1 million fed-up customers switched banks in past year

BrANCH closures, IT meltdowns and vanishing cash machines have forced nearly a million disgruntled savers to ditch their bank and move to a rival in the past 12 months.

Barclays, Lloyds, rBS, Santander and TSB saw thousands of customers closing their accounts in favour of other high street names, official figures reveal.

The exodus comes as about 60 branches close every month, and some big banks have suffered computing meltdowns which have left customers unable to access their accounts.

Martyn James from resolver, the consumer complaints website, said the closure of branches and cash machines had served as a ‘wake-up call’ to loyal customers. He added: ‘British people are notoriously reluctant to switch banks.

‘You’ve got to really upset them or provide a shocking service in order to make them move. recently, though, something has snapped.

‘People have woken up to the fact they don’t need to stick with a bank that

‘Something has snapped’

doesn’t provide good customer service or a convenient way of banking.’

The Current Account Switch Service, which is run by payments body Bacs, said 4.9 million account switches had been completed using its service since it was launched in 2013.

The service was designed as a way for customers to conveniently swap banks within seven days. It was supposed to end the stronghold of the big four – Lloyds, HSBC, rBS/Natwest and Barclays.

Between July 1 last year and June 30, 965,317 people moved their bank account to a rival.

The majority took place in the first six months of this year.

Figures recorded between January and March showed Barclays suffered a net loss of 17,628 customers, the largest of all the banks. Lloyds Bank and Co-operative, including the Smile brand, lost 14,114 and 14,108 customers respectively.

More than 11,000 left rBS and 10,536 switched away from Santander. TSB lost more than 5,000 customers, but this was recorded before its catastrophic computer meltdown in April.