Are Scottish residents being failed by their banks?

Each year thousands of people enter into a protected trust deed in Scotland. Many of them have experienced shoddy behaviour on the part of the banks that they have been clients of, businesses that they may have been loyal to for decades. A recent survey from JD Power and Associates indicates that residents of Scotland may be especially exposed to poor service from banks which can end in the need for a trust deed.

The results of this survey will be of interest to anyone who is about to proceed with a Scottish trust deed and who therefore (generally) needs to find a new bank account. During a trust deed period where finances will be tight it’s important to find a new bank that will support you with good service through your trust deed.

In the survey banks are marked out of 1000 for customer service. 3899 people took part in the survey. How did the banks most commonly found on High Streets’ around Scotland compare?

13th: Out of thirteen major banks in the survey Clydesdale Bank scored a terrible 13th
10th: Bank of Scotland did similarly poorly, coming in 3rd last
8th: The Royal Bank of Scotland was the 5th worst bank

With these three banks having major branch networks and huge client bases around Scotland, it seems that the Scottish public are disproportionately exposed to below average service from their bank.

A spokesperson from JD Power said: “Customers tend to be especially dissatisfied with overdraft fees and monthly service charges, particularly the amount of these fees”. Trust deed advisers are very well aware that such charges tend to be a problem for clients as their debt problems intensify. At a time when clients need support, many banks unconsciously go about magnifying the issues and creating further debt, resulting in increased risk of the need for a trust deed.

How about the banks that are commonly mentioned on our Scottish trust deed forum as being good banks to consider switching to when embarking on a protected trust deed?

The Trust-Deed.co.uk advice team have for a long time suggested that people consider the Co-op Bank Cashminder account as an option during their trust deed. The Co-operative Bank finished at position two in the survey (beaten only by First Direct which is not known for welcoming new clients with debt concerns). Nationwide and Barclays have both frequently been mentioned by posters in our trust deed forums as being banks offering good basic accounts and a decent service. Again, the survey confirmed the sense in this advice. Nationwide finished in third place, and Barclays fourth, in the survey of our thirteen biggest banks.

If you are soon to sign a trust deed in Scotland, and will be looking for a new bank account, you may wish to know which other banks performed poorly and well in the survey:

Santander finished second bottom in the survey
Yorkshire Bank fourth bottom
HSBC along with Halifax were rated as being below average by their clients in the survey
Lloyds TSB was measured as being exactly average
Natwest were just above average

While many people in Scotland will be receiving a below-average service from their bank, it’s clear that anyone starting a Scottish trust deed does have a choice of some decent banks providing above-average service quality to which they can switch their loyalty.

If you are about to start a trust deed and need further advice and information regarding which bank to turn to, Trusk-Deed.co.uk can help. Our website includes a forum where you can discuss all manner of trust deed issues with both professional trust deed advisers and trust deed users too. You will also find plenty of helpful trust deed information and a phone number to put you in touch with professionally qualified debt and trust deed advisers: 0800 043 7201.

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Are Scottish residents being failed by their banks?

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