Bradford & Bingley savers no doubt breathed a collective sigh of relief as the announcement came through this morning that their money would be safely transferred to Abbey owner Santander.
They might not be losing any of their money, but as anyone who has dealt with Abbey over the last couple of years will tell them, it's unlikely to be plain sailing from now on.
Of all the banks operating in the UK, Abbey has generated by far the most reader complaints to our mail bag. Over the past year we've written about problems processing Isas, delays with the probate service and generally dismal customer service. The agony, it seems, was caused by the merger of Abbey's and Santander's systems.
The letters to our Why are we waiting? campaign and agony aunt Margaret Dibben seem to have tailed off over the past few months, but could we soon be hearing from the newest set of Santander customers?
Not only is the bank going to be taking over B&B's savings operation, but a merger between Abbey and Alliance & Leicester is expected to go ahead on October 10. Who knows what will happen if they try to integrate those systems with the existing bank.
If you are an Alliance & Leicester or B&B customer are those stories enough to make you consider moving your money elsewhere? And if you are an Abbey customer, are things really back on track or are you just suffering in silence?
