+4,000,456 on the Santander fail. Similar experiences to above. The problems I have had make me feel that transferring to another <i>service provider</i> including the exasperation of paying spanish taxes will cost more than just cold hard cash. Too big too quick.

@HK
it looks like the co-op current account plus
will be applying for the new account very shortly in the new year

cheers
have a good new year may it be everything you wish for and much much more

Steve ...

I'm with the Co-op in the guise of Smile and I've never had any problems, fingers crossed!

my wife has a Hellifax account but not for much longer ...

happy new year to ya ...

My mate had a problem with Natwest a few weeks ago - they just froze his account. Two weeks later his local branch have not been able to tell him why his account was frozen and 'promised' to get it unlocked in the next 7 days.

I'm with the Bank of Scotland (Halifax) and had our joint account card confiscated at the machine because I hadn't used it for 2 months although most of our bills are paid through that account. The bank has a policy of notifying customers when a card has not been used for 6 months but they could not explain why their machine had swallowed mine. I was fortunate enough to get it back the next day but the system had taken over and a new pin had been issued so I couldn't use the card anyway I tried using my old pin number to change to the new one but no luck. Finally the new card arrived but it wouldn't recognise the new pin (or the old one). Apparently the system automatically sends out a new pin with a new card - several days apart. My saving grace was that the wife was able to transfer some money from her account into another card account of mine that the Halifax insist I have because of the mortgage - except that it's not used for the mortgage anymore because it comes directly out of the joint account. The mind boggles at the intracies of banking.....

Al

Every month ( or at least 10 out of 12 ) I buy a monthly rail season ticket and generally top up with diesel on the way home.

Thats fine but if I accidentally do the diesel first then my card gets stopped as the bank thinks that a small transaction followed by a large one is a sign of a stolen card. Even though the same ticket and petrol station have been used for the last 15 odd years. It takes days to sort it out ! happened 3 times, and yes I will learn one of these days.

My bank kept blocking my World of Warcraft payment when I used to play. Every single month. For two years. It didn't matter how often I told them they'd block it and the fraud (or whatever they were called) team would call me up.

I didn't mean use cheques to pay for stuff but use the cheques to withdraw cash. That's what I did the three times I lost my bank card as a student (I'd always find it a few days later somewhere unexpected!).

That is the UK. I haven't been able to access any of my money in the UK since May... And, because I am not in the UK, I cannot change my address over the telephone, I have to do it by letter, yet they don't seem to be very good at responding to letters...

If you join the FSB, they don't charge for business banking either.

I have two current accounts, one of my own and a joint one with the wife. The good thing about that is that if one account's card expired I've still have access to the fund from the other account. Though that's never happened as Nationwide are good at sending cards out.

+1 for Nationwide here even if their current account isn't as good now it pays no interest what so ever.

Not an issue as I shift spare cash into their e-savings and/or e-isa in a matter of seconds.
I find their internet banking very good.

After abandoning the beyond sh1te Abbey for A&L, well, you know the rest... The wave of incompetence obviously wasn't unexpected, but it still hit with some force (I'll be looking for a new provider soon)

update
new cards arrived today but cant use them as the bank cancelled them and have despatched a new set of cards on the 31/12 which i am waiting for ...