UK Barclays Bank customers

[Onlyme]

I've stated for years......Nationwide, nice to see Sarge is finally coming off the bench!
I don't work for them, just trying to give some of you people....A clue!
Onlyme.

[Guess]

'
If Barclays keep on assaulting your transom, why do persist in being their customer still?
I walked away from them and can now painlessly sit anew.
,

Exactly. You had the chance when you visited the colon Archipelago of Colon a few months ago.

The other option you have is to lie to them and tell them that you have returned to the UK and are now permanently resident at your parents address. I don't think the UK Big brother project has a link between airline ticket sales and immigration and retail banks yet. You also need to think about internet banking. If you get the right one you can transfer cash to a Thai account at will.

You don't have to feel guilty about lying to them. They have lied to you and many others on a regular basis.

[sargeant]

Yes onlyme but you must remember my air tickets are FREE that is not the case for others i would not consider it without my free ticket as the saving on fees would in my case be 36,000 a year and a ticket 33,000 plus 1,900 visa plus train or car to wales plus spending bunce

Now wouldnt it be nice if Nationwide could send a peops out for a day or 2 and sit in the hilton foyer and sign us willing peops up i am sure that they would benifit financially from it

[STEVE G]

When I tried to open an account with Nationwide they turned me down when I told them I didn’t want my salary paid into the account.

[nevets]

I have a Barclay's account in the u.k. and transfer my whod into the Bangkok bank in cha-am they are very friendly and i have an ATM card this not debit just ATM . i Now have a retirement visa and they write a letter on demand no waiting, but i set this up when i first settled here with a non im,so its possible that's wot is needed. The point is if you try and get a Thai bank account it saves money no 2.75% ,and no card problems.

[Pagey]

Nevets

I have Barclays account and access it online here in Saudi but I cannot do online transfers abroad (I don't think).

How do you do it ?

[Big Boy]

I realise that this thread is about Barclays, but Nationwide also seems to feature quite prominently. I am not a Nationwide customer, but thought that I would share my recent experiences.

A friend of the family (Thai lady) who sadly lost her husband in tragic circumstances about 18 months ago tends to rely rather heavily on me whenever bank transactions are concerned. Until now, I have always dealt with her NatWest account.

She is returning to Thailand next week for a couple of months, and asked me to transfer 30,000 Pounds from her Nationwide account to her Thai bank.

Last Saturday, I tried 2 Nationwide Branches in the Bristol area - both were very busy, and noticeably understaffed. There was no way that either branch could deal with the matter on a Saturday.

Yesterday, I phoned first, and explained that she wanted to send the money, but to avoid having 30% of it impounded by the Thai Authorities, she wanted to make 3 transfers of 10,000 Pounds each, one week apart. They said that would be no problem, but our friend would have to attend the bank in person ie they could not work in advance.

This now presented me with a problem as our friend flies from Heathrow on 10 April...............so I had to come up with Plan B. I decided the best way was to transfer 10,000 Pounds today, and for her to request a cheque for 20,000 Pounds, and put it in to my bank - I would make transfers on the agreed dates. We agreed to go with Plan B.

We turned up at the Branch, and was dealt with by a very nice lady, however..........the Branch had to hold on to the Bank Book for at least 5 working days until the transaction had cleared. They said they would post the book to her home address (90 miles away) in about a week. My friend was not happy with this because she did not want her book being sent to an empty house for a couple of months.

After a lot of negotiation, the bank agreed to let my friend write a letter that would give me the authority to collect book from the branch on her behalf.

For those of you who are still awake, you are probably wondering what the point of this posting is. Above, you will see that Sarge is considering moving his financial dealings to the Nationwide, and I must admit, I have also been considering doing the same. However, I have dealt with 3 separate branches of the Nationwide in a matter of 5 working days, and I find their banking methods to be antiquated. They are probably fine when everything is working like clockwork, but what happens when you experience a problem? Are they really geared up to deal with your finances 7,000 miles away? I for one am certainly having second thoughts.

Not being able to make a transfer to Thailand without the customer being present - not very re-assuring.

[Big Boy]

Having finished the above post, I've just had a call from Nationwide - they've lost the photocopy of my friends passport, and can she report to them with it again immediately - meanwhile the transfer has been suspended until they see it.

A really proffessional setup!

[Pagey]

I think the main reason for using Nationwide is that there are no charges when you draw your cash from an ATM abroad.

This is a bonus if you live in LOS and have your income paid into the Nationwide in the UK. As I understand from previous posts.

I would open one but it means going back to the UK.

[Big Boy]

Pagey,

I accept what you say, and would enforce it by saying that it is the reason that I and others have been considering it.

However, my point is that they are not geared up for this type of business, and if there are any complications while you are living in LOS, would it be possible to be able to resolve the problem? The above experience that involved 3 separate Branches (2 in the Bristol area and 1 in Slough - all telling the same story) did not show them in a very good light, and certainly when asked to do something challenging (asking for 3 bank transfers on different dates one week apart) they did not have any answers.

All of the difficult bits for Nationwide are routine business for a real bank.

I am just concerned that putting all of ones eggs in to one basket could be problematic after you've relocated to Thailand.

[Big Boy]

The final chapter came at ten past four this afternoon. After all of the hastle seeking authority for me to be able to collect my friend's bank book from the branch in a weeks time, I had a further phone call from them. Could I please arrange for my friend to go down to the bank to collect her book.

As nice as the people in Nationwide might be, they do know how to run a banking business. My dealings with them over the last few days has not installed any confidence in me.

[nevets]

Sorry can not help with on line banking , when i transfer i do my self or i have someone with power of iterny to do for me . Referring to Nationwide my brother uses them in Spain and has good results ,no ATM charge he has a house in the north.

[Wanderlust]

Not really wishing to turn this thread into a Nationwide-bashing one, but I have had other problems with them (or rather my parents have) also concerning international money transfers. My parents wanted to transfer some money to me in December from their Nationwide account. They had done so about a month before successfully, but this time they were told that the SWIFT code, account details and bank name and address in Thailand were not enough - they needed an IBAN as well. My parents emailed me to inform me of this, so i went to my bank in Hua Hin (Kasikorn) who said that IBANs were only used in tranactions within Europe, and that Kasikorn and all Thai banks did not have them. I related this to my parents, who approached Nationwide again but they insisted they needed an IBAN. Eventually after double checking in Thailand again, my parents called Nationwide's head office, who confirmed what I had been told in Thailand, and contacted the Nationwide branch to correct their error. After about a week's delay my parents were then allowed to make the transfer. As has been said above, you may not get charged for ATM withdrawals, but you may end up with a problem because Nationwide staff in the branches don't know what they are doing!

[Big Boy]

Thank you for that Wanderlust. I am glad (not that you had problems) to see that others have found that Nationwide are far from experienced in the full range of Banking matters.

I wrote my posts not to 'bash' Nationwide, but to warn other posters that the benefits of free ATM withdrawals may have related problems further down stream. I still agree that the free ATM withdrawal facility is an excellent bonus, and I will probably join up when I retire to Thailand.

What I wont do is sign all of my Banking business over to them. I am now sure that they wont be able to speedily deal with the full range of problems that could occur. Therefore, I wont be putting all of my eggs in one basket. I will keep a 'reserve' account with a real bank for use when the inevitable happens.

[sargeant]

okeydokey now for the real skinny your roving undercover reporter has at great risk entered the abyss of opening a bank account with the nationwide in the new terrorist age what a load of crap i do not wish to hear anyone bitch or moan about hoops or hurdles at Hua Hin immigration it is chickenshit compared to opening a new bank account over here and this is after my sister went specifically and explained all of my situation months before i arrived here its a joke
to open the account i have to have proof i am living in the UK ie an electric bill a water bill or some other paper like that with MY NAME on it
ok i can get it but it takes time costs money and is pain in the a%$RS
and what part of my brother has lived in thailand for 10 years did they not understand

I cannot use my thai address to open the account but the day it is accepted i can change it to my thai address HEEELLLOOOO

I cannot under bank of england laws sign mrs sarge to a joint bank account with me unless she has the same paperwork and is stood there physically in front of them
(this possibly opens up a huge hole to drive visas for girlfriends/wives through surely they must issue a visa to allow her to sign up for a joint account)for instance after my unlikely event how will mrs sarge recieve her widows pension which by law must go through a british bank account

i am stunned it seems the country is throwing benefit money at anybody with virtually no checks (one case £40,000 in 11 months) and yet for your own personnally it belongs to me i worked and saved hard for it money they have rules that go 3 yards upyerbum its ludicrous