Handelsbanken plc (UK) Reviews 

Commercial customers of 16 years at Milton Keynes. 100 percent repayment record against commercial mortgages. Had a great relationship with previous account manager.

All of a sudden funding withdrawn, apparently due to the new account manager not feeling "any relationship" with us. Had the displeasure of speaking with a local branch area manager today, odious man who refuses to actually listen to clients, and was told I clearly show I am not a "relatonship" client as I mentioned I don't listen to my voicemail. Told by him previously decisions to withdraw funding are on a branch level, then told my the branch manager there was some risk score decision made in head office that meant the loan had to be pulled. The incompetent area manager did not discuss or answer questions regarding this "risk".

16 years repayment history of 100 percent, 5 x loan to value. However we are a "risk" though that "risk" is not explained. Very contradictory. Appear to be saying the decision to pull the loan is the account manager, as branch manager told me, she sees very little risk agrees all payments are made... surely they should change the relationship manager (the only one) rather than removing clients. Absolutely shambolic service. I would advise any commercial real estate investor to look elsewhere.

Edit***** complaints procedure is a waste of time. My complaint was dealt with and replied to by one of the people I was complaining about, that being the branch manager. Literally a waste of time even making a complaint. Then have been asked to review my review.... hahaha total joke. Have been asked to re edit due to review containing "personal details" all of which they happily put on their website but don't allow you to put here. 😉

From start to finish the service was excellent, we had direct contact with the decision makers via our excellent relationship manager, turnaround of questions was quick and when things came up they had a very sensible approach to working to find a solution with us. As new mortgage clients we have been very happy with service.
We used Handelsbanken on the back of friends positive recommendation and based on our experience have already recommended Donna Fletcher in the West End branch to friends.

Excellent tailored relationship management serviceOur manager is always available to help with all queries, big and small. We have been able to achieve some of our important financial milestones thanks to Handelsbanken. Far better than the typical large high street bank.

Used Handelsbanken for 20 years, was alright until I one day had to transfer a larger sum from abroad, I contacted customer service months in advance to make sure there wouldn't be any issues, and when the day came they couldn't accept the transfer. The short of it is that the customer service either lied or didn't know what they were talking about, and I had to pay the fees to make up for their mistake, swapped banks shortly after.

Took way too long to communicate with. Like they are avoiding to do so.

Banked with Handelsbanken for 4 Years. Relationship manager was fantastic when we joined.
He left and was replaced by a very unexperienced man, who decided to revalue all the property in Covid even though LTV was low!
Last year , we suffered some trading issues . We went to HB for temporary support. Instead of helping or just refusing, they appointed LPA receivers . Crippling us, the business and nearly resulting in a nervous breakdown on my part .
The cost of refinance to our business was nearly £200k.
We were lucky we could escape and move on .
This is a bank that gives you an umbrella on a sunny day, but takes it away when it rains. Avoid this bank like the plague.
Oh by the way , in four years - my branch has seen 5 managers. I suppose that says a lot …
I cannot give negative score or I would

I am glad the subject of exclusion from a bank has been raised . Our accounts were closed under the guise of PEP rather than do the appropriate and proportionate investigation . We were excluded at a vulnerable time for us ( during Covid ).The alleged link was so absurd it was I hope other customers who were discriminated in this way join in the campaign and report Handlesbanken to the appropriate authorities .

I've been banking with Handelsbanken East Sussex since 2016 & can confidently say that my experience has been the best I've ever had in over 40 years of running bank accounts.

Handelsbanken is like a private bank but without the costs & hurdles.

If you want the very highest levels of customer service & a personal relationship - where you speak to real people you know instead of a faceless organisation that does not understand you, your money or your needs - then I recommend Handelsbanken.

Don't just take my word for it. Handelsbanken regularly comes in at the top 1, 2 or 3 positions of banking customer satisfaction surveys.

Finally, I get the impression that Handelsbanken is a very safe bank - much safer than other UK banks - because it is so risk averse & careful.

A business customer for 10years+. We enquired for an additional credit card for a staff member, we had 3 cards already. 2 days later, we received an email to state "Following a recent review we are closing your business account(s)" as we are apparently outside their risk tolerance. We were given 2 months notice that all our accounts would be stopped and cheques posted with our funds if not transferred out.
A local profitable business. No overdraft. No loans. No credit issues. Substantial money in our accounts.
Be aware "Local Relationship Banking" does not appear to fit their current business practices. Our last contact from our account manager was in January. Quite possibly the worst experience I have personally had with a bank.
Huge amounts of admin for the business and very little explanation or contact.
I hear I was not the only one culled last week too.
Be aware of any relationship with them ☹

what goes right anymore, when I first moved to the bank it was relatively local, the staff were all good quality,and the service was very good, Now I am going to have to move banks ,might as well be back on the high street banks, the internet system is a joke! everytime they update it, disaster , the staff in branch, well if they worked for me and I caught them treating customers like they treat me!!.Part of the problem is that they don't hire on performance and so end up with the kind of staff who can't meet targets, ie the dregs I used to recommend them to my friends/clients I have stooped doing this , just so frustrating it was a really good bank to work with, now....................

Really happy with this bank. Good customer service (Norway), and really nice online solutions. I recommend Handelsbanken to everyone!

I recently approached Handlesbanken to open account as Child and Co where I currently hold my main account has closed its physical branch and I wanted to have a personal service for which I was quite happy to pay.
I have an excellent credit score, and would be quite happy to pay the fee of up to £ 50 per month. I was phoned back by a representative who told me that although Handlesbanken do not proport to have any minimum criteria, they in fact require clients to have incomes exceeding 100k or to deposit a minimum of 500k or take out a mortgage in excess of a million.
As they say they have over 160 branches in the UK, does this mean that each of these branches is full of people who meet these criteria? I think not. If they did, why would they be with Handlesbanken rather than Coutts, Weatherbys or Arbuthnot Latham?

The worst online system I have ever come across. As a bookkeeper who works with a wide variety of banks this has to be the most painful bank to use. It invariably takes up to 2 hours to make a payment because the website keeps freezing. The system is incredibly clunky, setting up the app was a nightmare - the guide missed out loads of steps you have to take. It took 3 phone calls and 3 hours to set it up because even they don't know how to do it, it is so ridiculously complicated. Thinking of dropping my client because I can't bear the lost hours spent

Better by far than the two High Street British banks I have left. Telephone and straight away I speak to a person who can actually answer the questions I ask.

We have banked with Handels for years. They were very good but now arearogant and never wrong. We have 6 accounts (business and personal) all in credit and some have very substaintial sums. I have had no card to access the on line system since March 2023. Do they care no. I have complained and they deny it is their fault or any issues. One representitive told us that as we are in credit they make no money so no interest.
The worst bank we have ever been with in recent years.

Thanks for the response. You do not mention that the branch reviews the complaints themselves and the response is always in their favour as they deny everything. and refer you to the Financial Ombudsman. Hardly a professional approach and demostrates the way Handels think. We deal with another 5 banks and they are all far better than Handels who do not even have a fully working glitch on-line system.

Jag är nöjd med Handelsbanken som bank förutom två väldigt stora minus!
1. Det finns ingen sökfunktion bland transaktioner, alltså måste man skrolla igenom alla sina transaktioner för att hitta den man söker efter. Detta borde vara en självklar funktion att erbjuda sina kunder.
2. När man ska skriva i chatten förvinner texten och ibland går det inte ens att skicka iväg texten.

English:
I am satisfied with Handelsbanken as a bank except for two very big minuses!
1. There is no search function among transactions, so you have to scroll through all your transactions to find the one you are looking for. This should be an obvious feature to offer your customers.
2. When writing in the chat, the text disappears and sometimes it is not even possible to send the text.

I used to have an account with Handelsbanken back in 2018 and despite having closed it I continue to get Terms and Conditions updates from head office. Despite several attempts to stop these mailshots they continue. I have recently moved house and now this mail is getting redirected to me. It is obvious that the customer database is not being kept up to date. Really annoying.

I've banked with Handelsbanken's Islington branch for many years and have found it an excellent experience. My circumstances are somewhat unusual and I had my account closed by high street banks as their compliance teams are simply not interested in business that they can't easily pigeonhole. The personal touch from Handelsbanken has been great and I always speak to the same branch manager and know several staff by name. Probably the fees, though I find them very reasonable, aren't for everyone - but there are plenty of banks that are all more or less the same, and it's great that Handelsbanken exist.

I’ve banked with Handelsbank for years. Not the cheapest, but overwhelming support from my branch and all its staff
For example, in USA I received an email from Richard at the branch, just checking that it was me using my card in Florida. Better than a call as he knows I’m deaf as a stone
Today I paid a bill to a care association on line. Email from Richard, asking if I’d checked that the account details were real !
You don’t get that sort of old fashioned support from most banks
Also the branch welcomes a visit if I’ve a problem
So 5 stars and a Thankyou for perfect banking after the poor efforts of the competitors in the past
I’m 80 and recommend them for anyone who values proper banking

AVOID at all costs a waste of time.

Other banks are better and actually value their customers. Don't use this one.