READ AND BEWARE (Bank of Scotland)

Member Name: leeanne160480

Product:	Bank of Scotland
Date:	27/11/08 (148 review reads)
Rating:

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You will get value for money from this review because technically I am writing about 2 Bank of Scotland products in this one review.

First I will start with the good bits.

This has been the only bank i've used. I've been banking with this bank for about 12 years and although when I first joined and I was putting hardly any money in, as being a typical teenager I spent my pocket money instead of saving it. After all that's what we do isn't it?

Eventually I got myself an all singing, all dancing card. A Switch card with a £100 overdraft and a Cheque Book. Unfortunately being a bit of a stupid student who liked to spend I ended up getting a bit into trouble and not paying my overdraft when it was meant to be paid and kind of messing the bank about. I ended up with a mark on my credit file and when it was time for my Bank Card to be reissued they gave me a Solo card. "What's This?" I thought. The bank said that was the only card they could give me, as I no longer met their criteria for a Switch Card. The Solo card was just a bank card that you could pay direct debits, pay in shops with (although a lot of shops didn't accept it - how annoying) and just take money out. They stopped Solo cards a few years ago and they were replaced by Visa Electron cards, and Switch cards were replaced by Visa Debit cards.

I have never escaped the banks wrath and still have an Electron Card today. It wouldn't bother me so much, but I guess it is a bit of a status symbol and this card is usually for people with credit problems, or younger bankers. I find that although my card is meant to last for 3 years it only takes about 3-4 months for the cellophane to start curling at the corners and peeling. Also since the numbers aren't embossed onto the card and only printed on then the print rubs off and I really have to squint to read the numbers off. It's not so bad with chip and pin thesedays, but my signature rubs off the signature strip at the back and I used to get funny looks in shops when they had to check my signature.

Now for the bank itsself. The branch I use is quite good. Sometimes there is a queue to get served, other times it is a bit quicker. They have an express pay in service here as well where you can put up to £250 in cash and unlimited cheques into a bank printed envelope and put it into their internal post box and this gets checked twice a day and they put the money and cheques automatically into your bank. I use this often as i'm an Avon rep and pay Avon through my bank, so I have some of these envelopes handy in my house to put the money in and often go to the bank after hours to put the money in. A great idea. You can put any notes into this envelope, but infortunately no coins.

I also use internet banking a lot and it is so easy to just log on and check your balance, set up standing orders or transfer money over. I use this function a lot. I am registered for telephone banking and although it is an 0845 number and I often grudge the charges for this I am never waiting too long to speak to someone. Also i'm not being nasty here, but this is a UK call centre, so they are really easy to understand.

I find that the banks are becoming a bit too friendly thesedays. What do I mean by that? Well it seems like they are no longer just banks. When I go in they now try to sell you mortgages, loans, house insurance and so on. I know they do these products, but i'm of the mindframe that if I want something like this from somewhere like this then I can decide on my own. I had a sort of bad experience to do with the Banks selling.

When I was in putting money in and they noticed my tatty card they asked if I was interested in upgrading my card to a Visa Debit card. I said I would love to and said that I'd had problems in the past and that's how I ended up with the VIsa Electron in the first place. The woman said "No problem, you've got a good wage coming in, we can sort it for you!" So They put a cancel on my card for a few weeks time and went about ordering me up a new card. Unfotrunatley the bank still hadn't forgiven me and still wouldn't give me a Visa Debit card, so they had to order me another Visa Electron card. Although I was still able to use my old card in the mean time and there was plenty of overlap from the new card coming and the old card getting cancelled I was due money back from a company that I had overpaid. They were unable to process my refund as they could only refund back to how I paid and since my long card number on my card had now changed due to getting a new card then it took about 6 weeks of constantly being on their case that they eventually sent me out a cheque. I know the bank was perhaps just doing their job, but perhaps they should have done a credit cheque first of all before cancelling the card down.

So this all sounds good - right? Well I had a major problem with this bank back in february which affected a huge part of my life. Curious? Just read on ......

In 1999 I applied for a Bank Of Scotland Visa card. I got one straight away and at a £500 credit limit it wasn't the largest limit, but kind of manageable. I was a student then so a bit extra spends and I couldn't run up a huge debt. I think if I spent the whole £500 I had to pay back about £18 a month. Over the years they kept putting the limit up. I know I didn't have to keep spending it, but by this time I was in a job that I liked, but with bosses that I sort of didn't. I found happiness with spending until the bills kept coming in and I got into debt with this card. I was at the point where I was paying this, but then having to use the card to withdraw the money back out and also pay for shopping on the card as I was in a vicious circle where all my money was going to maintain the debt and I wasn't getting anywhere!

I contacted Visa to say I was in trouble and they said they couldn't help me as my account was marked as a good account as I had never paid late or missed any payment. the woman I spoke to said strangly enough if I was to miss my next payment then it would mark my account and they could freeze interest and help me to start clearing the debt. Sounded like what I had to do then, so I done what they said.

Unfortunatley they then passed it over to their collections department who certainly weren't as sympathetic. To put you in the picture my minimum monthly payment was £420 and I was getting charged £170 in interest alone. I was getting threatening letter and phonecalls about this debt, so I spoke to the Citizen's Advise and they told me to write a letter. Strangely enough they didn't receive the letter - I didn't think to send it recorded. So my next letter was sent recorded delivery so they couldn't say they didn't get it. When I kept phoning to say did they get my letter I got told that they get so many letters then it can take up to 8 weeks for them to actually read them.

I was going round in circles and getting more down. They also wanted an income and expenditure which I gave them. Anyway since they were part of my own bank then they should have known where my money was going.

Last November they finally agreed to a payment plan I set about paying them £100 a month. Yes, not that much, but it was a realistic offer that I could afford. After all there was no point in promising to pay something that I couldn't afford.

In January this year my payment came out and I had to cancel a few direct debits from my bank due to a problem in my bank, so I phoned up the telephone banking and quoted the direct debit details for their collections department that was on my letter from the bank. So it was set up for to take the monthy payments just the same as before and in plenty time for them to get the money. I also got a letter from my bank confirming it and saying I was covered by the direct debit guarantee. So I forgot about it.

At the end of February I checked my online banking and saw that £400 had been taked out of my bank. All it said next to the £400 was Cash. I knew I hadn't taked £400 out of the bank, as I was only allowed to take out £350 out at one go and also I couldn't afford to just take out £400 anyway.

I phoned the bank to find out what had happened and they said that Since Visa was part of Bank Of Scotland then they were entitled to take that £400 and not give me it back. I asked why they had taken it, they said that since I hadn't paid them the £100, even though it was set up for to be taken from my bank and I had the letter and everything they said they hadn't received it. They went in and took the money on my payday and they said that I could afford to pay it.

By now I was in tears as that was my mortgage payment and although my mortgage was also with the Bank of Scotland they weren't budging on giving me that money back. I also had a secured loan at this time and asked them what they were going to do about it, as the loan was secured against the house and I was going to end up being charged by my mortgage company and also the loan company. The woman said she would speak to her boss and see what they could do. They offered to give me the £400 back but only if I could prove I had these 2 things to pay. I thought this an odd request as since they had went into my bank and taken my money, then surely they could check my direct debits as well.

So I had to phone my mortgage and loan companies and ask them to send a letter proving I currently had to pay them. In order to get the letters without getting a charge from them for requesting letters then I had to cancel my direct debits, then set them straight back up. That way it automatically generated a letter that had up to date payment information on it.

Since it took about a week of doing all this I ended up with a £30 from my mortgage company and a £30 charge from my loan company, even though I had told them what had happened. I even offered to send them copies of my bank statement, but it didn't really show what had happened. I since was able to re-claim the charge back from the mortgage company, but the loan company wouldn't budge, as thy kept spouting about terms and conditions. I didn't do wrong though.

So eventually I got the £400 back in my bank. I then found out that they did get their £100 payment on the correct date, but the bank information that the bank gave me for direct debit was out of date and 1 digit had changed, so I then had to chase up this missing payment. I then found out that my payment had been sitting in a ceased account that no longer existed and they put it over to my Visa account.

So by the start of march this was all sorted and what was I doing in March? Looking for a new mortgage. What did it show on my credit file? Missed mortgage and loan payment. How long would it take to update the information on my credit file to say I had made the payments? 6 months. I didn't have that time, as our house was under offer and our currenty mortgage provider - Bank Of Scotland wouldn't touch me, as I was considered "A risk" because of the late payment. So I ended up with a fixed mortgage rate 7% and to think myself lucky. I also had to pay my mortgage company £60 to fill out a report about me to say if I was a good payer for the rest of the time and my whole new mortgage offer depended on this report being satisfactory.

In the months after all the drama I was so wary of the bank, would they take more money from me? So far no, but I certainly wont trust them as far as I could throw them!

Sorry for maybe going on, but it's a story that had to be told. Thanks for the read/rate

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