Don't do it. (Alliance & Leicester)

Member Name: ZarZar1990

Product:	Alliance & Leicester
Date:	14/11/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None over any other bank.

Disadvantages: Proven highest charges for overdraft, check out Money saving expert for proof

I am not a fan of Alliance and Leicester.
My main reasons for this are:
-When going £3 over drawn I was instantly charged £50, no letter to let me know, no phonecall, I would not have known unless I had phoned them to enquire to my balance.

-They upped my interest rate for my allowed overdraft without telling me, when I first opened the account I was told it would be no more than £5 per month, it is now 50p a day which makes it around £15 per month.

-Their website is not very user friendly, Lloyds tsb's website is much better and easier to use, Alliance and Leicester's is pretty much useless.

-Their customer service skills are terrible on the phone, they bark at you asking for your name, and can't take payments from other bank accounts over the phone! So when I went overdrawn I had to then ring Lloyds and get them to pay the money into the account.

-To access your statement online you need a 5 digit pin, I lost mine, and have requested it several times to no success!

-Again, I realise being charged for going overdrawn is something all banks do, but the charges A&L make are completely unreasonable and they don't even let you know they've charged you!
Lloyds for example have a tariff where if you go overdrawn for not very long, by a small amount, its a £15 charge, still not ideal but better than £50!!

As soon as I clear my overdraft I'm never banking with these again, I realise going over my overdraft was my fault (although it was an accident as it was their increased interest rates which caused me to become overdrawn!) but the penalty was not fitting for the crime!

Summary: Nooo