A day in the life of a Middle Manager...

Changing Banks

I've recently arranged to change banks for the first time since I was 16. Reasons are many and plentiful but the main one is that I was really sick of getting extremely bad customer service.

For instance, I was in a position last year where I needed to come to an arrangement on the mortgage - essentially make an arrangement where I only paid the interest for a few months to reduce the outgoings. This wasn't an issue until the bank in question (and you can make guesses about who it is if you like - suffice to say it is the largest mortgage lender in the UK) suddenly stopped taking ANY money out of the current account I also held with them for the mortgage.

After 4 months of them not taking the money suddenly I get a letter from them stating I was seriously in arrears and I was going to have to pay penalties for neglecting to pay them. As this was completely their fault there was absolutely no way I was going to pay any penalty whatsoever and I told them so. They removed the penalty but would not apologise and could not tell me why they had neglected to take what was due when it was due even though sufficient funding was in the account at the time.

The whole thing took me a month to get sorted out with them and that is when I seriously started to consider moving to another bank.

After this fiasco they reinstated the debit but I was in a situation after a month or two that when I was being paid didn't match the debit date so I wouldn't have sufficient funding in my current account on the payment date but would a couple of days later. I called to tell them... "No Problem," they say "The way the system works is, because you have mortgage and current account with us, the mortgage system will back off and retry for up to five days until you have enough in the account."

Fab thinks I. A few days later, out comes the mortgage payment taking me into unauthorised overdraft and guess what... Multiple letters about the penalties I was going to have to pay. Again, I contest the charge and again they drop it.

At this point I reckon its getting beyond a joke and I complete an application form to change my current account...

I then pick a date on which my new account will become active and the direct debits will be transferred.

The transfer of the direct debits was about 95% successful with only a couple missing, unfortunately this included the one for the mortgage payment. No surprise there...

Then the DD for the mortgage turns up and, one day later, is cancelled! I ask my new bank what happened and they said the old bank had issued the DD request then cancelled it a day later... So, I call the old bank and ask whats going on. They deny all knowledge that any new banking details had been sent to them. I then explain that I have a letter from them in front of me which states my new details...

The girl on the other end of the phone states categorically that this cannot be so, so I fax it to them and give them the day they asked for. I then called again to query whether they'd received it and it had been actioned. It had been received but not actioned. SIGH.

So, I kick up a fuss. Next day, someone calls me back but they cannot explain why they entered my new details then the account rolled back to previous details. By this time, it is too late for the debit to be taken on time for that month's payment and they ask me to call into a branch with a cheque but that it wouldn't be processed into the account for 5 working days even if I did so I may get penalty notices for late payment but I could call and they would be dealt with.

Wow, is that ever not good enough!

So, I call my new bank and explain the situation - their response? "Tell you what, Mr. Knipe - we'll do a same day transfer today for you FOC so the payment hits the mortgage account by EOB today."

That's right -- even though it wasn't their fault and absolutely nothing to do with them they were willing to help rectify the situation.

Now THAT is customer service!!

Sometimes it is worth sacrificing a little interest on your money to get customer service. Being treated like you're human is worth a million times more than getting an extra 5 quid interest on your current account every year.

The old bank are going to lose all my business... I know a number of people who've been totally screwed around by them now, one guy even said they'd lost £3000 of his money for 3 months at one point!

I've found a bank that I think I'm going to actually be happy with. Hallelujah!

Changing bank is worth the small amount of pain it can cause -- if you're unhappy with your bank, SWITCH TO ANOTHER ONE!