142 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
142 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
finance
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personalfinance
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comment
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paulfarrow
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8269164
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-----
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# Is it time you gave your bank the elbow?
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## I never used to have a problem with my bank. After all, I banked with one
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of the most prestigious private banks in the world, Coutts.
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[![Paul Farrow][1]][2]
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By [Paul Farrow][3], Personal Finance Editor 1:40PM GMT 19 Jan 2011
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[Comments][4]
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The centuries old Queen's bank prides itself on customer service and I once
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carried one of its leather wallets embossed with its three crowns logo and had
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one of its uniquely sized chequebooks.
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Not that I was stinking rich and met its then £500,000 of liquid wealth
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criteria. Far from it - I was merely one of the frock-coated minions
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delivering the personal service that was expected of a Coutts bank clerk. And
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one of the conditions of employment at the time was that I had to bank with
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Coutts (albeit with a branch solely set up for employees).
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Never let a phone ring more than three times, dictate personal letters for our
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branch managers to sign (your seasonal greetings are heartily reciprocated,
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yours, David, is entrenched on my memory some 20 years on) and manually
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folding statements into envelopes were just some of my duties. As was calling
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a customer if it looked as though they were about to go exceed their overdraft
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limit. Not so they could do something about it themselves, but to ask if they
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would like me to transfer some money from another account for them so they
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wouldn't incur extra charges.
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Naturally, it was a shock to the system when I left the bank and hotfooted my
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way to one of the big high street banks to sign up. I suddenly became just a
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number and there was no speaking to a clerk directly or asking for a couple of
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days leeway on my overdraft until I got paid.
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Since then I have been left frustrated on the end of the phone, suffered the
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odd penalty payment after inadvertently going overdrawn and have put up with
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poor savings rates. But like most of us I haven't switched bank accounts. More
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fool me.
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## Related Articles
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* [Santander to penalise current account-only customers][5]
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19 Jan 2011
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* [How to switch your bank account][6]
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19 Jan 2011
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But the problem is that banks rely on people like me - those who cannot be
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bothered to switch.
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Year after year one bank tops the charts when it comes to customer service,
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First Direct. On the other hand, Santander is in the spotlight for poor
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service having inherited Abbey and Alliance & Leicester. The fines handed out
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by the Financial Services Authority to NatWest and Barclays over the past 10
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days do little to suggest that they are putting customers first either.
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Perhaps, John Campbell, the young Scot behind Coutts was on to something in
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1692 with his concept of the personal touch. Most banks choose to ignore it,
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but that doesn't mean you should turn a blind eye - you can always move on.
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**Visit [Telegraph Financial Services][7] for free investment advice**
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[What are these?][9]
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* Share: [Share][8] [ ][10] [ ][11]
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[Tweet][12]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/comment/paulfarrow/8269164
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/Is-it-time-you-gave-your-bank-the-elbow.html
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Telegraph
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## [Paul Farrow][2]
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* ### [Finance »][13]
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* ### [Personal Finance »][14]
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* ### [Comment »][15]
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* ### [Consumer Tips »][16]
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* ### [Banking »][17]
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[X][8] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][9]
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Share:
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* [ ][8]
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* [ ][10]
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* [ ][11]
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* [Tweet][12]
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* Advertisement
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![][18]
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telegraphuk
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