toots sweet

Apologies that this question has been asked a number of times before,but wanted an up to date idea of what everyone's preferred bank is.
Had enough of Santander.Without going into details this is the 2nd time they've really messed things up. Also I'm fed up with their little charges here and there,but when adding them all up they become quite an amount. Our local branch(which isn't very local) is only open 2 days a week and their online"customer service"(???) is the pits. Any really good banks that don't have charges for everything ?
Thanks in advance!!

BillBullock

I'm happy with Novo Banco. There is a small monthly charge but the service is good if I need to email my account manager. I don't need to go in to the branch in Olhão as I can do everything with online banking and it's in English.

liveaboard

now that interest rates are up to 3.5%, shouldn't they start paying us something on our deposits?
Does any PT bank pay interest?

I'm with BPI. they're ok for me but I haven't compared them with others so I can't really say.
Customer service (the few times I've needed it) has always been very good.

macliam

What's the monthly charge?

CGD are starting to take the uric acid.

BillBullock

3.75 Euros a month plus tax.

macliam

Thanks, CGD is now 5.46 - and I have investments with them that used to provide "free" banking until they changed the rules.....

toots sweet

It gets worse.. The 2nd mess up was they sent our new debit card to an old(very) address. It finished 31/3/23. So a week or so before ,we noticed it was finishing and waited for the new one.........and waited.. Nada. So 30/3 we went along to the"local" branch and explained the problem. Lady there changed to the new address(we've been here 4 years )and said it would be 3 working days. So off we went home and waited for our new card and waited..Nada.Back to the local today as we were out of food and had spent our cash in hand and we were getting a bit concerned. Saw another lady(after 30 mins wait while she sold someone a credit card) who explained that the previous one had advised the head office ,but not the dept who send out the new cards.Who would have known this!!! So back home for another wait.As our cupboards were bare we asked for some cash which we had to get from the teller as our card was out of date. As we got back in the car OH noticed that for their pitiful service WE had been charged €6 for the pleasure.! Big mistake... I will get that €6 back if it's the last thing I do.
I've got 3 refunds and compensation back from Ryanair,so Santander doesn't phase me.They'd better pay up........................ They'll be saying goodbye to our money shortly.

chislenko

Millennium are quite high up the league table of charges for this that and the other!

coleio

I've just opened one with Activo (that's an online MilleniumBCP offshoot) the "simple" account is no fees, I did it by going one of their offices with some paperwork, account set up and got email and TXT with some codes use online, used their wifi to log on then was handed ATM card and sealed PIN etc and accompanied to ATM to change PIN and make sure everything worked. As I use Starling bank in UK and they have no fee and allow joint Stirling and Euro accounts I did xfer from UK to Portugal and waited a few mins then took this money out at Activo ATM while the banking assistant waited. Think I managed to test all the usual bits of banking worked.

macliam

Good if you're Lisbon or further north, not so good from the Alentejo down.

coleio

I use their website, phone app and anyone's ATM so it's no problem from the Alentejo down even works in Morocco.

BillBullock

I think the problem is the initial registration at their offices. Is there one in the Algarve?

coleio

No idea but I expect someone with a bit of intelligence could find out, they'd probably also find it is possible to open an online bank account online.

toots sweet

I think Activo wouldn't work for us .As macliam says ,there are no branches near to us when you need to visit,as we did this time with Santander when their customer services just passed the book to their branch office.
Got an email yesterday inviting comments on how they handled our problem...hmph...where do I begin....................!
Still no debit card over 3 weeks since first contacted them.Now I know what it feels like for those poor people who havn't got enough money to buy food,at least we will get our hands on our own money shortly.(hopefully).

coleio

Maybe it just me but an online bank is online, it has no bank branches so they have set up their whole customer interface to reflect this, online, app, email and stuff through the post. As it's "free" then surely anyone would just put a bit of effort into opening an online account online and if it didn't satisfy their banking needs the just stop using it.