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Due to my present credit card company leaving the credit card market ( yes really), I was keen to avail of a new CC - one with zero foreign transaction charge.
I noticed the Halifax offered one of these, and contacted them and was turned down.
I asked why- and was told it was because I didn’t have a mortgage with the Halifax BS
I replied, is it relevant that historically I DID have one ( for 25 years), all paid off, and never in arrears?
The answer “no”.
Maybe I’m a little naive, but I thought they owed ME some loyalty, but alas……no.
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As apparently it is preferable if you own nothing, as then you will be happy 
Yes I have had run ins with BT. However our internet went down last night and although I can no longer speak to a man in India, the bot from BT communicated very efficiently. The fault was identified in minutes and a time when it would be fixed sent by text. I was actually impressed for a change. All we pay for now from BT is broadband we scrapped the landline phone as we all use mobile phones these days. I believe we pay about £43 per month for 500 Mbps minimum which we need for Netflix etc.
Netflix says 25mbps for their 4k service.
I ran 150mbps and it handled netflix and other services together quite happily.
I only moved to 500 because sky offered a silly deal if I signed up for 2 years.
Yes but my son is a gamer.
The last BT man we spoke to (when lightening blew our hub) said they are trying to get us all onto EE mobile. The transmitter just up the road gives us a faster download, according to him.
Get him away from the TV and go seek some fresh air with him. Alternatively, let him become a room hermit and you and your wife will be forever serving him his dinner on a tray and bringing dirty dishes down til eternity !!
The youth of today….!
For many people the wifi card in their laptop or other equipment can be the restriction.
My laptop had a low speed wifi card.
Changed it for an 866/866mbps card and even on the 150mbps broadband - it was much better.
Now on the 500Mbps broadband - it is very quick.
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23 and still at home doing a degree. Education delayed by COVID…..by the way the young people today don’t watch TV. Also he climbs mountains with me so he is not quite as you would think. 
What about brand loyalty? Everyones keen to get the best possible deal, all the time, no matter what.
Then they moan when none of the call centres are UK based (for example). Sorry, did you want product AND service? Then let me show you the prices that would sustain that….. oh, you dont want to pay that? Best get on hold then.
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Do we have a choice? It’s all about price and when the big beasts get rid of the smaller competition they have a handful of similar big beasts to fight on price in a market of tiny margins. Today’s news is typical…
“Telecoms giant BT has announced a significant reduction of 5,000 in its workforce alongside a notable loss of broadband customers to rivals, as it navigates a competitive market. The company reported a decline of 242,000 Open reach broadband customers during the second quarter of 2025.”
Typical banking response to customers….
My small savings pot at a certain bank notified me of a rate reduction around 6 weeks ago. So I’m a bit late to try and get a better rate but I looked this week to find one. Low and behold my bank has a decent better rate if I start a new savings account, so why the **** didn’t they tell me via email or text like they do when the rate drops??
I had my Aviva house insurance renewal email yesterday. It’s gone up 68% over the last 12 months, with 10 years no claims.
I rang them and straight away they asked if they could have a chance to reduce it.
Why wouldn’t they do that in the first place? All the answers I got were from their script sheet, which is why I gave up and pulled the plug on the renewal.
On GoCompare I can get it elsewhere at last year’s rate, for the same cover.
Even Aviva were cheaper on there…………..
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I don’t expect my home insurance will reduce again. Unexpectedly for my 2nd year with AXA it reduced by £22, that’s never happened before (other companies) without asking. I had been with Admiral on a combined home/car multi policy for a number of years until they came back with some unbelievable price increases for all three policies last time. Why they were so hell bent on losing 3 policies without even trying to negotiate a better price (I tried) seems to me very anti customer care.
I’m with Aviva for both cars on separate policies, so far on one it’s a pretty fair renewal, hasn’t reduced though, never does. In fact I think my age is going against me now, over 70.
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I would imagine they are hoping you’ll just renew automatically, because it’s less hassle, or maybe ‘auto-renew’.
We recently renewed one of our car insurances, and went elsewhere because the renewal notice included a (crazy) renewal price.
They contacted us to find out why we left and I told them, as above.
“ Oh we could have offered you something better…..”
Why write to me giving a crazy price- why not give me the best you can offer??
We have recently dropped two Admiral policies that have been held for several years, uncompetitive price increases!
You’re correct I think.
A lot of people pay their insurances monthly and going up £10 or £20 a month, doesn’t impact as much as the big hit paying in one go.
It obviously costs more to pay monthly as well……
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Swift Insurance, a subsidiary of someone Aviva maybe….actually reduced our Swift’s fully comp without our even asking oddly. Pure co-incidence with the names….no connection. It was around £40.00 less…so fair do’s I just clicked the roll-over tab and got on with my day…which involved my nice afternoon trouble free nap!
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