Banks Focus Attention On Existing Customers
A large percentage of the UK’s high street banks are focusing their attention towards their existing customers, when it comes to selling personal unsecured loans and other financial products, such as insurance and credit cards.
Of course, this has been the case for several years, but according to a new report from Defaqto, banks are now becoming a “one stop shop” for all their customer’s financial needs, including special preferential interest rates on unsecured loans and even home owner loans and mortgages, for customers who already hold a current account with the same bank.
Halifax is the most recent bank to start offering special loan deals to its existing customers, with between 0.2 and 0.4 per cent discount on its home owner loan rates for existing customers. Abbey currently offer a free valuation and cashback deals exclusively to existing customers and HSBC, Nat West and Royal Bank of Scotland all offer preferentially discounted rates to existing customers. Similarly, Nationwide building society offer up to 90 per cent loan to value on home owner loan products to customers with a Flex Account.
David Black of Defaqto said “We’ve already seen banks focusing their unsecured lending on their existing customers but now there is the beginning of a trend to target mortgage lending in the same way with a series of special mortgage offers available exclusively to current account customers. Banks see the current account as the main relationship builder with the customer and it also enables them to have a much better understanding of the financial capabilities of each customer. The cross selling of other products on to the existing customer base is destined to become the key battleground as each bank strives to become the one stop shop for all the personal financial needs of their customers.”
