Local banking makes all the difference. (Barclays Bank)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	Barclays Bank
Date:	24/12/08 (171 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Local branches with friendly staff.

Disadvantages: Bit hit and miss on the telephone banking side.

I have banked with Barclays for about 15 years and over that period of time have had mixed feelings about them.

We have one main branch in our City, with lots of satellite branches in the various market towns around. Although some of these small branches have closed over the years, most of them have remained open which gives a vital service to a lot of people in our rural areas. This is one of the reasons that I have stuck with Barclays.

Staff in the branch - generally I can't fault them. They are friendly, especially those in the rural branches who get to know their customers very well. They are helpful and polite and don't seem to go for the hard sell. Barclays staff are also very involved in community projects which brings a bit of a feel good factor into an otherwise boring banking "thing"!

Staff on the phone - well, this is a bit hit and miss. If you get the right person on the phone you can get your query answered easily, and quickly. However, quite often you are kept hanging on the phone for a long time while they try and find the answer - at a high cost of a phone call, which of course the customer is paying! - and quite often I have found that they simply give incorrect answers, and that it would have been better for me to have got into the car and gone into a branch. However, I don't suppose this is any more "hit and miss" than any other call centre.

Internet banking - this to me works really well. I can access my accounts 24 hours a day and see exactly what needs to be where. You now have to have a "pinsentry" gadget to allow you to log on - a sort of calculator sized thing that you use in conjunction with your chip and pin card. This is easy to use, but you do have to have it with you and that means carrying it in your bag or whatever wherever you go, if like me you want to access your account when at home or at work etc. I do like the fact, with internet banking, that I can switch money around quickly and easily, and to be honest it is very rare that internet banking is not working.

Range of products - Barclays offer a range of products, from simple current accounts, to accounts that you pay a monthly fee for, in exchange for a range of "benefits" such as breakdown cover, life insurance etc. I would recommend you look at these carefully - there are times when the benefits are well worth the monthly fee but other times when you are paying out a monthly fee and not using any of the benefits. You can easily cancel your monthly fee account and revert to a basic account if you need to.

An example of it being worth the money was when I had a winter of driving backwards and forwards to the continent - European breakdown cover with the main providers, eg Greenflag, RAC etc was very very expensive, yet with my barclays account I could upgrade to an additions plus account for £14.50 a month which gave me European breakdown as one of my benefits. After 6 months of travelling back and forth, I was able to cancel the extra benefits and not pay my £14.50 meaning my breakdown cover had cost me significantly less than a normal policy. I actually did break down in France and used my policy so got my money's worth!

Savings accounts - range from instant access online or over the counter accounts, through to accounts where you are locked in. Of course, interest rates are not great at the moment so it pays to shop around.

Loans and credit cards - again a range of products, with a range of APRs. I do think that the APRs from Barclays are high compared with base rates and other providers so again would suggest you shop around.

Charges - of course if you do not manage your money well, and go over your limits on your overdraft etc, Barclays will not hesitate to sting you. Bank charges are quite steep so please do your best to stay within your limits.

All in all, I don't think Barclays are any better or worse than any other main bank, but for me the local branches are worth sticking with them for.

Summary: Stay in your limits otherwise it will cost you big bucks!