Principality Building Society Avis 249

Up to this year I had been a PBS customer for some 40 years. Staff in branches have always been good but I moved a significant ISA amount this year due to a poor interest rate in comparison to competitors e.g. 2.9% to over 4 on my new product. I did however open a 1 year fixed rate ISA and tried to pay further funds into it this week to receive a terse email from the savings team saying they were returning the additional monies as the product was now closed. I checked when opening the account if I could pay further monies in during the course of the tax year and was told I could. Incompetence and poor customer service in this instance - won't be looking to invest with them any longer. Really disappointed in what was once a good company to deal with.

Poor customer service at times. Some staff don't seem to appreciate customers and find it difficult to give a sincere apology. I shall transfer my account which is a shame as the interest rate is ok. Remember - the Financial Ombudsman may be able to help you if you receive a poor service.

I have had numerous accounts with Principality over the years and no problem until recently. However, for several weeks now I have been having problems logging in as I am not receiving passcodes. I have never experienced this problem with any other bank or building society and though I reported the problem some weeks back things have not improved and I am becoming increasingly exasperated. As I do not live locally this is proving a major inconvenience.

Had a problem with a bank transfer ,spoke to Claire in the Monmouth branch and was really impressed with her assistance .She sorted everything out for me ,was really helpful and kept me fully informed .Cant praise her enough ,a real asset to the company

Been with this company 14 years.
When I have had to contact them, rarely, as it ran smoothly, I have had excellent Customer Service, I last spoke to Sabina, she was more than helpful.
Thank you

Really poor website an online service. tried to open an ISA, keep going round in circles. Even though Ive had the letter confirming the acct was open I couldnt access it online. I will now look elsewehere.

Absolute shambles of a company well behind competitors,not in todays world,working in the 60s with their systems.
They don't even answer the phone what chance have potential customers got.
JUST CLOSED MY NEW ACCOUNT

I received excellent customer service today with a person called Renate
As well as being polite and knowledgeable she went the extra mile to sort out my query with an ISA
It's people like Renata that make the difference in moving a building society from being good to excellent
Principality building society as well as being the largest in Wales is definitely the best
I'd recommend this building society to anybody

I have opened many on-line savings accounts with banks and building societies over the years and the Principality BS proved to be the simplest, quickest and best communicated I have experienced. I am pleased I ignored the negative reviews.

Take so long time to complete because you ve to go with the system it is joke we are doing with them they are too slow .........
I sent them third time mortgage deed by post because they don't like witness signs every time do this or do that :-(

Staff are incapable of using a phone and/or cannot afford working phones. Attempting a phone call and they struggle to hear you claiming it is your phone. Strange that when I have plenty of signal and point out is it obviously a fault their end and then they can suddenly understand that accusation.
Communication is not their strong point as they sent out maturity instructions with incorrect account information which is why I had to call in the first place to ensure I was receiving the money.

My mortgage was ending within a month. Principality is the institution that I have mortgaged for a long time. I called and asking a fix rate and deduct it from my year. The interest rate given was 4.70, the highest interest rate in the market. They said that they could not change my mortgage rate even though the interest rates are currently decreasing. I haven't received my contract yet but I dont understand why they cannot reduce it the rate.It was clear that they did not want to help me at all.
I definitely do not recommend anyone to get a mortgage from here. I most likely to switch to another mortgage company as soon as possible.

I regularly visit Caernarfon and Pwllheli branches. The staff are fantastic. They're savings are great and they tell you if there is a better rate to be had. I have 3 accounts and an ISA with them. Interest rates are good as well. And they're open every day.

My wife and I are trying to open Cash ISAs. Their website and procedures are an absolute pain. I eventually managed to open my account to find that, in order to transfer funds from another provider, I had to print out a form then fill it in and post it - in 2025! Haven't they heard of digital signatures? After I'd spent an hour doing mine my wife tried to do hers. The website allowed her to enter my mobile number in error and then told her that she couldn't do this but gave no option to change it. We tried to call them but of course they close at 5. Not impressed.
Update: My wife called to update her mobile number and received very prompt and helpful service so upgraded from 1 to 3 stars.

Resolved the issue I had the next day

Website a nightmare to use, locks account after only 3 attempts! Tried to call them to unlock-they are CLOSED FOR TRAINING!? Who does that in 2025! Their authentication process is beyond painful also.

Classed as Vulnerable disabled treated Awful in hospital Major treatment needed some help Matthew took 2 weeks to tell me he could not help - just awful - I would not recommend anyone to this company and by the looks of it I'm not on my own feeding information back to the CEO through linekin
Also contacted the BSA as Principality are not following the Mortgage Charter and looking at complaint against customers with Dissability

01.02.2025
Thank you Julie Principality have now put this right after emailing Joshua

17/02/25
Julie can you help me I'm having same problem again I'm in a d out of hospital and need to correspond by email but just received email to say I need to phone - this is very stressful at a time when you don't need it.

I cannot understand how or why others have had bad experiences with PBS.
I have been with PBS for 2 years and had 3 Savings Accounts that have matured - no problem with the Savings and Interest being paid to my nominated account on the date I requested.
Have since opened 4 more Savings accounts with Fixed interest rates of 5.15%, 5.5%, 7% and 8% which although limited by Maximum Amounts are much better that anywhere else.
Also have a Flexible Cash ISA with PBS, which I can move money from and back to with no problem and very quickly.

Yet again fabulous service from Principality. Opened a new ISA and wanted to transfer internally into it, called up the phone was answered really quickly and dealt with by Sarah who openly admitted she wasn't sure how to process the transaction but agreed to find out and ring me back. She did exactly that and my account was funded there and then. Service was friendly and completed with ease.
I really don't understand why there's such a disparity in opinion as both Sarah and Molly who dealt with me last time were both exceptional. I also don't have any issues getting into my account online, the process is far less onerous than some other building societies I have accounts with.
Keep up the good work 👍

They answer the phone quicker than most. They answer secure messages normally within 24 hrs. Their savings rates are up in the top 5 on most accounts. In the branch very friendly but not very helpful on internet accounts if there is a problem. Website was terrible , slow sometimes couldn't get a OTPC, so unable to withdraw money. I think that has improved now.