Can anyone recommend a bank for a parachute acc.?

[strapt]

I guess recommending a bank is a bit ironic in light of the nature of this forum! but just wondered if ther were any better (or worse) banks for opening a new account? I remember a debt helpline told me that NatWest happily offered a 'basic' account to people who were looking to change where their wages were paid into in order to gaurantee wages not getting swallowed up. Are banks ok with you asking for a new acc. when they know you must be changing because you're either; in loads of debt and need to cut your old bank off; or are sueing your old bank for unlawful charges?

[Michael Browne]

Complete list of alternatives here:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/13832-do-you-need-parachute.html

[strapt]

Ta!

[sy7227]

I opened a Nat West step account working well for me

[strapt]

Thanks Sy I think Im gonna go for that too. Gonna do it on monday and send my SAR letter straight after. What address did you send your SAR to by the way, is it just my own branch?

[sy7227]

I wouldn`t send anything direct to your branch , I`m refurbishing a bank at the mo & the manager there told me he had recieved prelim letters SAR`s etc... i think you should look deeper in the forums & find a customer services quality manager your letters will have more success this way. The branch manager will probably leave your letter in their in tray then forget , then your bank will say they had no corespondence.

[kurjam]

i opened a step account 3 years ago after leaving the dreaded hsbc, never had no problems good bank to bank with !

[j.wandless]

Thanks Sy I think Im gonna go for that too. Gonna do it on monday and send my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) letter straight after. What address did you send your SAR to by the way, is it just my own branch?

 

Hi

 

I'm dealing with my partners claim on his behalf - Wandless v HSBC.

 

I sent his S.A.R to the following address:

 

HSBC Bank PLC

8 Canada Square

London

E14 5HQ

Sent it on the 27th July - recorded delivery - including the cheque for £10.00. John got all his statements back within 10 days and they returned the cheque.

As for the parachute account - both me and John have opened up new accounts with Nationwide - it seems to be a popular choice on this site. We've chosen their Flexaccount. John opened up his via the Internet and I went into a branch to open mine. I wasn't asked why I was changing accounts - but I did tell them that their overdraft interest rate was much cheaper than Lloydstsb (the bank I'm with).

The only problem you may have is if you have a massive overdraft - mine is £2000 with Lloyds and Nationwide could only offer me £1490. But once I get my money back from Lloyds I can clear the remainder. Nationwide did say they could increase my overdraft but they would probably need 3-6 months worth of bank statements to see that the account had been run properly - obviously I wouldn't want them to do that.

Hope this helps

[strapt]

Thanks Debbie!

[strapt]

Did you send your prelim letter to the same place and person? Thanks

[j.wandless]

Hi

 

Yes I sent the prelim letter to the same place. They've got until Wednesday 23rd to reply. Not expecting them to though - as they seem to ignore these letters. Not too bothered though, because if it goes to the very last stage then they will have to had approx £250 in interest to the claim. Plus the charges that John got on his account this month!!

 

I've heard absolutely nothing back from Lloydstsb - can't wait to find out how much they owe me!

 

Make sure you send your prelim recorded delivery.

[strapt]

Thanks much Debbie! Good luck, I'll keep an eye on your progress. Strapt.

[WendyN]

Hiya,

 

Alliance & Leicester are pretty good, they say they will match your overdraft level wherever possible, and they have a switching over service:

Current accounts - Alliance & Leicester

[WendyN]

PS good luck with everything! You're going great! I had all my money, in full, this last week, so there's not long to go!

 

HSBC

HSBC Letter sent: 19/06/06 - £1,330.14

LBA Letter sent: 10/07/06 - £1,330.14

MCOL claim submitted: 25/07/06 -£1625.19 + £120 costs

HSBC Settled in full 17/08/06 - £1745.19 - yay!

[j.wandless]

Hiya,

 

Alliance & Leicester are pretty good, they say they will match your overdraft level wherever possible, and they have a switching over service:

Current accounts - Alliance & Leicester

 

Hi Wendy

 

Alliance and Leicester was the one I was originally going to go with because they match your current overdraft limit - (and i've recommended it to others visiting this site) - but when you look further into it you have to be in credit for so many days of the month - which is virtually impossible if you have a large overdraft of £2000 like I do.

 

The other catch is that you have to send them copies of at least one bank statement (from the last 3 - 6 months) to prove you have being conducting your account in the correct way - i take them to mean that you cannot have any charges on your account - at the minute I am getting charges every month!!!

 

Something else which I learnt about A & L is that if you go overdrawn (say on the 14th of the month) then the overdraft charge is applied to your account on the same day. At least with HSBC and Lloyds - they are applied at specific dates in the month i.e with my Lloyds account all my charges are applied to my account on the 10th of the month which I am warned about in advance.

 

I ended up with a Nationwide Flexaccount - with an overdraft of £1490. They also transfer over all your direct debits and standing orders - plus they also sort out your salary which Alliance and Leicester do not.

 

The interest rate with Nationwide for an overdraft is approx 7.5% compared to Lloyds which is 18.1%.

 

My only concern is that they will also write to Lloyds and close my account with them. What do I do about the outstanding £510. I could borrow the money on my credit card - but don't really want to do that. As my account is currently in the process of being transferred over and I have had no reply from Lloyds to my SAR - sent 4 weeks ago - the transfer will be complete before I get any money refunded to me.

 

Any ideas??

[WendyN]

Yikes! Didn't realise that about the overdraft charge... thanks for the warning.

As for the £510, I noticed that you had an offer from HSBC - could you accept a partial offer in the interim, but take them to court for the rest?

[j.wandless]

Hi Wendy

 

The offer from HSBC is for my partner John. I've told him to ignore it (the letter did arrive 1 day after the 14 day deadline) and I've sent the LBA off for him. It sounds more complicated if you accept the £1200 as partial settlement and still claim for the rest. I prefer to claim for the whole amount.

 

I have read a few threads where people are accepting offers as partial settlement though.