E&C Banking Facilities (Lack of!)

Moving banks is now really easy, but it can still takes months. Just find the bank you want to move to and they will give you the relevant forms to have all your money, direct debits/standing orders, etc. transferred. I actually moved to Citibank and back within the space of six months. For what it's worth, I think Lloyds are pretty good and they do have UK-based call centre.

A friend sent me www.moneyexpert.com which has some excellent advice about bank accounts by Martin Lewis.

sarahmc wrote:

A friend sent me www.moneyexpert.com which has some excellent advice about bank accounts by Martin Lewis.

I'm a regular (under a pseudonym) on the forums on this site ( forums are at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com) and if anything there's even more value in the wide range of consumer discussion on this site than in Martin's articles.
Can't recommend it highly enough.

Blimey, Sarah, that sounds awful. Come to Coutts. You don't have to be rich, that's a myth. At least I think it is. As an impecunious freelance journalist I've never had any money or problems with them. They only have half a dozen branches anyway, so you can't really get vexed. But as for any ATM, Nunhead doesn't have one at all, not even a skanky HSBC. We have to go to Morrison's, and risk life and limb parking, or Lordship Lane, neither of them particularly close. There is one in Peckham High Street but there's always the worry of a gun looking over your shoulder.

The HSBC LONDON BRIDGE
Is the most complained about branch of HSBC in the country! I have had countless problems with them(some as serious as fraud) The only way to resolve anything is to go to the complaints department at their head office on 0207 991 8888.(incase the number has changed it is Canary Wharf, Head Office) Do not let them put you thorugh to Customers Services (telephone banking) You will get a letter from them 14 days later saying a mealy sorry, not taking responsibilty and saying HSBC endevour to give you a good service.(They mysteriously have always deleted any phonecalls you may have had with telephone banking staff)Insist on Complaints at Head Office.
The manager at London Bridge Branch confirmed to me and I quote 'staff are not customer service orientated, but are sales people'. After complaining several times to Head Office and also reporting them to the FSA, the branch have bent over backwards to give me a 'normal' service. I know I sound like Miss Angry of the Borough.... but... no your right I do!

Well,Terri-Ann Brumby...it's the only way to get any service these days (being Miss Angry, etc). I am perpetually on the barricades moaning about sloppy treatment and lousy service, half the time I think I only get any result because they just hear my voice and think "Oh God, not HER again...". It's such a drag that unless one turns into a complete nightmare moaning client, one gets short shrift.

Pops wrote:

There is a HSBC in BHS, not that far up from the Elephant.

That is about a mile walk, maybe two. Not really E&C local neighbourhood at all. It is also closed for renovation, if I'm not mistaken.

Its no where near a mile. Its 0.6 of a mile, according to the AA. It you walk from the Elephant its about 7 mins.

Thanks for the info, that means I now have three HSBC banks roughly the same distance from home/work but nothing close. Oh well ... and I'm too paranoid to use Internet banking - it might be safer now etc etc etc but I won't do it!

Lloyds TSB in the shopping centre is hopeless. I've had my account there for years, and I'm seriously thinking about moving it. It's always massively understaffed (although the people that do work there try their hardest in impossible circumstances). The last manager told me that they are deliberately kept short-staffed by central Lloyds management as a way of saving money - ie branches in poor areas "don't matter" (same deal as Tesco, where less than half the tills are ever open).