Advantages: Competitive interest rate
Disadvantages: Unfriendly literature, unhelpful staff, website difficult to use

...I was attracted to the Alliance and Leicester's 'Online Saver' account because of the relatively high interest rate offered. Today when I checked, the interest rate is 5.35% which is higher than most of the mainstream competition. I applied for this account online via their website. I find their home page almost assaults the eye; it's as though they want to shout about every link on there and ultimately it's just too much and in my opinion it looks 'cheap'. It didn't take too long to complete the application form and about seven days later the account was set up. To notify me that my new account was ready, I received two letters through the post, one letter had a pin number and the other letter a username so that I could login. There was a minimal amount of detail in the letter, just barely enough instructions to get you logged in... 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: £100 bonus, Free travel insurance, on-line application
Disadvantages: None apparent as yet.

...So far - so good! Alliance & Leicester Premier Current Account I decided that it was about time I looked around to see if I could get a better deal from my bank, having spent 20+ years with the same major player, more out of apathy than loyalty. I did a bit of research and found that I could open the Alliance and Leicester Premier Current Account on-line and if I used their Premier Switching service to move my direct debits and standing orders, they would match my overdraft limit with my current bank, subject to certain conditions, give me a minimum overdraft of £250 and not charge me any fees for going over my overdraft limit during the switching period. Additional benefits are £100 for opening my account, FREE European annual multi-trip travel insurance(for eligible account holders up to the age of 65) and a linked Plus... Read review

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Advantages: QUICK ACCESS TO CASH
Disadvantages: THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE

...I have been an Alliance And Leicester/Giro Bank customer for just over one year. The standard of Customer Service has dropped since i have been banking with them.When i transfered my bank account from HSBC they were only too happy to get me signed up for their UNDER 18 VISA ELECTRON DEBIT CARD ACCOUNT. The account is probably the best around, better than SOLO and SWITCH. The bank offers you competitive rate of interest which is variable and can change from time to time and at present that rate is 3.90% Gross AER.Interest is added to the account each month depending on when you order your statements. The other benefits of the account its self is that you can withdraw upto £250 a day from any cash machine without being charged by using the other banks ATM (Automatic Teller Machine). You can check your account balance by either Mobile... Read review

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Advantages: Friendly local help, internet and phone access to account.
Disadvantages: Slow to process cheques.

...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... Read review

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Advantages: Money back, no annual fee.
Disadvantages: Quadruple cash back partners not as accesible.

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Advantages: lower monthly repayments and flexibility
Disadvantages: interest paid off first

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Advantages: telephone banking
Disadvantages: low skilled unhelpful service

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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: High Interest
Disadvantages: Staff

...UPDATE as at 02/05/03 ** The customer service at the Alliance and leicester branch did not improve and if anything became worse, I closed my mini isa with them yesterday as did my mum and they didn't even ask why we were closing it.*** Before I go into the product itself which in case you were wondering is a mini cash ISA let me tell you how I came to decide it was the best option for me. I have decided to go to Australia on holiday next February so in order to save for it I came to the conclusion I needed a savings account separate to the one I have with my bank (small matter of tending to dip into it). PLANNING ******** Before I began to look for an additional savings account I had to decide what did I want from it, I would recommend the following exercise to anyone looking into taking out a savings account it will help... Read review

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