Out of the habit (Abbey National)

Member Name: MichelleScott

Product:	Abbey National
Date:	23/01/02 (324 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None that other banks don't have

Disadvantages: Far too many to list

My husband and I have had a few bad experiences with Abbey National that put us off for life.

If started off OK, we banked with them for about 14 years. We had a current account, savings accounts, TESSAs and a mortgage. We went to them for financial advice and trusted them.

But after they changed into a bank, things went downhill. It was partly our own fault, we didn't keep a close enough check on our accounts. We discovered that they had been taking our mortgage payments out of our current account twice a month (instead of once a month) for a year. When we pointed it out to them, there was quite an argument, not even a hope of an apology.

Also, we were in the habit of keeping our mortgage payments at the high rate whenever the interest rate went down. We hoped to pay our mortgage off early this way. We accumulated £4,800 extra in our account this way. However, when we were moving house, the Abbey gave us the wrong figures as to what we owed. We thought we would be £4,800 better off than we were.

We felt cheated and disappointed by the Abbey. We approached Smile, the Internet Bank, to see how easy it would be to change our current account. Smile made it very easy, they handled most of it for us. The Abbey National again caused problems, though, because they didn't provide all the information they should have done to Smile on our behalf.


Here is a brief rundown of their services, in case you are interested :

They have a full range of banking services – savings, investments, credit card, mortgages, loans, etc. Their site (which, I have to grudgingly admit, is good – clear, easy to navigate and quick. Some grammatical errors though and annoying frog sounds) gives a list of reasons why people should choose Abbey National. I quote :

“We have been looking after people’s money since 1849” (even though they have been asking for it back since 1850)

“
;We are one of the largest and most secure financial institutions in the UK” (ooh, isn’t that just too tempting for a hacker?)

“We are committed to helping our customers get the best from their savings” (and we help ourselves to some of it too)

”Standard and Poor have awarded us an AA credit rating as an investment provide due to our financial strength” (Who? Are they the only ones?)

They claim they are there to help (pah!) and have lots of advisors in their branches to HELP you select an account or loan. Then their staff mysteriously disappear when you want to actually draw some money out of your account.



~ ACCOUNTS ~
They have a list of what they term ‘easy access’ accounts (meaning so little interest that you might as well not bother), then ‘serious savings & bonds’, investments, ISAs (and maturing TESSAs), pensions, etc. We had a number of accounts with them, including an old TESSA, that were earning pathetically little interest. When we switched them to Smile, we realised how much we had been cheated for years. Smile’s interest rates were – and still are – consistently higher, plus they keep you more informed of changes.


~ INTEREST RATES ~
Their interest rates on older accounts are very poor - and they don't bring this to their customers' attention. The staff are far more keen to sell you new accounts than service old ones. I was horrified one day to hear them trying to talk a little old lady into a 5-year investment plan. She obviously just wanted to leave, but the counter clerk kept badgering her. The counter staff must be on good commission.

For example : their current interest rate on their ‘Instant Saver’ account is just 0.16% net (0.20% gross).

Smile’s ‘No-notice Savings’ account gives 3.00% gross, or 3.75% if you have a current account as well.

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~ CUSTOMER SERVICE~
I live in a small but busy market town with a decent-sized Abbey National branch. Counter queues are always long and slow. They aren’t helped by the fact that the counter staff insist on trying to sell new accounts to every customer who has the staying power to make it to the counter.


Abbey National's customer service deteriorated seriously after they changed from being a mutual. I could not, in good faith, recommend them to anybody.

Summary: