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Norwich & Peterborough Building Society
by bobbieal The Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N&P) merged with the Yorkshire Building Society in 2011. Its head office is in Peterborough, but the group's head office is in Bradford. N&P is now just a trading name of the Yorkshire, but offers quite different products to the others parts of the Yorkshire group. The ... Yorkshire Building Society is the 2nd biggest building society in UK (out of 47) with assets of £33,177 million (as of Dec 2011; source - Building Societies Association). It is protected by the FSCS, meaning that all savings up to £85,000 per person are fully guaranteed by the government in the unlikely event that the Yorkshire were to go bust. It is worth noting that all your accounts with the Yorkshire group are included in this £85,000, so add up everything you have with N&P, Yorkshire, Chelsea and Barnley building societies when calculating how much you have in the Yorkshire group. The Yorkshire (and hence N&P) is owned by its members (it's a mutual society) and so has no share-holders. While this might seem quite a minor difference, it means that there are no big investors baying for huge profits at the expense of the customer, as could happen with high street banks like Lloyds, HSBC etc. It also means that they are governed by slightly different legislation to the banks. They are not allowed to take part in some of the more risky types of investment instruments, such as some derivatives trading, and they are only allowed to speculate if it is to minimize their risk, Whereas the big banks, as we all know, can speculate on a huge variety of instruments and often derive their profits from this speculation. The advantage of this for the members (all borrowers and savers are members of the society subject to meeting certain minimum criteria) is that there are not likely to be any nasty surprises in the form a huge trading loss, and that any profits can be kept within the building society rather than being paid out to external investors. I have been a customer of the N&P Building Society for about 20 years. I have had a number of savings accounts and current accounts with them over the years. I tend to try to open my accounts with the N&P online, although I do pop in to one of their branches from time to time, if I am in the area. They have 45 branches, mostly in the Norwich, Peterborough and Cambridge area. The staff have always been friendly and helpful, although I find that they like to stick to what they know; so if I have something a bit out of the ordinary to do, I try to do it by post at head office. The N&P does have some very good accounts. Currently (October 2012), they have several high paying regular savings accounts with their E-Family regular saver and Gold regular saver accounts both paying 5% fixed for a year. That's a great rate. However, the one catch is, once you have had one, you can never have another one again - it's a one shot account, if you like. N&P also has other regular savers paying 4% - also a very good rate - but with the same 'one time only' catch. Having said that, get one for a year and enjoy the interest rate. The N&P also offers a steady-eddy E-saving account paying 2.50% for instant access (October 2012). Of course, like all building societies, it has its share of poor accounts - for example the NetMasterGold Saver II, which only pays 0.35% - so it pays to check out the rates before deciding where to put your hard earned cash. There is also a range of cash ISAs (the N&P does not offer JISAs nor stocks and shares ISAs), but none of these is remarkable, all paying decent but far from table-topping rates. N&P offers 2 current accounts - Gold Classic and Gold Lite. Both accounts have minimum activity requirements to avoid paying a £5 per month fee - for the Classic you have to pay in a minimum of £500 per month and for the Lite you must make 5 transactions a month. Although neither account pays interest on credit balances, they both have the advantage of free card usage abroad (so you can take cash out of an ATM or pay in a shop without that sneaky 2.5% extra charge being added on top) and they offer free Sentinel protection for your keys, cards and documents. The accounts do all the usual things - direct debits, standing orders, cheque book, debit card etc. While I don't use my N&P current account as my main account, I do like to know that I have my cards protected for free and I do use my N&P debit card for all my overseas transactions. The N&P offers a reasonable credit card, a variety of mortgages (including discount and fixed rates) and insurance. I have not used them for these products; although I have obtained insurance quotes, I have always found that I could get the same or better cover cheaper elsewhere. I use the N&Ps internet banking and find it easy to use and efficient. Nothing too exciting, but it does what I want it to do, so I cannot complain. In short, the N&P offers some good savings accounts and offers one of the only UK current accounts to offer a debit card that is free to use abroad. It's definitely worth considering, especially if you holiday abroad. My reviews may also appear on Ciao and other sites under the same user name. © BobbieAl 2012 Read the complete review |
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Buckinghamshore Building Society
by bobbieal The Buckinghamshire Building Society was founded in 1907. It was originally called the Chalfont & District Permanent Building Society but was renamed the Buckinghamshire in 1961. Its head office and only branch is in Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire. The Bucks is the 40th biggest building society in UK (out of 47) with ... assets of £172 million (as of Dec 2011; source - Building Societies Association). It is protected by the FSCS, meaning that all savings up to £85,000 per person are fully guaranteed by the government in the unlikely event that the Bucks were to go bust. The Bucks is owned by its members (it's a mutual society) and so has no share-holders. While this might seem quite a minor difference, it means that there are no big investors baying for huge profits at the expense of the customer, as could happen with high street banks like Lloyds, HSBC etc. It also means that they are governed by slightly different legislation to the banks. They are not allowed to take part in some of the more risky types of investment instruments, such as some derivatives trading, and they are only allowed to speculate if it is to minimize their risk, Whereas the big banks, as we all know, can speculate on a huge variety of instruments and often derive their profits from this speculation. The advantage of this for the members (all borrowers and savers are members of the society subject to meeting certain minimum criteria) is that there are not likely to be any nasty surprises in the form a huge trading loss, and that any profits can be kept within the building society rather than being paid out to external investors. I have been a customer of the Bucks Building Society for about 5 years. I have had a number of regular savings accounts with them over the years. I live too far away from Chalfont St Giles to travel there just to open a new account. However, most of their accounts can be opened by post. I have found the Bucks to be very efficient and it rarely takes more than a week from my posting the application form to my receiving my passbook. The Bucks does have some good savings rate. Currently (October 2012), they are offering a kids' JS100 account paying 3%, a Cash ISA also paying 3%, a regular saver paying 3.50% and a 2 year fixed rate bond paying 3.30%. However, their instant access and notice accounts pay paltry rates and are easily beaten. I find that it is worth checking the Bucks website directly as they are too small to appear on most price comparison websites, yet the FSCS guarantee means that your money is as safe with them as with any other UK building society covered by the FSCS. The Bucks also offers mortgages. While their range is much smaller than some of their bigger rivals, they do have some interesting products. They are currently offering a stepped owner/occupier mortgage and a buy to let mortgage. I have not used them for any of these products. The Bucks is always worth checking directly when looking for a new savings account or mortgage. Although they may be small, they are efficient and fully protected by the FSCS. My reviews may also appear on Ciao and other sites under the same user name. © BobbieAl 2012 Read the complete review |
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Santander
by MsRachF I was reminded today how utterly frustrating and useless Santander are. I have had my account for 10 years. The major mess up was 5 years ago, when 1 year after I moved house, a year during which all of my statements and communications from then Abbey National had been sent to my new address they sent my new debit card to my ... old address! I found out about this mistake after a number of phone calls to the telephone banking service, during the first call an member of staff in a foreign call centre told me my card had been cancelled because they had been informed I was no longer living! Yes he told me they thought I was dead! After a visit to the branch where I opened the account where the member of staff I spoke to was baffled because apparently a card would not be stopped until a death certificate was produced, I eventually spoke to a member of staff in Glasgow call centre who was actually polite and competent and understood the computer system and was able to tell me what actually happened was my new card was sent to my old address the person living there rang the bank and told them I was no longer living...at that address! The first person hadn't opened the note on my account and read the whole message. So once we worked out what had happened and why the card I had (which was still in date) wasn't working the man they sent out another card and also a new PIN number. However, unbelievably after reassuring me they definitely had my new address (well not really new, remember I had been living and receiving bank statements there for a year) updated on the account they sent these two separate envelopes, one containing the card, one containing the PIN number to my old address again! Giving the person living there full access to my account. I discovered this when I went to meet with assistant manager of my local branch to complain about the first incident and being told they thought I was dead. She read out the balance of my account, it was £350 less than it should be, when I questioned this she read from her screen that I had withdrawn it a couple of days before, I quickly pointed out that I didn't have access to my account via ATM at the moment due to them cancelling my card. She told me the fraud team would initiate an investigation. In the meanwhile I was worried being unable to pay my rent (I was a student and a single parent, £350 was a lot of money!), they wouldn't extend my overdraft while they investigated because I was already at their approved limit. I rang the branch where I met with the assistant manager a few times to try and hurry things along as my rent was now due, she started to avoid my phone calls. So then I went to the branch and she refused to see me, instead I met with manager who refused to admit the bank was at fault or to apologise. She did agree to speak to my landlord though to explain that they were investigating fraud on my account and prior to that activity I did have the available funds to pay my rent, I rang him explained and said "so I'm going to hand you over to X the branch manager who will confirm this and apologise for the delay in you getting your rent. Ha! Anyway, it did get sorted, the money was returned to my account and a new debit card was sent to the branch. I switched my main account to RBS, paid off my overdraft and downgraded the account to a basic one with a cash card only which I use for holiday savings. I had a number of things I wanted to do with the account today 1. Change my address again, uh oh! 2. Update the phone number linked to my Internet banking so I could receive a OTP via text allowing my to set up a new payment (to my RBS account to pay for a flight) online. I couldn't update the phone number over the phone because I couldn't remember the old one. I couldn't set up the payment over the phone because I didn't have a telephone banking number (I had to speak to 3 people to ascertain this). 3. Set up the above payment and transfer the money for the flight. So I went into the branch today for the first time in years, hopeful that things might have improved. I went to the cashier, produced my bank card and told her I wanted t change my address, "oh we'll you need to fill in a form," she said, "is there no-one at reception?" there wasn't, she gave me the form and a pen and photocopied my ID (note at RBS I went to the cashier, put my card in the machine, entered my PIN and she changed my address, hassle free). I told her I also wanted to update the number linked to my Internet banking so I could receive OTPs and asked if the same form would allow me to do this, she told me yes, they would sort that out at reception. I asked how long it would take to change the details as I was wanting to transfer some money, she said they would do it straight away, or if not within 24hours. I said I'd like to set up the payment now then, so I could transfer the money straight away, after much deliberation and discussing with her colleague about what I wanted and whether she could do it (she even suggested I do it online, despite the conversation moments beforehand) she eventually did what I asked, after again asking to see my ID when I told her the amount I wanted to transfer. So after this I filled in the form to change my address and handed in to the member of staff now at reception, I reiterated that I wanted to change the mobile number linked to my mobile banking do that I could receive OTPs, turns out they wouldn't have automatically done it from the form, he made a separate note. I asked how long it would take before this was updated and I could use this facility, he said "oh I think 5 working days"! It's almost laughable how completely clueless and incompetent they all seem to be, if it wasn't for the fact they have my money! I plan on closing the account and just using RBS for my banking, I have no doubt that all high street banks have their faults, but at least the staff at RBS are able to carry out simple administrative tasks quickly and easily, and have a basic understanding of how things work and how long they take (I use words like 'simple' and 'basic' not to imply this is all the staff at RBS are capable of but to highlight what the staff at Santander at not! I've never wanted anything complicated or complex from them, just straightforward presumably everyday things and they can't even get that right). Read the complete review |
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