A good bank that is competent is there such a thing?

My partner and I have been having nothing but problems lately with our banks incompetence.  Both of us have been applying for loans and customer service is horrible does anyone know of a good bank that is competent and seems to care about its customers we live in scotland and have used RBS and clydesdale. 
 

I'm with Barclays and have been very happy. Adam is with Lloyds and is pretty happy.

I'm sure there are others who have had horrible experiences with both of those, though.

I have been with Barclays and have pretty good experiences. They misplaced some of my money and they gave me a case of wine and £50.

My fiancee use Natwest, but if you've had a bad experience with RBS, I guess that rules them out. I know a lot of people that have had a bit of a nightmare with Barclays, but if you have Nationwide Building Society in Scotland, they are superb. The service is awesome.

Failing that, HSBC has a sister bank called First Direct, and again, I have never had a problem with their customer service. 

Has anyone had any experiences with Abbey?

Has anyone had any experiences with Abbey?

Yes. Their rates are not bad, but their service is awful.


ETA: By service being awful I mean things take forever and their online banking doesn't always work. The actual customer service people are friendly and competent - they are just hampered by horrible systems.

We're internet bankers. I use Smile and dh uses Cahoot. DH is unimpressed, but Smile have been really good for me. I'd highly recommend them actually.

Yes. Their rates are not bad, but their service is awful.


ETA: By service being awful I mean things take forever and their online banking doesn't always work. The actual customer service people are friendly and competent - they are just hampered by horrible systems.

Abbey are useless. I'm not sure if they still do this but they used to charge £3.00 to withdraw money over the counter. (If you ever needed to). I think that's a rip off...

Not sure if they have Nationwide up there but we've always had good service with them.

I'm with HSBC - no complaints here.

Not being funny, but the problem you may be having with getting loans is possibly down to the amount of time you've been living in the UK...   

I'd recommend Smile.co.uk as well. They gave me a current account when my regular bank wouldn't (and they wouldn't even tell me why they wouldn't). On-line banking has always been flawless, and I figured out a month ago I can _call_ them on the phone as well, and they were terrific on the phone.

I'd recommend Smile.co.uk as well. They gave me a current account when my regular bank wouldn't (and they wouldn't even tell me why they wouldn't). On-line banking has always been flawless, and I figured out a month ago I can _call_ them on the phone as well, and they were terrific on the phone.

I think there was a thread a while back about how banks can deny accounts to customers based on immigration or something (more if they believe that you won't be here for too long and considered to be "at risk").   

a thread a while back about how banks can deny accounts to customers based on immigration or something (more if they believe that you won't be here for too long and considered to be "at risk").   

Wow -- I have to say it _was_ rather like a skit from Monty Python.

Bank: "You can apply for a current account after you've been with us 6 months."

(6 months later)

Bank:   "I'm sorry, your application was not accepted."
Ex-pat: "Really?"
Bank:   "Yes, but you can re-apply."
Ex-pat: "How long do you think I should wait before I try again?"
Bank:   "I'm sorry, we couldn't say."
Ex-pat: "Well, can you give me a rough idea -- 3 months, 6 months, a year?"
Bank:   "We really couldn't say. You can reapply any time. But of course if you re-apply and are denied, it doesn't look so good."
Ex-pat: "Well, can you give me some idea of why the application was denied?"
Bank:   "No, I'm sorry, we can't give you that information."
Ex-pat: "But it's _my_ information, and how can I know what to improve I don't know why it was denied?"
Bank:   "I'm sorry, it's confidential information."

You're in the UK now, mate.

 

The customer service person can't tell you when you should apply because if he does, and then you apply and are denied, then it can be perceived that the bank gave you false information, which is punishable. There is a credit crunch going on and no way to accurately predict what banks will be doing in 3 months.

I've used HSBC without a problem. As for customer service, I think for the most part you'll find it varies from branch to branch and depends on the staff there. It's hard to say any one bank is better than another in that respect.