The move to online banking is not always a smooth transition.
I have been trying to open a business account for over a month. 6 weeks actually. I was told by the 3 banks I asked in that it had to be done online - including a bank where I already have a business account. I stupidly thought I wanted an account where there was a person I could see - just in case. Mistake.
I filled in an online form - submitted my ID documents online. And then received a succession of emails - seeking clarification or reporting progress. I then got asked to take the documentation to a branch of the bank (this request was not in the email but in one of four attachments). I was then phoned last week requesting more information - then promised I would be online within a week.
Since then I have received three letters, in the wrong order. So I couldn't go online because my account number and sort code came a week after my bank card etc. I ended up going to a branch again to get these. They then did not send me a password so I still couldn't register. Finally after 2 conversations with online help I have registered 6 weeks after first applying. But this morning I got asked to go back into the branch (in Billingham) to provide a signature.
What a totally rubbish system. I could have been up and running, subject to a credit check within a day or two if I had been able to do this in a bank. Surely also it has cost the bank far more resources and time from doing this online (and then not online). It has cost me weeks and really held up my plans. Obviously I picked the wrong bank but sometimes the rush to go online makes things so much slower and worse. I opened a building society account after one half hour visit to a branch in this same period.
I have been trying to open a business account for over a month. 6 weeks actually. I was told by the 3 banks I asked in that it had to be done online - including a bank where I already have a business account. I stupidly thought I wanted an account where there was a person I could see - just in case. Mistake.
I filled in an online form - submitted my ID documents online. And then received a succession of emails - seeking clarification or reporting progress. I then got asked to take the documentation to a branch of the bank (this request was not in the email but in one of four attachments). I was then phoned last week requesting more information - then promised I would be online within a week.
Since then I have received three letters, in the wrong order. So I couldn't go online because my account number and sort code came a week after my bank card etc. I ended up going to a branch again to get these. They then did not send me a password so I still couldn't register. Finally after 2 conversations with online help I have registered 6 weeks after first applying. But this morning I got asked to go back into the branch (in Billingham) to provide a signature.
What a totally rubbish system. I could have been up and running, subject to a credit check within a day or two if I had been able to do this in a bank. Surely also it has cost the bank far more resources and time from doing this online (and then not online). It has cost me weeks and really held up my plans. Obviously I picked the wrong bank but sometimes the rush to go online makes things so much slower and worse. I opened a building society account after one half hour visit to a branch in this same period.
