Abbey are complete &*$!!

[Ron and Jean]

We have had lots of hassle with abbey, like them randomly stopping bank cards and taking over a month to replace them. You go to the branch to complain where they say they can't deal with that type of inquiry and that we must phone instead. You phone, you get cut off, you phone again and eventually get through to an Indian call center where they can't understand a Scottish accent. They finally understand your name but can't verify your account details as your card is invalid and nothing is resolved.

We have been meaning to ditch them for ages. You have given me the inspiration to do it.....

[John Headstrong]

having seen that stoney is still without access to he money I have looked into my own money situation.

I have two bank accounts with Abbey and a saving account with them (a few hundred quid for emergences) , my wife has a account with natwest, We have decided to open another account, with the local credit union. This account will be taking over from the savings account for emergences. the local credit union is one of the smaller ones (type 1, so I will not get a ATM card), so the money will be harder to get at, which is exactly what I need.

I am looking at finding another credit union that will give us a ATM card

I also get the bonus of supporting local people!

[Big Al]

having seen that stoney is still without access to he money I have looked into my own money situation.

I have two bank accounts with Abbey and a saving account with them (a few hundred quid for emergences) , my wife has a account with natwest, We have decided to open another account, with the local credit union. This account will be taking over from the savings account for emergences. the local credit union is one of the smaller ones (type 1, so I will not get a ATM card), so the money will be harder to get at, which is exactly what I need.

I am looking at finding another credit union that will give us a ATM card

I also get the bonus of supporting local people!

I keep at least 2 accounts open at all times. One is my ain bank although that is only a basic cash card account and the other is one with a cheque book. A lot of places have stopped taking cheques but a lot still require cheques so we keep that one just for the CB. we also have a credit union but the only problem with them is that you have to save every week for 10 weeks constant without missing or withdrawls and then if you want a loan it takes further 12 weeks.... no good when you have no oven, fridge or freezer that works!!
Still they are at least ethical ........

[red]

having seen that stoney is still without access to he money I have looked into my own money situation.....
....I also get the bonus of supporting local people!

sounds ike an ideal solution, and yeh, the right time to get another account with a different institution is before you have problems.

I'll be interested to hear how you get on with credit unions.. as this is new to me.

[Odsox]

we also have a credit union but the only problem with them is that you have to save every week for 10 weeks constant without missing or withdrawls and then if you want a loan it takes further 12 weeks

Credit Unions here in Ireland are a different entity entirely.
They are all local, with that I mean all the savers are local to the area and all the loans are therefore also local to the area.
They have a board of governors that meet every Friday evening and decide on any loan applications there and then, so if you apply for a loan on Friday morning you will get an answer on Saturday morning and if agreed, the money is in your account immediately.
You obviously have to be a good saver, but not necessarily regular.

The downside of that is if you want to draw some money out it HAS to be your local branch, no good trying to get money out in the next town's branch.

[John Headstrong]

we also have a credit union but the only problem with them is that you have to save every week for 10 weeks constant without missing or withdrawls and then if you want a loan it takes further 12 weeks

Credit Unions here in Ireland are a different entity entirely.
They are all local, with that I mean all the savers are local to the area and all the loans are therefore also local to the area.
They have a board of governors that meet every Friday evening and decide on any loan applications there and then, so if you apply for a loan on Friday morning you will get an answer on Saturday morning and if agreed, the money is in your account immediately.
You obviously have to be a good saver, but not necessarily regular.

The downside of that is if you want to draw some money out it HAS to be your local branch, no good trying to get money out in the next town's branch.

yep, that is basicly how the one in my local town works, my credit union account will be my saving account and I accept the time issue for getting my money.

we also have a credit union but the only problem with them is that you have to save every week for 10 weeks constant without missing or withdrawls and then if you want a loan it takes further 12 weeks.... no good when you have no oven, fridge or freezer that works!!

but if had joined before you needed them items then the credit union (well my one does) have a deal with scottish hydro for loans for fridge freezers, washing machines, cookers and stuff. not sure how long a loan application takes, I will find out.

getting things sorted BEFORE something happens to my bank account is the reason I am joining now, we have a little bit of money coming in, and a bit of that will go to the local credit union for savings.
I have also found http://www.scotwest.co.uk/ which is a bigger type of credit union, this lot will give me a ATM/debit card, so I am probably going to apply for a current account with them.

start saving for a rainy day before you get soaked!

[Stonehead]

We have had backup current/savings accounts with other banks. However, we've had to close them because those banks also stuffed things up, because they charge extortionate fees if you don't pay a set amount of money into them per month, or because the account has a minimum balance.

At one point, we tried to get around this by having the OH's salary paid into one account with one bank (thereby meeting the requirement for a set amount going in per month) and then transferring it to another bank 24 hours later (meeting its requirement for a minimum balance). However, it became too complicated and then one of the banks lost the transfer for a couple of weeks.

And we continue to have small amounts of savings in a couple of long-term accounts with other financial institutions, but these can only be accessed by having the money transferred to our current account. So, nit much use at the moment.

Anyway, Abbey has been at it again.

Yesterday, I had a phone call saying the new account had been set up, new cards were in the post, a free £2,000 overdraft was in place to cover us while direct debits were transferred over the coming month, and internet banking was being set up.

But when the first card arrived today, the account number was for our old, stopped account! So it's useless.

On top of that, the card is not a cheque guarantee one and Abbey wasn't going to send us cheque books, because they're not used much any more. Except in rural areas where many small businesses still don't have POS terminals and people continue to use cheques.

[Stonehead]

And the RAC has been in touch to say their payment had not gone through—Abbey assured us no payments would be missed. Fortunately, the RAC's customer service is very good. After we'd explained the situation and given them a contact at Abbey to check our explanation, they agreed to continue our cover until Abbey gets things sorted out.

But I just have to say....


ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!


I feel better for that.

[Flo]

Yesterday, I had a phone call saying the new account had been set up, new cards were in the post, a free £2,000 overdraft was in place to cover us while direct debits were transferred over the coming month, and internet banking was being set up.

But when the first card arrived today, the account number was for our old, stopped account! So it's useless.

On top of that, the card is not a cheque guarantee one and Abbey wasn't going to send us cheque books, because they're not used much any more. Except in rural areas where many small businesses still don't have POS terminals and people continue to use cheques.

Now that is typical Abbey paperwork foul up. They do it to their own staff as well as the customers mind you.