, ranging from a Prime Gold savings account paying a miserly fraction of a percent interest to an Open Plan savings account paying just over 5%. Take the Prime
Gold account as a good example of Woolwich policy. This account used to be one of the highest paying accounts on the market offering instant access counter service. It is a no frills account, you do not get a cheque book or a cash card and so can only access your money during banking hours. Why then are they paying less interest on this account now than on their current account where you do actually get a banking service?
Then there was the debacle with their Base Rate Tracker Bond. I was advised when this product came out that this was the way forward. The account would pay interest in accordance with the bank's base rate and would also pay a bonus amount of interest for the first few months. I wasn't convinced when they told me that I could run the account in exactly the same way as my Prime Gold account, with instant access to my money at any time and with the ability to add to the deposit since the product was described as a bond, but sure enough, the literature supported what the staff were saying. Having set up the account, about two weeks later, I decided to transfer funds from a postal account which was paying a slightly lower rate of interest to the bond. I arranged for a cheque to be drawn and presented it at the Woolwich only to be told, "sorry, that account is now closed and we cannot accept any more deposits." The cashier then proceeded to tell me that the Woolwich had changed their minds over what had proved to be a popular product and had decided to alter the terms. I could get money out, but I could not deposit any. No notice was given to investors of this change to the account and there were no notices in the branches. What made this worse is that at the time they could not offer me a product into which I could pay this cheque that was offering a rate of interest which was anything like the rate I was getting before I withdrew my money and, to add insult to injury, I could not re-deposit the money I had drawn out as the building society in question had legitimately closed the account.
The saga continues. I now have an open plan account which, no matter how often I try, I cannot access my data from a computer so my only option is telephone banking as I will be charged for branch counter transactions.
My tracker account has also just matured and in true Woolwich style the account they transferred the money to automatically was not paying the best rate of interest. I therefore have to go into a branch again and get the money moved.
You may think that I have just been unlucky, but it seems that there is a similar story wherever you look. My neighbours, both in their late 80s have just been advised by the Woolwich to put their life savings into a 5 year bond paying a pathetic 3.45%. They will not have access to this money and it does not strike me as a sensible idea to intentionally tie up someone's money when they are so elderly.
The Woolwich have no regard to who they are serving and I am convinced that their only objective is profit and that this should be achieved at all costs. Customer loyalty is an alien phrase, they should take a leaf out of the Leeds and Holbeck BS book who actively promote loyalty with special rates and incentives rather than the Woolwich approach of moving your money to a lower rate account or dropping the rates on existing accounts once they are no longer open for new subscribers.
If you have money in the Woolwich be very careful to review the products on a frequent basis to ensure that your money is working hard for you and that the terms of your accounts have not changed without you being notified.
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I have to agree with you, the Woolwich (Barclays) has lost both its identity and direction and is now just a front for Barclays shareholders.
mikeydred 13.03.2001 20:33
It's great to see people taking action over shabby service. I've settled with the Nationwide who are as perfect a financial institution as you could like. PS I've posted another comment on the William Orbit op in reply to yours.
tommartin 08.03.2001 14:57
Hey how dare you slag off the Woolwich, I worked in the customer call centre for about 6 months and it was absolutely, errrm RUBBISH (not really the choice of words I would use, if I could get away with it)! Honestly if you could see it from the inside you would cry, but only from laughter, it is the worst set up in the world and the level of care shown to the customers by the staff is non exsistant. I bet you didn't know that over 80% of the staff working for the Woolwich are Temps. I think the best thing that happened to the Woolwich was being taken over by Barclays. Although in all honesty, their open plan mortgage account is an absolutely brilliant account when things are running smoothly. Sorry if I had you worried at the beginning of this.
Advantages: Online/telebanking very easy to use and flexible, Can earn more interest Disadvantages: Can be difficult to track large numbers of transactions, Only limited counter services are free
cazm17 25.10.2002 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Woolwich Accounts
Advantages: Flexible Open Plan Mortgage can earn good interest which can reduce the mortage. Disadvantages: Setting up the account took forever to the point of getting close to loosing the property. Got some compensation though.
bunicadoca 01.09.2006 ·
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Review of Woolwich Mortgages
Advantages: Payoff chunks of mortgage whenever you want. Offsetting saving accounts, interest calaculated daily Disadvantages: Can be tempted to borrow to the max
odtaa 07.11.2008 (07.11.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Woolwich Mortgages
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Mar 2nd, 2001
(Mar 5th, 2001)
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