An Observer reader says ...

Observer reader Linda Brown has stuck with the same bank for 40 years. She says it's a family thing. Yet Linda still pays attention to her finances and tries to get the best deals, but most of the time historical ties and laziness have overridden her desire to switch to other providers.

Her attachment springs from strong family connections to Merseyside and the birth of National Girobank. Linda was born near its offices in Bootle and many of her friends and family still work either for National Savings or the banking business that was sold to Alliance & Leicester in the 1980s.

Bank Account
Linda benefits from Alliance & Leicester's interest bearing current account, which has topped the best-buy tables for most of the year. "I use its telephone banking and internet banking services and they're pretty good. I have used overdraft facilities and loans over the years to get through difficult times and always found paying the interest painful. I think I must have used every facility going. But as time has gone on I have used overdrafts less and less - if nothing else because it's so expensive. Now I keep in credit as much as I can to avoid charges."

Savings
Linda has small sums in A&L's Plus Saver and internet-only savings accounts. "The internet-only account used to be at the top of the best-buy tables, but it's not so good now. Laziness has stopped me shopping around."

Credit cards She uses an Alliance & Leicester Visa (operated by MBNA) and a credit card from the Co-op, which is held jointly with her partner. Balances on the cards are paid off at the end of each month, she says.

Mortgage
Woolwich has Linda's repayment mortgage and while she characterises herself as sometimes lazy, she has been to see mortgage advisers on several occasions to ask for a better deal and been rewarded with lower interest rates. "The advisers have always been helpful and listened and given me a better discount rate," she says.

Utilities
Not much switching in this department. Linda gets her gas and electricity from British Gas and uses its Home Service cover to insure against almost all possible central heating and plumbing disasters. She moved to Home Service after suffering problems with a similar service offered by United Utilities. She says poor service resulted in a flood.