Advantages: Great customer service.
Disadvantages:

...I have had an Alliance & Leicester current account for over a year now and I can honestly say that I have never had any problems with them. My account probably offers much the same as any other bank would do, yet this is not really where Alliance & Leicester excel. Firstly, they have an excellant customer service and if I have ever had any problems, then they have sorted it out very quickly and without fuss. Another area where they excel is the number of ways that you can make lodgements -through the post, at an Alliance & Leicester branch or at the post office. Finally, Alliance & Leicester have many different options for tracking your banking. They have an automated telephone system where you can check your account and much more. Also, they have an internet site that allows you to print statements, check your account and order... Read review

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Advantages: No annual fee
Disadvantages: Transaction costs with dividends

...There are not many providers of Self Select ISAs however Alliance Trust are one of them. It is even better that they do not charge an annual fee provided you hold at least 1 share in The Alliance Trust itself. I have no idea how well the Alliance Trust shares perform in comparison with other Investment Trusts but in essence I do not really mind. There are however a couple of issues to be wary of, the cheapest way of buying and selling shares is to use a bulk purchase option which is done once a week. This keps dealing costs down but does leave you feeling that you dont know whether the best price has been obtained. The other problem is that each time dividends are paid they go into the account and you have to set up what you want to do with them. The cheapest option is to reinvest them in Alliance Trust Shares. This only cost £1... Read review

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Advantages: The great plot and involving story. AND YOU FLY THROUGH THE DEATH STAR!
Disadvantages: The graphics are getting on.

...What makes Star Wars so appealing? Is it the fight of good agaisnt evil? Is it the technology that is so advanced we are able to fly around in space without the need for oxygen? Or could it be the fighting and lightsabers? Whatever it is, Star wars is a global phernomeon, and George Lucas will die happy (will happen one day unfortuantly). The latest Starwars space sim game, X wing Alliance, is by far the best. Instead of counting on missions to set forward the plot, X wing Alliance has a far superior plot to the previous games, and this makes it much more involving. The great feature of earning medals and awards is still there, and the final level, the flight through the Death Star 2, is what fans have been dieing to do for many years. The graphics are getting a bit old now, and it doesn't look like there will be another sequal, but we... Read review

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Advantages: £50, Phone Banking
Disadvantages: Changing your bank is never fun

...I joined Alliance & Leicester as a current account customer about eighteen months ago, at the same time as changing job. They gave me a welcome pack with standard letters to send out to change direct debits and standing orders, and for your place of work to pay your wages into your new account. They gave me £50 once three months salary had gone in (this needed to exceed £500 per month). I make use of their excellent touchtone telephone banking service on which I check my balance (even looking at recent transactions) pay my Alliance & Leicester credit card. There are plenty of cashpoints on the Link network and it has some link with the post office network that you can use.... Read review

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Advantages: Money back, excellent service.
Disadvantages: None

...If you pay your credit card off in full, then this is the card for you! I have had an Alliance& Leicester credit card for around two years and found this to be much better than any rivals. I pay for my shopping, petrol, car, household insurance etc. with the card, pay the balance off in full at the end of each month, so as not to incur any interest charges. Once a year, around January or February, Alliance & Leicester send me a cheque, last year it was well over £60, and this for just using the card for my day to day business!! This is most helpful, especially after the expense of Christmas. I also had my card stolen recently, and Alliance & Leicester were very helpful. When someone tried to use my card, they contacted me immediately, subsequently the debit never appeared on my statement, nor did I have to claim from my insurers... Read review

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Advantages: No action needed once signed up
Disadvantages: Extra family members need to be paid for

...Royal & Sun Alliance Travel Insurance for free? Yes, it's true (sort of). I'll explain. If you are a Natwest Bank account holder earning more than £20,000 p.a. (I think), then you qualify for a NatWest Advantage Gold account (including Gold Visa card). Initially, when the £6/month account charge is explained, you might think that you've got better things to do with £72 p.a. than pay a bank any extra. However, there are several benefits which the regular traveller might like to consider:- Free travel insurance for self and partner, underwritten by Royal & Sun Alliance. This pays the account charge in itself. Extra family members can be tacked on as and when for a reasonable fee Then you get commission-free foreign currency transactions. Coupled with other benefits like credit card cover, this starts to cost in for the regular... Read review

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Advantages: Can with draw money from rural post offices
Disadvantages: If you live in a rural area and don't have an account you stuck!

...I come from a rural area where post offices are literally the only way to bank, since selling my car its either walk to the nearest town or use the post office. Yet dispite this fact the Alliance and Leicester have refused to let me open a bank account with them on two occasions. I even explained to them the only way I can get cash in an emergency is at my local post office, yet they did not want to know. The only debts I have are student loans, I have a full time job, I didn't even apply for an overdraft or cheque book facilities. Is there some thing else I don't know about. The first time I applied to them fair enough I was straight out of university and only had a temporary job, but two years later with a full time job, what is wrong with these people? I is hard enough surviving in rural areas if you don't have easy access... Read review

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Advantages: Able to offer cheap quotes
Disadvantages: See op

...The company ------------ Royal & Sun alliance is a leading insurance company for building & contents although they do offer various other products but are well known for insuring the above. They offer Insurance direct or through intermediaries such as AA, Swinton, Sainsbury's insurance e.t.c. which are all paid commission by Royal & Sun alliance. (they have also recently launched there new service known as More than offering slightly cheaper quotes.) My Experience. -------------- I took out an insurance policy with them through AA & Swinton not knowing that my house was insured by Royal & Sunalliance for both contents & buildings rather than AA or Swinton. Which realised when I made a claim later that year. When my household insurance was due for renewal I decided to go direct thinking it would save money as there would... Read review

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Advantages: Low rate, if your circumstances fit; No broker fees
Disadvantages: Poor communication in later stages of application; Individual circumstances ignored

...For those of you who have read my review on 'Freedom Finance', you will already know that I was not impressed with Alliance and Leicester. I thought it would be useful, however, to provide a more detailed account of the experiences I had with this company. Back in February, my husband and I decided that we needed to consolidate some of our debts (credit cards etc) in order to achieve a lower monthly payment and to avoid the interest that was being added to these accounts every month. I was soon going to be on maternity leave and we were looking into lots of ways to cut down on our monthly outgoings. I decided to use the moneysupermarket website in order to find a loan company. Alliance and Leicester was the company that it found with the lowest rate, 6.3%, which I thought was really competitive. I filled in the short online... Read review

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Advantages: None in my opinion!
Disadvantages: Dangerous method of storing your cash.... under present rules!

...I feel that it is only fair to warn the Alliance and Leicester of an obvious security flaw in their system. Recently, a neighbour of mine was perturbed to discover - that unknown to him- someone had opened an account with a competitor of the Alliance and Leicester (The Abbey National) to be precise. That being distubing enough...my neighbour then discovered, that not only had these person(s) opened an account -without his knowledge- they had also used the card that they had aquired, to open several other accounts. One of these accounts being with the Alliance and Leicester. The thing that was most disturbing was, that any member of the public, should be able to aquire an account in any-one's name.... and all without producing a passport,driving licence or birth certificate... Now from where I am standing, that seems rather 'sus... Read review

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