Abbey National - Nationalising Creativity (Abbey National)

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Product:	Abbey National
Date:	31/07/02 (1117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant Customer Service, Wide Range Of Interactive Features ? Internet, Digital Television, Telephone, High Street, No Annual Fee On Credit Cards

Disadvantages: Branches Are Rather Rare, Some Uncompetitive Features

Abbey National is the major high street presence o0nline bank, which offers its users range of saving accounts and services. Like Barclays and Halifax, the service is also available through other media rather than just the high street, users can log onto their site or telephone their customer service; however, unlike Barclays or Halifax, the Abbey National is available on television through Telewest's and Sky's digital services.

The actual bank is very rare I found. But this is only comparing it with the Barclays' service. It is hard to find an Abbey National apart from in major cities and towns, but when you do find them, they are usually huge establishments whereas Barclays and Halifax have a few small ones scattered around the country.

The main colour scheme is the notorious red and green, which although in my opinion is rather poor; it does stand out of the crowd unlike Barclays and Halifax's colour schemes, which are almost identical.

I found that the advisors at the bank were always willing to help me, they were eager to here what I had to say and you felt more than just a walking bank account but more like a person with serious financial issues to confront. The advisors never deceived me and even informed me about the less beneficial aspects of the branch such as the credit card APR, in saying this advisors were happy to tour me on the full services and accounts offered by the branch, always asking "anything else sir"? This is why I have to say that the Abbey National offers the bet bank customer service that I have ever encountered.

Opening a bank account at the bank is rather simple and an advisor is willing to help and assist you in any queries and questions, which you might have. However, expect to receive a credit check before any credit cards are dished out into your hands. This is reasonable in order to establish a reliable and secure consumer base. Even if you fail the credit check, there
are alternatives such as bank accounts, which don't offer credit such as debit cards, and if nothing else, these will teach you how to spend just the money, which you have. and no more.

There are two main branches of separate cards. There is the multifunctional card and then there is the card cash card.

The card cash card is simpler than the multifunctional card because you do not have the ability to be given a check guarantee backdrop, nor do you have a credit hard, instead a debit one which allows you to purchase goods over the internet or phone providing you have enough physical monies in your account. However, with a card cash account, you do have the ability to withdraw funds from any cash machine, which is a Link or Abbey National, one. In these cash machines you will also have the ability to change your pin number at any time.

The multifunctional card is far more complicated; this card offers users the ability to essentially carry all three aspects of their account in one plastic card.

-Card cash
-A check guarantee
-A credit card

Now although this sounds all very good and rosy, imagine the horror of loosing this card, which essentially will give the finder access to every account held with the Abbey National building society. In saying this, Abbey National does allow their users to take out insurance security plans in the case of loss and theft. It is usually only a couple of quid a month and it gives you piece of mind if nothing else.

For people that require tax-free investment, the Abbey National has an individual savings account available or an ISA. With this account, despite your current tax band, you will never pay tax which is brilliant for long term and short term saving. Now although there are different ISA rates, the most common is the 3.40% gross account, which I discovered, was rather bland compared to offers from other banks.

The investments offered by the Abbey National
are usually stock market based and allow up to £7000 investment a year depending on Inland Revenue limits. There is the ability to apply online, depending on whether or not you have actually opened an account, but in saying this, users also have the ability to phone the customer service or visit the bank to discuss the terms and conditions and to seek extra advice.

The interactive services offered by the Abbey National I discovered were rather vast, I have online applied for certain loans, simply clicking the apply buttons opens new and existing customers up to a loan paradise. On the site, users will find a loan calculator which shall be helpful to no end and in addition to this, users will have the ability to see the current APR's, ranging from 7.1 to 16.9%.

The Abbey National credit card currently has an APR of 15.9%. The bank allows users to apply for a Visa or MasterCard and these offers are provided in conjunction with the MBNA bank of Europe. The introductory rate at the bank is 0% for sic month for new customers only. However, there are no monthly fees so you are never charged simply for having the card and although the APR here isn't too brilliant, there is always the chance to switch to a cash back scheme similar to the egg card.

I n conclusion I found my Abbey National experience to be both enriching and rewarding. Although the statistics that the bank offers aren't the most competitive, such is the credit card APR; there is one thing that the Abbey National prevails in, security, initiative and customer service.

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