The unlucky bank

HOW do you judge how good a bank is? You can look at what they offer customers: the perks they’ve got, what the current account offers, how they treat new customers as opposed to existing ones, how good their mortgage and savings deals are.

And you can look at service levels by keeping your eye out for data on complaints published by the regulator and the ombudsman.

However, because statistics tell some but not all of the story, I prefer another measure. It’s the word-of-mouth test.

Our postbag and your comments are invaluable in this respect. Your opinions matter. I realise that not everyone has the luxury of seeing all the letters and emails we receive here — but those that frequently appear on Tony Hazell’s advice page are a barometer of what we get in.

Add this to what your friends and family tell you about their bank and you can quickly build up a picture of the good, the bad and the ugly of banking.

Part of the reason we always bang on about the service levels at First Direct is that I rarely see complaints about them. Nationwide is another, though its record is not quite so impeccable.

Bank bosses love to preach about setting a gold standard on customer service — in reality it is so much harder to achieve. Take Metro Bank. It’s a small challenger bank, largely based in the Home Counties and London, that waxes lyrical about good service.

But considering it has just 500,000 current accounts, we get a regular drip of complaints from customers who have seen ordinary gripes go unresolved.

TSB quite clearly finds itself in a difficult position. Its messages are conflicting. It is being taken over by a Spanish bank, customer numbers are down, and it’s way behind the rest of the field in terms of updating its branches.

But it is desperately trying to do the right thing. Scrapping sales targets and the information staff get in branches is a bold and admirable approach. Behind the scenes, thousands of staff have been sent on intensive training courses to hammer home the message.

‘We’re not mucking about here. We’re deadly serious,’ head of branches, Peter Navin, told me.

Local phone numbers, local opening hours, local managers. And little things like naming seating areas after famous local residents are a nice touch (even if they do smack of the kind of modern corporate nonsense that is pilloried in TV shows such as the BBC’s W1A).

The bank is crying out: ‘ We’re on the side of customers!’ I like TSB and what it is trying to achieve. But I can’t help feeling it is at risk of devouring itself with its own humbleness.

I don’t know many people who go to branches to use wacky computer gadgets — in fact, those who go into them tend to be the ones who don’t use technology.

Perhaps TSB just needs time to find its feet so that the dreams of its bosses have the chance to come to fruition. Unfortunately with a takeover from Spanish bank Sabadell imminent, that is not going to happen soon.

Fighting talk

WELCOME back, Nationwide! Where have you been all these years?

Britain’s biggest building society has launched an assault on unfair credit card conditions and done so by setting an example. It has scrapped its £12 fine for customers who bust their credit limit and is treating customers who spend on an interest-free balance transfer card more fairly.

Both of these are nasty catches that cost consumers dear when all they’ve done is made a small mistake with their finances. Nationwide has a strong tradition of consumer campaigning like this. For years, it battled to force rivals to reverse the order in which debts were paid off on credit cards so that the most expensive was cleared first.

But since the banking crisis, it has been tragically quiet as it tried to get its own house in order. When it has decided to carry the torch for a particular issue, it has been following the lead of newspapers such as Money Mail.

So this proactive attempt to call for change is to be welcomed.

Recently, Yorkshire Building Society tried to highlight the dangers confronting savers who used peer-to-peer savings companies — those new wave of firms that allow you to lend money to individuals and other people in exchange for a rate of interest.

We need mutual organisations such as Nationwide and the Yorkshire fighting for the rights of their members. Nationwide seems to have found its fighting feet — and we should all be thankful for that.

Candid camera

YOU may remember seeing the news reports of the incredible meteor shower that hit Russia in February 2013. Or the tragedy of the passenger plane in Taiwan that crashed into a river two months ago.

Last week, on Mail Online, there was a story about a driver blocking off another car on the motorway. All of these images were captured by cameras mounted on the windscreen on someone’s car. In Russia and Asia, millions of drivers already use them — and now they’re on the rise here, too.

It began with those who drive a lot for their jobs, but commuters, too, are beginning to film their journeys. The technology is cheap and easy to install. Some insurers are starting to recognise how useful the devices are by offering discounts. They’ve even helped to catch criminals trying to carry out insurance scams.

It won’t be long before GPS black-box technology that monitors your driving (with the idea that better drivers will get cheaper premiums) and ‘dashcams’ come as standard in cars.

It’s a bit creepy to think our every move is being watched and recorded. But I can’t help thinking that it’s the consequence of those who tear around the road thinking they know best by bullying other drivers, ignoring traffic calming measures and breaking the speed limit.