West Brom Building Society Avis 

Highly competitive interest rates but slower than average to process applications. Unusual not having 2 factor authentication as additional security is a bit concerning. Easy website to negotiate but would appreciate an app!

West Brom BS have just mailed out to me an 11-page glossy booklet and 6 sheets of A4 paper in the post. One sheet has nothing but the BS logo plastered on to it and the standard regularity blurb etc. Acres of room for both exist within the covering letter ... ergo, one sheet is a pointless waste.

All this paper is generated by the end of a 12-month online Regular Saver (Issue 7) at a fixed rate of 6%, which will auto transfer/renew at maturity into an new 'Access Regular Saver' at a derisory 2.10 % variable rate of interest (from 03.02.26). Vote with your feet when your fixed rate 6% Regular Saver is up and shift the maturity money to something so much better.

For balance, there is a decent Regular Saver in the West Brom 'savings stable' but it is strictly a branch-based application; a product, by default, reserved for the chosen few that can actually get to one. One could, if one where in the line of such speculation, venture to suggest that decision does not appear to align with the broader membership's interests.

WB's promised digital overhaul - partnered with 10x banking and Deloitte's - has the potential to be transformative. It is to be hoped that WB might also want to re-visit some core mutual values at the same time. However, with a 61 % 1-star rating as of the time of posting, I have not yet left the 'hope' stage ...

Never again with West Brom.
They have been messing me around for too long now, I suggested to transfer the valuation from new offer to the old one to extend the offer , I was told no, it’s not possible only for them to try to do it nearly two weeks later anyway! In all that time I was waiting for someone to call me to book new valuation but no one bothered to tell me that things changed even though I called twice in that time to ask when I will receive that call!
First and last time , never again

Absolutely terrible online service it’s so outdated it’s almost unusable. Definitely not for young people

Its okay, went in to make my account and they were helpful.

Poor website for mortgage, not safe login (no 2 step verification? txt message/email?), only way to make overpayment is to call or send cheque? cmon why can't we just make transfer with account number?

I have been trying to effect an ISA transfer out of West Brom. Firstly they rejected a transfer request they "did not receive" because on the banking details the word Websave appeared (beware of this, which WBBS say is a "common error" causing delays). It then transpired that WBBS is not even on the banking system other than for "websave" accounts so it is easy to select the websave option when there is no other standard banking protocol for WBBS. I then completed 2 more forms of which I was told they "have no record" although my new ISA provider confirmed they had emailed them over. The latest of these has also been rejected because it contains a digital signature...it was a digital form which I had to send to my new ISA provider digitally! It really is time this outfit came into the 21st century. All the time losing interest and risking the transfer not being completed within the funding deadline for the new ISA, I now have to wait for WBBS to write to me and for me to return a form by post. I am extremely dissatisfied by these outdated policies.

completely useless. Tried to open an easy access account. after 4 days of nothing I opened an account elsewhere within 5 minutes. 6 days later I got a request for more information - west brom you are too late. I think you need to look at your systems.... further to west brom requesting more info: I applied 0820 friday 22/8. received auto email saying will open account within 3 working days - if they need more info they will advise. nothing happened until saturday 30th at 1547 6 working (8 elapsed days) later when a quite unfriendly email arrived saying recently sent me an email requesting more info. I assume they meant this email was the email requesting further info. West Brom you need to get a sales person to carefully read what you send out. There is no sense of appreciation for a new customer applying, just factual info relating to your process which you cant even follow. I would prefer to put my money with a firm who appreciate its.

The interest rates on savings are good, but I feel that on-line security could be improved by using 2 factor authentication as part of the log-in procedure (i.e send pass code to a mobile phone or email account). All other banks/building societies that I have accounts with use this before any account details are shown.
West Brom only requires name, dob and pincode to login and then all the savings accounts and balances are visible.
I spoke to WB about my security concerns and was told that further authentication is prompted when moving money etc, but to me I would prefer 2 factor authentication before I was even able to see my account details.

I joined as at the time it was the best rate I could find 4.55%. However the rate they gave me was 4.33! So of course this annoyed me as I already had three accounts (2 in cahoot and 1 in Santander) that were a better rate. Google told me there was an app, but there is not! Double annoyed. But the final step for me was the fact it took 4 days for £20 to show up and 3 and half days for £2500 to show up. When I called in to chase up where the £20 was (Friday 1500 ish) the lady on the phone told me the account staff were not working!
Ive now taken all but £1 out of my account. Not really sure why I left, £1 in as I will never use it again. This is not modern banking. Transfers should be all but instant! % advertised should be the % given. If you want modern banking id stay clear.

Staff are extremely rude at this branch. It felt like they didn't want to help me with my transaction, no verbal cues, such as please or thankyou, as staff couldn't demonstrate manners or common courtesy.
Also the bank was empty of customers, and just myself, yet staff acted like they couldn't see me, so I approached them and wasn't greeted with a hello, just silence.
I guess staff are selective with whom they are friendly to, depending on the deographic or their judgement. Piss poor, will stay away from this branch until you can train your staff. By the way this is your Cape Hill Smethwick branch. I have used other branches and this one was by far the worst.

All good with the West Brom, only way to improve is maybe a banking app, like another building society like the Nation****,
so only giving 4 star, give me an app and its 5 Star
Anyway these things take time, so wait and see, I would recommend you, so thank you

I just wanted to point out the fantastic experience and professionalism I received from KYLE in the Company's call centre. This guy is GOOD, and I know, I used to run a call centre!

It's hard work to open an account (a 4 Access Saver Issue 2). After the online application and uploading an ID document, you have to phone 0345 2413785 to ask for a 4-digit code for using the online savings portal. 0345 is not a free number and it's a long call with many security questions. My mobile signal broke down before I could finish this tiresome process. I'll leave West Brom there and use Vida Savings, a more efficient provider without the WB runaround. It's hard work dealing with this odd building society.

cant access new savings account
you have to call to get a login pin but no one answers the call.
Live chat broken and returns "User is not an accepted participant of the conversation" message.
what a joke of a company !

Surjit was very helpful with my enquiry and helped ease my mind. Overall they have been excellent from start to completion with my mortgage application.

If there was a minus star I would have rated that
My daughter has been waiting 7 months to get her mortgage finalised even having to extend the offer which took a month to organise 😳
Absolutely ridiculous how long they take to organise anything always saying they will contact her in 48 hours It’s now 7 months on
My advice, stay clear of them No one seems to know what they are doing there passing the buck all the time
Avoid like the plague

I have had a WebSave Account for years often with many £000's in it. I decided to open a normal Savings account and on the online application form I ticked the WebSave customer box thinking it would fast track the process, oh boy how wrong was I !! The account opened after a few days but I received an email asking me to prove my ID and banking details by sending in pics of statements etc and it has to be in your full name, well my nominated account that has served them for many years isnt in my full name !!!..I contacted them by phone and pointed out the obvious and was told it was necessary to safe guard me , really !!! ...I advised I wasn't going to be a victim of their organisational structure.....So if you are a WebSaver customer don't assume that helps as they are on a different platform and there is no hands on cross checking unless you push hard. ....Importantly they have a process which fails if your nominated bank account is not under a full name and only has the initials for first and middle names plus surname. In the opening letter there is no information of what to do if you cannot meet that requirement !!...not very well thought through me thinks. Other Building Societies are much easier to deal with. I would welcome the opportunity to speak with their Senior Management

They think it's perfectly acceptable to reduce the interest rate on the savings account and NOT notify the account holder.

I have several accounts with other financial establishments and this organisation are by far the worst.

After having problems understanding how the interest rate was calculated for my account.
I decided to use customer support and spoke to a young man ( Gurp) who with his colleagues helped to put the answer in “plain English!” which I couldn’t get to grips with via the website.