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Quick question, my husbands employer have said they prefer if he has an account with either ABN Amro or Mashreq Bank for his pay to go into.

Havent looked into various fee and charges yet, but on the service side of things does anyone have any good or bad stories about either?

Thanks
H

ABN Amro sucks! Customer service really stinks and they suffer from 'right-hand-doesn't-know-what-left-hand-is-doing' syndrome. Unfortunately my company deals with them, so I have no choice but to work with them. But I didn't put my personal account there, and don't recommend anyone else to do it either.

It this the bank as a whole? or just a particular branch you have been dealing with?

Who would you recommend? what is Mashreq like? Anyone dealt with them?

Coops, obviously mraph33 has had some bad experiences with ABN Amro. From personal experience I have found them to be great to deal with both on personal and corporate banking - I have a customer relationship officer for both. The only thing I fault is the lack of internet banking - non existent!

mraph33 might not agree but my opinion is they are leaps and bounds better than Mashreq.

Thanks XRW - i know with Banks it can be hit or miss, and one bad rep can ruin the whole relationship for you!

No internet banking - that is pretty average, any sign in the near future of this becoming available?

We have done about 95% of our banking online for a long time now, will be a huge change/hassle not to have it.

Appreciate your feedback!

Pretty common for the lack of personal internet banking around here. Stick with HSBC or Citibank if internet banking is a strong criteria. You gotta remember the (important) client base here prefers the personal touch.

I don't know how Masreq is...but if A.A. is leaps and bounds above them, then I have no idea how they stay in business. I have dealing with A.A. on a daily basis and at least once every 2 weeks they screw up something. Its not one person.

X, if you haven't had any problems, then more power to you! I hope it stays that way

Hey buddy,

Tisk, tisk... I never said there weren't any probs. As with anything (particularly banks!) there will alwayz be problems - its how these problems are dealt with/handled/resolved that differentiates dumb from dumber.

You have to note that banks treat you differently according to how much you have in your account

And the fact that X you use them for corporate banking they have a vested interest to keep you happy.

I havent used either but i know AA lacks branches and ATMs in the city.

That's my point exactly Maaad but I can only comment based on actual personal experience. Can confirm that AA lack branches - 1 to be precise, but ATMs are in most major malls and most of their account structures waive withdrawal fees from other switch ATMs.

For me, MASHREQ BANK is better that ABN AMRO!

First of all, the branches of ABN AMRO are limited and so few compare to Mashreq's branches. I myself is struggling to find an atm or someway to pay for my ABN Amro credit card.

And one time I went to vacation, all my credit card was left unpaid. When I went back to Dubai....ABN Amro harassed me just for a 500 Dhs payment! I didnt experienced that with others like Citibank, nor Mashreq, no calls at all.

zam wrote:For me, MASHREQ BANK is better that ABN AMRO!

First of all, the branches of ABN AMRO are limited and so few compare to Mashreq's branches. I myself is struggling to find an atm or someway to pay for my ABN Amro credit card.

And one time I went to vacation, all my credit card was left unpaid. When I went back to Dubai....ABN Amro harassed me just for a 500 Dhs payment! I didnt experienced that with others like Citibank, nor Mashreq, no calls at all.

ABN AMRO harassed me for 200 Dhs payment. Hah! Anywhere is better than ABN AMRO.

XRW-147 wrote:Pretty common for the lack of personal internet banking around here. Stick with HSBC or Citibank if internet banking is a strong criteria. You gotta remember the (important) client base here prefers the personal touch.

An international bank branch not having internet banking is pretty pathetic. Even my often-insulted-by-everyone MEBank/Emirates Bank has internet banking, and it is enormously helpful.

And as someone said, ATM coverage is important too, which my often-insulted-by-everyone bank also has covered, but finding ATMs for international banks is tough, which means paying 5 bucks(?) to use other banks' ATMs each time.

Be aware though that I chose MEBank simply because there is a branch right under my place, and I need to deposit a lot of cheques regularly.