National Bank of Abu Dhabi any good?

[kempilot]

Hi guys, just want to know if this bank is any good. I already figured out that the banks in the ME are not up to par with the Euro and US banks. How does it rate amongst its competitors in the ME?

Thanks

[777boyindubai]

They are all as bad as each other to be honest with you. NBAD used to be the Central Bank many years ago.The ONLY benefit with HSBC Premier is that you can take your credit history back home with you. Welcome to Third World standards of customer "service." Hope that helps.

[shades]

NBAD is in my experience the best of the worst! I have had the misfortune of both personal banking and business banking experiences with several banks in the UAE and you will find NBAD as the best to deal with.......but caution it will not be the same as in the Western World. HSBC UAE one of the worst experiences for business related transations! NBD also seriously inept in all areas! :ugh:

[lionoftheleft]

NBAD, what a joke, I opened an account with them to deposit my salary. When it was time to get a car loan it was like running into a wal l:ugh:
After all the bs, I closed my account and moved to HSBC.
Be careful where you do your banking :confused:

Third world banking is a joke, you insult the 3rd world. Banking here is a nightmear.

[Nightfire]

NBAD is a piece of :mad:, but there are differences, depending on which branch you go to.
I know the following ones:

Abu Dhabi Mall - have some good employees, depending on which counter you go to. They were quite helpful to me after I experienced yet another case of fraud. Go there in the late evening, when there are less people.

Marina Mall - bad.

Airport - absolutely terrible!

Mazyatt Mall (Musaffah) - friendly, but stupid.

NBAD in Musaffah - dirty like hell, strangely complicated to drive to the building, their service is average.

Etihad Head Office - exceptionally good imho. Helpful and quick with problems - of which you encounter many. I always go there when I need something. Only problem is: You need to dress up in "business attire", because they're within the Etihad building. :rolleyes:

Most of the NBAD branches open only in the morning untill 12:00 anyway, those lazy :mad:. That alone is reason enough for me to go somewhere else.
Inside the shopping malls and in the EY-office, they adapt to the opening times and are there. Which is why they get quite crowded sometimes.

[Plazbot]

Their Internet banking is pretty good. Two level log in witrh pass word and one of those number generator keys. When you first open the account, nothing is activated and you have to request it though and there is no clear list of what is available. Costs me 30 dits to send money home and the form gets saved as a template so each month I just change the amount and hit submit. Transfers are easy betwen accounts and you can use pretty much anybody's ATMs.

They have an email serive as a part of the online banking so any questions or things you want activated you can do without having to deal with anyone on the phone. Alkways has happened within 10 minutes. I had my rent cheque returned as the signature was not the same as the one they had on file but there were no issues and they tracked everything down, sent me scanned copies of everything and freed the funds so I could direct deposit to my land lord instead same day.

The only time I have ever needed to go into a branch is to deposit cash and never had a problem there. A text hits my phone while the guy is still stamping the form saying it is there in the account.

As for the car loans, I had a similar experience. They approved everything then the Branch Manager who apparently has the final say wanted a 20% deposit. I told them to F Off and got the money for the same interest rate (:rolleyes:) elsewhere with 0% deposit.

I don't have any credit cards through them so have no comment on that aspect of their service.

Aparently are one of the world's 50 safest banks according to Global Finance
World?s 50 Safest Banks 2010 | Global Finance (http://www.gfmag.com/tools/best-banks/10533-worlds-50-safest-banks-2010.html)

Make of that what you will.

[sandblasted]

I would steer clear of HSBC, NBAD's service has been OK over the years and the internet banking is fairly easy to use. best of the worse I would say.

[kempilot]

Thank you for the responses. Very helpful. So then, who has the best deals with regards to auto loans?