Sunday's news
Mar. 8th, 2009 03:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rawneeSo, with taxpayers owning more than 75% of Lloyds Bank, how is it that the British public aren't allowed to choose which bank they use? Why are we constantly bombarded with adverts asking us to move our accounts?
I applied for an account online with Halifax. I'd had accounts with them in the past and they were handy becaues the local branch is open on a Saturday. I got the paperwork through and asked if everything was OK for me to inform my employer that my bank details had changed. Yes, that's fine go ahead, we have your account number here, I'll just double check it for you. Customer serivce lady toddles off to compluter and comes back. "You need to pay £100 in to that account before they will send out your cheque book and cards". Not a problem, I could do that locally the next day.
Once again, made a special trip, got a receipt for my money and left. Two days later, an envelope arrived at the house with £100 cash in it and a note saying that they were unable to open the account. Thankfully, I thought, if they're so free and easy with their money that they just throw it in a postbox and rely on it arriving at the address on the envelope! I was gobsmacked. I wouldn't send a tenner through the post unless it was recorded, never mind £100!!!
You can't open an account with them if you have an account somewhere else and have never gone overdrawn or some other ridiculous ruling. I explained my situation and that I wasn't happy with my bank and I was told there was nothing they could do for me!
Whilst I realise we don't have the best credit rating and having done some research with friends who have had financial difficulties in the past, there doesn't seem to be any set pattern to how accounts are handled.
I applied for an account online with Halifax. I'd had accounts with them in the past and they were handy becaues the local branch is open on a Saturday. I got the paperwork through and asked if everything was OK for me to inform my employer that my bank details had changed. Yes, that's fine go ahead, we have your account number here, I'll just double check it for you. Customer serivce lady toddles off to compluter and comes back. "You need to pay £100 in to that account before they will send out your cheque book and cards". Not a problem, I could do that locally the next day.
Once again, made a special trip, got a receipt for my money and left. Two days later, an envelope arrived at the house with £100 cash in it and a note saying that they were unable to open the account. Thankfully, I thought, if they're so free and easy with their money that they just throw it in a postbox and rely on it arriving at the address on the envelope! I was gobsmacked. I wouldn't send a tenner through the post unless it was recorded, never mind £100!!!
You can't open an account with them if you have an account somewhere else and have never gone overdrawn or some other ridiculous ruling. I explained my situation and that I wasn't happy with my bank and I was told there was nothing they could do for me!
Whilst I realise we don't have the best credit rating and having done some research with friends who have had financial difficulties in the past, there doesn't seem to be any set pattern to how accounts are handled.
