Intelligent Finance, run by Morons (update) (Intelligent Finance)

Member Name: gropes

Product:	Intelligent Finance
Date:	22/10/01 (411 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The scheme is intelligent

Disadvantages: The bank is run by morons

'There is no such thing as a free lunch', so the old adage goes. Unless, of course, you consider the 'interest free period' offered by your credit card company between paying for your purchase and paying their bill.

So if the credit card company offers you an interest free period of not 3 months (Providian, Associates), not 12 months (Cahoot), but indefinitely - at the expense of earning zero interest on your savings or current account,in the current climate of ultra low interest rates, it looks at least like getting the main course of the lunch for free if not the whole lunch.

I have some spare cash and some credit card borrowing which I keep sloshing from one interest free credit card account to another. As they are all introductory offers and I am a sucker for cheap borrowing and cash flow, the scheme offered by Intelligent Finance seems like a god-send.

Imagine if you will, not earning interest on your savings account (which most banks set at 3% or much less) vs not paying interest on your credit card borrowing (which ranges from 10% to 30% or more). With the stock market in free fall, I wanted to have the facility even if I were completely debt-free!

So I went on to Intelligent Finance's website, which seemed simple enough filling in my details.

Well, because that part was all automated, it felt painless and straight forward. But what follows is handled by people, and the people in this company seem to be the most incompetent and moronic bank employees you are likely to come across.

Without boring you with details, my initial application was rejected because my proof of (self-employed) income was contrary to my 'share of profit' income. All well and good. But whereas the rejection letter invited me to call their 'team' to discuss a lower credit limit, the member of the 'team' I talked to gave me the impression that I was completely rejected like a big blot in the
credit worthiness landscape.

Obviously I did not take this lying down and sent off a letter of complaint. Whereby the application process was restarted with a view to a lower credit limit.

Again I sent in my proof of income when the 'Welcome pack' arrived (and yes Screasey, they do tend to take the standard 2 weeks to arrive), which they sent back saying the process was going ahead.

And after weeks of radio silence, I got another 'welcome pack' requesting the same documents that had been returned to me.
I called the 'team' again and was eventually told by their 'self-employed team' (them or me??) that my account would be opened 'very soon'.

Another week went by and I made another enquiry, demanding to speak to someone in management who promised to call me back before she knocked off at 6pm on the Sunday. And then I got a call from an underling requesting more details. I told her not to waste any more of my time and talk to their 'self-employed team' who must have all the information they need.

The problem with this bank seems to be that the people who devised the scheme were geniuses compared with the people who run the place or carry out the staff training. You are assigned a rediculous number of codes and numbers which you are expected to quote before they can do anything. There are times when a person answers the phone to say someone who was 'authorised' would call me back, only to find that 'authorised person' knows less about my case than next door's cleaning lady.

I might also add that the bank's call centre is located in a part of the country where I find it hard to understand their accent (even though I went to university there) and the staff seem to be trained only in asking the same details until you demand to speak to someone with a bit more brain or seems to care.

Perhaps this is the price The Halifax expect you to p
ay for interest free credit, and I hate to imagine what kind of service I can expect once my account is finally opened, probably in 2025. In any case, the choice of the bank's name may be catchy and, erm, intelligent, but their employess are certainly anything but.

17th Dec update:

Sure enough, with my accoutn eventually opened, I logged into my account, only to find it ask me what my first shcool was. I honestly could not remember which one I put and how I put it. So 3 tries and I was suspended.

So I had to call those peopel whose accent I really don't understand, and they sent me another security form, and I called this automated number and put in my pin again.

I thought it was going to be junky dory. Alas when I logged in again a few weeks later I found my account was still suspended despite being able to log in!!!!

This time I was going away and had to know what the minimum I had to pay into my credit card - so talking to another moron and after eons of waiting they said they didn't know as they couldn't get at my details as my account was suspended. And I wasn't going to be around when yet another security form arrives. And even tho I may have internet access where I'm going I can't log in on the web!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even their computers are moronic!!! Wonder whether they've got funny accents too.

Summary: