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I'm thinking of changing banks
woofwoof77
Posts: 2,166
Forum Member
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...because I think the one im with has gone down hill, service wise . Ive moved home and theres no branch where i live and im not keen on doing banking online.
Theres a few other reasons too...but i was thinking of changing to a building society.
What is the difference between a bank and a building society?? In plain english please lol .
Theres a few other reasons too...but i was thinking of changing to a building society.
What is the difference between a bank and a building society?? In plain english please lol .
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Building societies are owned and run by their members (people who borrow or save with them) and in theory run for their benefit rather than making a profit for shareholders. There aren't that many left, most have 'de-mutualised' to become bank plcs.
If it's just regular day to day banking you want, a building society would probably serve your needs as well as a bank.
I don't know why you have a prejudice against online banking? It is generally very secure and makes life a lot easier!
i bank with the Halifax, have done so for a long time
good telephone and online service,
and they used to be a building society:)
They have been terrible for us - we gave them a second chance after them messing up our current account a few years ago as they had the best ISA rates last year.
They then messed up again and we had letters off the tax office demanding money!
I have my account with Nationwide and Mr dolphin is with Barclays. I do online banking but he prefers to call into a branch to do transactions and they have always been very good with him so I would recommend Barclays!
I had £64
I like the Halifax. Nothing's ever gone wrong with my account and they give me a fiver a month for banking with them. As far as savings rates are concerned, I don't feel obliged to keep my savings with the same company I bank with, and frequently move my savings around depending on who's got the best rates.
All Coop accounts are being migrated to the rCBS system hosted by LLoyds (The same system is used by LLoyds TSB, LLoyds TSB Scotland, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Birmingham Midshires, Sainsbury's Bank and Intelligent Finance).
So there should be a major improvement to the "up-time" of Co-op Bank online systems. They currently have one of the oldest and flakiest systems on the high street.
That's the trouble with this kind of thread, you can only go on personal experience. Their incompetence nearly got me into trouble with HMRC :eek:
I move my savings frequently too, just not to the Halifax again!
I'm with two BS's and one Bank and occasionally need to visit in person.
One BS, the Nationwide has very friendly counter staff at the branch i'm with and despite my rare appearances, one of the staff took the trouble to remember my name and always greets me with a "hi Paul what can I do for you today....". I quite like that.
In the Bank I use, most of the staff are young ladies, all of whom are look very attractive and whenever I go in I always hope i'm going to be 'looked after' by a particularly busty young lady who certainly doesn't mind the top three buttons of her blouse being undone!
Makes visiting the Bank a positive pleasure.
On the Banks vs Building Societies, in reality i don't see that much difference. A bank will close a branch as its not profitable, where a building society will close a branch on the basis that they have to be prudent to safeguard there future for all their stakeholders. The same excuses are used for reducing staff or services.