Not that bad! (Abbey National)

Member Name: pcharles82

Product:	Abbey National
Date:	21/05/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Online Banking

Disadvantages: Mortgage Deals

I have been with Abbey National or Abbey as they are now called for many years, every since I setup a savings account when I was very young. I have seen a few very negative reviews but although they are not the best company to bank with I can't believe they would be the worst. I find their online banking very useful, it is rarely unavailable and makes the process of transferring money between accounts, checking and deleting Direct Debits very easy. One of the products from Abbey that I wouldn't recommend is their mortgages, their rates are hardly competitive and recently with all the interest rate cuts Abbey seem to be the worst at cutting their SVR inline with Bank of England's cuts. If there are any reasonable deals these are only offered to new customers. When I moved house recently and had to borrow more money, it wasn't until after that I realised that they charged be a £220 fee to port my existing mortgage deal over even though I was told I would not be charged, after a number of phone calls they eventually gave me the money back, just goes to show that you should follow these things up. If you take out a mortgage, watch out for their persistent attempts to sell you critical/life insurance and their own home insurance. I have also had a credit card with Abbey which I have never had any problems with, a couple of times I got charged a late payment fee but upon contacting them they usually waive it.

Not that bad of a company apart from the mortgage side of things.

Summary: Overall not too bad apart from their mortgages.