Are other banks less crap than HSBC?

[Smurfgirl]

I spent this morning trying to speak to someone at HSBC to give them £250 to reduce my overdraft. It was a battle to say the least. Only one bank in town had people I could see face to face and there was a 50 minute wait but I had to sit in the bank and wait I was not allowed to come back in 50 minutes. If I wanted to make an appointment to see someone in the bank instead of just turning up I had to do it via their call centre in India.

They tried to push me to do it over the telephone and then when I finally managed to see someone to reduce it she told me that if I wanted to reduce it further in the next six months it would cost me £25.

ARGH. I am beyond sick of them, difficult call centres, difficult to actually speak to someone, so centralised its untrue.

Are they all equally shite?

Twatwest is the same. Completely useless. I changed to Barclays, they are alot better but keep phoning me for insurance etc, they have an odd way of showing your account balance on a mini statement though. I find it confusing. It's not your actual balance, it's a 3 day old balance or a future balance, it's hard trying to find out exactly how much cash you have.

No. IMO HSBC are the devils work. My colleagues say the same.

I moved to Halifax who have British phonelines and the staff in branch aren't just sales people.

I think all banks are equally shit and soon we will be made to pay for it ... free banking will soon be on the way out.

I wish I could set up my own bank, no shareholders, none of this shite either. Just good, honest banking the way it should be. Free for all, responsible lending, face to face contact with staff that take time to get to know you, high interest rates from the lending interest, no sales.
I'd congratulate you on wanting to reduce your overdraft and make it as easy as I could.
I wonder how you do it?

Try Smile - they are lovely, efficient and ethical too. Have been happily with them for years after running screaming from Natwest!

I moved from twatwest to hsbc, and it is a lot better. You dont know bad, till you have tried twatwest!

My DH hearts Natwest but I hear varying things about them.

I agree free banking is on the way out whiCH is shite because I don't have enough as it is.

I need to pay off all my overdraft but when I have done that I will def change banks.

Maybe Halifax? I don't want anything exciting, a current account with a debit card and people I can speak to and english call centres really.

They are a division of the CO-OP arn't they linger? The Co-op are supposto be really good.

Fluffybunnygonebad I am a mega mega budgeter and I just save money when I can. We have hugely cut down our spending and its made a huge difference. My car insurance went down from £100 a month to £50 a month recently and I have been putting that extra £50 away.

I am desparate to be debt free and I hope that one day (in about a million years!) I will be.

When I was there they were trying to lend to me. So frustrating. I have a credit card and an overdraft that I have paid £500 off in the past week and so I am obviously making head way but she wanted me to apply for a graduate loan and then she wanted me not to reduce my overdraft because 'the interest is so low' ARGH!

It's too much. You should be congratulated for being responsible and trying to save/pay off debts, not plied with more.

Banks are soo irresponsible.

Come and be a member of the Bank of Fluffy. I wonder how you set a bank up?

Enjoying 'twatwest'; it's always been 'shatwest' in this house!

From conversations with mates, they all seem equally rubbish to me.

Yes they are Fluffy, I have a solo account with the Co-operative and all our joint stuff is with Smile. Both have been great.

I have an almost empty account with the co-op. I love the fact that they don't harass me. It's only got £2 in it! I was going to use it as an emergency fund account.

Do the co-op have branches?

Yes, lots of them.

Ok I have a plan.

Spend less. Pay off overdraft.

Co-op ahoy!

Could you not just open a new account, get all your income/outgoings transferred into the new account, then transfer money every week/month to repay the overdraft without reducing it? They won't charge you then. When the balance gets to 0 just close the account.

We are with Nationwide. They have always been really reasonable. I like that city twats aren't profiting from them. We can see people in branch without too much hassle and we can telephone our local branch who actually have the power to do things like change our overdraft facility.
First Direct did best on the Watchdog poll last year.

looks like which had similar results