Banks, don't you just love them

nicholas on 2008-06-24T15:31:55

So, I need to pay rent. I don't have Internet banking set up, and go to the branch to ask them how best to transfer money from my account to my landlord's account, for which I know the account number and sort code...

Well, if I want to do it electronically over the counter, that will cost me £20. Of course, if I had Internet banking it would be free, so clearly it's the counter service that's costly. Only the helpful cashier is quite happy to spend 5 minutes looking up in a big book to verify that the sort code is Smile, and phoning up The Co-operative Bank (and getting passed upwards) to verify that they will accept a cash payment over the counter into a Smile account. (which they will). So then I make a cash withdrawal (over the counter, and over my cashcard limit) (again, not chargeable), and the first half is done.

So later on I head over to the The Co-operative Bank, where indeed they happily accept the cash deposit from me. I comment that it's crazy that my bank want to charge me £20 for this, that it's better to do the transfer with cash, and that nothing seems to have changed since I did this nearly 20 years ago.

"You need a new bank", she said.

"Mmm, yes, I do", I replied. "Do you have a leaflet?"

So she stepped out from behind the counter, found me a leaflet out front, and showed me the 4 options of current account detailed there. IIRC they would charge £0 for this sort of transfer (my favourite price).

Dear RBS, that £20 charge might be about to cost you an entire customer.

Oh the irony. They would only charge me £10, half that price to make a Euro transfer into an account in the eurozone, which means international. Yes, it's not same day, but I don't need same day here, dammit, and if that is a service you offer for free, it wasn't something that it ever crossed the mind of your chatty helpful counter staff to offer me.

---

Banks...

ajt on 2008-06-24T16:47:41

A bank is a place that lends you an umbrella during fair weather then asks for it back when it rains. -Robert Frost.

When I moved I sent a letter to everyone to let them know (at the last minute) that I was moving. One bank sent back a letter to say that they don't reply to letters on Internet accounts. Don't you just love banks...?

Hopefully they've improved

skugg on 2008-06-24T19:18:34

I tried opening an account with the Cooperative bank a few years ago, but after they lost my details a couple of times, directed me to a branch that don't exist, and sent me a letter saying they needed to still confirm my identity in response to somebody else's application I decided to drop the issue.

Try their internet branch

doop on 2008-06-24T21:51:45

I opened an account with Smile about two and a half years ago, and they've been unfailingly helpful. And no, they don't charge for transfers either..

standing

quidity on 2008-06-25T22:17:39

Can't you set up a standing order?

And yes, it cost me less than GBP20 to transfer money to the antipode of my home branch, so something is clearly odd in the state of Scotland.

Re:standing

nicholas on 2008-06-26T13:57:15

Yes, I can set up a standing order once we have a regular amount and date. But right now I'm on a (very informal) short term agreement, with the option of going to something formal and long term if I like it, so right now payment isn't regular enough to have a standing order for it.

And yes, I agree that something is very wrong. I assume that a (regular UK bank clearing play with your money on the money markets rip-off) 3 day service exists. It's just that they don't want to offer me it over the counter. Hmm, maybe that's where the Underpants Gnomes got their plan from:

Day 1

Money leaves your account

Day 2

???

Day 3

Profit! oops, how did that happen? We were just moving your money from A to B.

Cash Cow

lilstevey on 2008-07-04T23:22:39

I've recently swapped banks myself.

Very stupidly I agreed to a pay-for-banking-deal - it seemed like a good deal, cos I was applying for a mortgage at the time.



It was like ticking a box saying "rob me blind" I wouldn't be at all surprised if banks have a target list of fools who have accepted there rip-off deals and target for further abuse.



A little while later £800 was wrongly charged to my account ( Apparently for a TV ). I had also been a mug and paid for "insurance" in case my card was lost or stolen.



I phoned up the helpline to report it. They said the bank would deal with it, and referred me. It took me weeks and weeks to get my money back - long after they had received a signed document from me expressing in writing that the transaction was nothing to do with me.



I can't at present remember the last phone call I had with them on the subject, but I was very forceful. The money was transferred very soon after.



A day later, I got a phone call from them, saying that another £800 had been transferred to my account, and could they have the money back.



It took weeks of my inconvenience for them to benefit from me, but days ( if that ) for them to notice a mistake that cost them money.



A few other errors on their part later and I've since shifted my current account to the nationwide - who at the moment I'm very happy with.



There's some darn nice people working very hard in some branches - I used to have a good relationship with my branch until they closed it and moved banking to call centres, and even that recently, at one point I wrote a letter of compliment about one branches help for me with my previous bank, but at the end of the day I hold the belief that on an organisational level some of the big high street banks really don't appreciate whose money they are looking after.



With very little effort and inconvenience people can not only stop funding these corrupt institutions, but can also get a better deal for themselves by shopping around.



I respect you for finding better deal -more people should do the same and show these people where their salary comes from.

That's one thing the US does right

btilly on 2008-07-10T16:56:45

By law, the banks are liable for virtually any mistake. If there is any question, then you get the benefit of the doubt, always. Somebody stole your credit card and racked up a bill? Their liability, not yours.

The result is that mistakes are fairly few and auditing for fraud is rather tight. It also gives the banks a lot of incentives to get security right. Because if they can't prove that it was you withdrawing money from the ATM, they lose. Which means that things like having a security tape with a video of who money from your ATM is built into the system from the start.