Bank of Ireland-Great Mortage Service (Bank of Ireland)

Member Name: Lucille

Product:	Bank of Ireland
Date:	17/08/00 (191 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent customer service

Disadvantages: Not many branches

I have just been through the trauma which is known as house moving. This opinion would go on for days if I went into all the terrible details and problems of the last few months, (I won't!). However there has been one small piece of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy picture. This was the Bank of Ireland.

I had never heard of them when they were suggested by my financial advisor, but once we started dealing with them I found them brilliant. Me and my husband are not the easiest of cases when applying for a mortgage. He is an IT contractor and I'm an at-home mother, this was no problem. We also wanted to complete on our new mortgage before repaying the existing one, (one of many problems we had with our buyers) Again, because it was for a short period of time, no problem. Our life assurance was slow coming through, a way round this was found. Proof of how good they were is that we received the mortgage offer on a Tuesday, and completed the sale on the following Monday, (we did already have another mortgage offer).

When I have had to ring them, I found their customer services to be helpful and knowledgeable. Also, unlike other bigger banks you can always get through quickly on the phone, and are not put in a queue for ages. I also had to visit a branch, and found the people there helpful and genuinely interested in my problems.

The only downside I can see is that they don't have many branches in England, Scotland and Wales. I'm lucky, I live about 10 minute car journey from one, but as I have already said the phone service is excellent, and so this may not be a problem. Also the mortgage rate was good for us, other people may be able to find better elsewhere. However for excellent customer service, I don't think you can beat the Bank of Ireland.

Summary: