Think Banking Managed Account Review

Overall Rating

Personal Money Manager, SMS Text Service for Balance and Transaction Updates, Internet Banking (December 2008), Two Accounts (Salary and Card) sorting direct debits whenever they are in the month

Rarely speak to your own personal money manager, Need to remember a Reference (telephone banking), Sort and Account Number as not printed on the card, Sometimes long queue times on the phone 0845 number.

Think Banking is an excellent idea and open to the masses. They charge £12.50 for the monthly service but this is money not missed and not a bad point. The SMS text message service is a very good idea and is updated immediately after a transaction and it will detail the transaction (i.e. where and how much spent). Internet banking will be finalized December 2008 and will make my rating increase to 9 out of 10. Once they sort out staffing issues to deal with high volumes of calls this will be 10/10 as their Customer Service staff are extremely helpful and it's not their fault they are clearly understaffed. I'm sure after the internet banking; the call volumes should be less anyway.
There is a 7 digit reference number you have to remember for telephone banking and also a sort code and account number as it's not printed on the card.
Also, there are often issues when transactions require address authentication i.e. mobile telephone contract in-store. It's sometimes not instantly found or in-sync.
In addition, you cannot use the card in ATM's in shops. This isn't really a bad thing as they charge £1.75 or more so it encourages using the legs to find a proper ATM. I also found that the card didn't work at my sisters wedding reception in the bar which was VERY embarrassing and I had to travel 2 miles to the nearest ATM.
Overall I am really impressed with the entire thing. Before I got the card I thought "What's the use in the money being set aside to pay bills, I can do that" but it is honestly a weight off my mind. The majority of my bills come out on the 1st of each month but some are 12th, 18th and 24th. Where I get paid on the last working day of the month, this has proven invaluable as I don't need to worry about it. If the bill comes to less (i.e. mobile phone bills fluctuate) after the money is claimed, the rest automatically goes to your card account.
8/10 so far Think Banking. If you're reading this: Sort internet banking (which I know is being done), quicken up the call queue times!
Well done though... and thanks!