A&L Premier Plus Current Account credit card

Under Consumer Credit Card, you have the right to cancel a credit card just by sending a signed instruction. When you get your card, it should come with a form to cancel your card within 7 days (or was it 14). Just send the card back cut in half together with your signed cancellation form.

Alec

From what I read, free annual travel insurance, 5% AER till end Dec & 50 incentive (25 for using current account & 25 for using credit card)

They also set up a linked saver account that can be beaten by applying for the on-line saver at 5.35%.

Don't use the switching service and you must fund account with min 1k a month or incur a 5 charge.

Once you have spent on the CC and received the additional 25, cut the CC in two. Also remove the saver account from the list of your viewable accounts on-line and if you wish add the better interest rate on-line saver. Then all you got to do is convince yourself that you never had a CC or the inferior saver account. I don't know the answer to whether you have to keep the MBNA CC as I applied before new offer, but I know I was told by helpdesk that I couldn't cancel inferior savings account (took their word for it, no point wasting my time, just removed it from view, if they want to keep a non/never used account open I couldn't care)

Just moved to A&L after 25 years with Lloyds. Thought it was about time given how badly they screwed up my endowment policies!

We have a local A&L branch so we did it through the branch. (Very nice bunch they are too.)

We didn't have to go for the CC but did anyway as the terms looked reasonable, however I have found that the MBNA phone response was very poor on Monday and Tuesday this week. Couldn't actually make contact! Probably the Bank Holiday rush...

I decided to let them handle the DDs and that seems to be going OK. The next few months will tell.

We also opened Online Savers and will not use the linked (inferior) savings account.

One small difference between A&L and the larger banks is in what the local branch can/can't do. For example I wanted a Bankers Draft. That had to be done by head office and mailed to me. Just my luck that the Post Office had a chemical spill near a key sorting office and it took three days!

I think they also hold less cash - so large withdrawals would need to be done in advance, although there is some deal they have with the Post Office..

So far all OK - no regrets. We shall see what the future hold re interest rates.

Thanks for all your comments, much obliged.

Nearly ignored this as I chose not to open a credit card with the current account- I started opening the account at the begining of February.

They seem a little, I dunno, sluggish, compared to my old bank.

The account balance is never up to date- the available balance reflects Delta payments which are due to come off the account, but not standing order payments that are scheduled to come out that day and actually appear on the statement. The actual balance refects neither.

I tried to set up an online payment to an account with my old bank, and it didn't appear on my online statement until the next day.

And after pay day has passed the debits and credits re-arrange themselves on the statement so credits go in after debits go out, meaning the running balance briefly goes into the red.

Is this just of an aesthetic consequence or do they actually wrongfully hit you for a small overdraft fee charge on that money in the red afterwards - or have you never worked that one out?!

You make a good point. You get an interest free overdraft with the account for the first 12 months, and my monthly standing orders are far less than the limit, so I've yet to tell whether or not my account actually went into the red or just appeared to.

I would say that its just 'aesthetic', my previous Barclays account did the same.

All are dated the same date and once re-arranged I have often gone way (8k in one instance) over my overdraft facility and never been charged.

All I would say is that you get used to A&L's inferior web site and it becomes so that I now wonder why I thought Barclays was so much better when I first moved. Barclays has got a few more idiot proof features but other than that, banking tasks are limited to only a few fundamental processes.

Thanks for all the helpful comments - I now have another good point: I just got through what surely must be 3/4 of the sign-up process (doh! they now have the details to contact me should I really decide not to go with them - darrghh, my first rule of marketing avoidance broken: don't give your contact details!) when I suddenly thought: what happens if my employer decides to pay me on the 1st of the month instead of the 31st of the month and I break the terms and conditions of the account (ie to pay in 1000 a month) - they'll charge me 5 each time! I'm not letting that one bother me every month ongoing - ooooh let me see, my expenses are supposed to be paid every 2 weeks, but somehow appear to be paid every 5 weeks instead - can I rely on my employers to pay within each monthly period on time, every time, thus preveting me from losing 5 a month. No way. Thanks A&L - nearly got me, but not this time. Problem is, now they know where I live! Argghhh. What a fool...

Natwest isn't.. if you pay a bill or transfer on what is a working day.. in my experience it can be randomly moved a day or two forward.

I got caught out the first time.. charged for going into the red.. when I'd arranged things so I wouldn't.. I complained.. and was refunded.

I assume no bank website show transfers in time order.. so I guess there is some leeway.. ie if your over at midnight your charged.

I don't like the A&L site.. I find its not intuative.

In particular paying bills.. account numbers and sort codes.. which aren't on any bill. Whereas the natwest site is simple.. no bank details needed.. just I want to pay seeboard, heres my seeboard account no.

Hence for the last 6 months.. salary into natwest, pay bills, move the rest to A&L.. best of both worlds.. easy to pay bills.. and best interest on the rest :o)

"Mark Blewett" wrote

Which bills were you thinking about?

*All* of my electricity, gas, water, credit card, etc etc bills quite clearly show the correct sort code & account number to pay them with direct banking ...

If they don't show these details, how would you pay them without natwest online banking?

Well with HSBC most utilities, councils and credit cards are set up so you only have to pick the right one and enter the reference number.

wrote

I don't dispute that - I know that FirstDirect do the same. I'm just curious as to what bills Mark has found which *don't* quote a sort code & account number, and how they expect people to pay them without??!

Natwest are the same too.

I only have a BT bill to hand...

On the back is how to pay by direct debit, bt's website, cheque and cash.. nothing about paying by transfer from my account

Of course their is the bank giro sliip.. There is a number in xx-xx-xx which is probably be the sort code. Also there is a 24 digit number (as 6 groups of 4) above it.. which seems to relate to my bt account number.

I guess the information must be there (for the bank giro to work), but its not obvious (in this case some of the groups of 4 digts are the same).. I could guess but don't really want to transfer into someone elses account by error.

Regards Mark

A word of warning about this....

I have a Capital One credit card statement in front of me at the moment. The account number and sort code it gives for use with electronic banking are different to the ones on the credit slip. I think they specifically used to say not to use the numbers on the credit slip when paying electronically, although I can't see that warning now.

Is this just so they can track who pays electronically, or would it really not work to pay into the account on the credit slip?

Regards,

Peter