Apologies from Santander over poor service

An apology has been made by the Spanish owned bank Santander over the poor level of service it has given to hundreds of thousands of customers. The service problems have resulted in a range of problems, including delays with savings accounts being opened, problems with access to online accounts, and failure of bank staff to carry out transactions.

Steve Williams, director of service quality and complaints, made the apology last week, and the apology came after an investigation was carried out by the Financial Mail into chaos with administration at the bank. The bank, which took over a number of UK financial institutions such as Abbey and the Alliance & Leicester, has been accused of a number of failings following the investigation.

According to reports the bank has put all of its efforts into ensuring that the level of service is extremely high for its current accounts. However, in doing this it stands accused of letting customer service levels falls in other areas. In the first half of this year the bank received almost a quarter of a million complaints, the majority of which were in relation to its customer service levels, and this is what sparked the investigation.

Mr Williams admitted the bank’s failings when he made the apology, and he said that the bank was a growing one and that it understood that there were areas that needed to be addressed with regards to its service levels and other areas. This will partly be done through increased staffing.

Williams said: ‘We are creating more than 600 new jobs in our British branches and call centres. These roles will support our business and growth while enabling us to continue improving our service to customers.’

Tags: Santander UK, Mail, access, finance, bank, alliance & leicester, complaints

£100 incentive from Abbey and A&L

With the competition amongst the leading UK banks and building societies for increased custom some have been offering consumers incentives to entice them to switch their bank accounts, and this is something that Abbey and Alliance & Leicester have now decided to do. Read more

Tags: Leicester account, bank accounts, Current account, bank, alliance & leicester

1 in 10 clueless about their debt

Britain is a nation “in the dark” about its finances, a new report has suggested.

A report published by CreditExpert has revealed that just one in four people can accurately say how much they have left to repay on their loans.

Furthermore, one in ten people are unsure as to their actually level of debt, the study revealed.

The research also highlighted that many Britons are not confident about applying for loans, with more than one in five believing they would be refused credit of £1,000.

Furthermore, four out of ten would not expect to be authorised to borrow £10,000 and 66 per cent of people believe they could not take out a loan of £30,000.

The research follows a further recent study, conducted by Alliance & Leicester which showed that Britons are trying to cut back on their spending and save money in order to improve their financial health as the cost of living rises.

Tags: britons, alliance & leicester, loan, debt, research, recent study

Expats urged to consider offshore savings benefits

While internet banking is popular with expatriates, they are not using it to take advantage of offshore savings accounts, it has been suggested.

A poll by Alliance & Leicester International (A&L International) revealed that 92 per cent of Brits living abroad used online banking to manage their finances.

However less than a third had an offshore savings account which, the bank suggested, meant they were losing out on a range of advantages including good rates of return and the potential to hold or send funds in currencies other than sterling.

A&L International managing director Simon Hull said: “With internet access now so readily available, offshore consumers should take advantage of internet banking and saving.”

More than half of homes in the EU have internet access at home, the research found.

In addition, expats wanted online banking options when setting up an offshore savings account.

Based on the Isle of Man, A&L International claims to be one of the largest offshore deposit takers and has share capital and reserves of more than £150 million.

Tags: share, Offshore bank, Managing director, alliance & leicester, online, cent, online banking, share capital

First-time buyers not alone in mortgage woes

The recent credit crunch will hit first time buyers and other mortgage buyers equally hard, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has warned.

The trade association for the mortgage lending industry said that the tightened lending criteria being employed by most providers in the wake of the recent credit squeeze would not hit first time buyers any harder than the rest of the mortgage market.

Bernard Clarke, a spokesman for the CML, said: “First-time buyers have had affordability problems for a considerable period of time. Those have been driven by the rise of property prices relative to incomes, and that’s much more significant for affordability.

“I have no reason to suspect that the range available for them will be affected any more than it will for other buyers, but we have already acknowledged there may be some restrictions in the range of products available and some effect on the supply of mortgages in the market place.”

The current credit squeeze has already seen Northern Rock left in hot water, while many other providers have been quick to up their rates as well as tightening their lending criteria.

Most recently, provider Alliance & Leicester upped the rates on all of its two year tracker mortgages by between 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent.

Tags: hot water, mortgage market, Mortgage loan, Bernard Clarke, mortgage, recent credit squeeze, alliance & leicester, Association