MSE News: CONFIRMED - OFT gives up bank charges battle

gobbo

moo_cow wrote: »

'If you are earning over £500 a week then you're not doing so bad. What about cash machines , what about changing to a nearer bank or post office ?

I did say you may have problems ith some companies paying cash'


Who said anything about getting paid £500 per week? Have you been drinking too much? We get paid a MONTHLY salary! Cash machines, again, 5 miles away!
There are no nearer banks or post offices. Our village post office close 2 years ago. We are rural. for us, that's it. that's our lot.

you did , you complained about only being able to draw £500 at a time but this was answered by noh anyway as the £500 limit doesn;t exist according to him

kittiej

Gobbo, being able to withdraw £500 at a time is not the same as earning £500 lol.

Who has said banks should be charities? They are businesses yes and as such they should act like businesses and not dodgy geezers :rotfl:and have the forsight to be able to stay in the market without resorting to unscrupulous practices.

I take you are mature in years since you can remember GPO telephones, therefore I sort of understand where your attitude to banking comes from and that you are worried about being charged for banking.

If your friend with the Spanish bank account cannot overdraw, would this person be charged if an attempt was made to make the account go overdrawn?

I don't know what happens in the rest of Europe, I don't have a passport and even less inclination to travel, home is where the heart is

moo_cow

gobbo wrote: »

you did , you complained about only being able to draw £500 at a time but this was answered by noh anyway as the £500 limit doesn;t exist according to him

Erm, at no point did I say I earn £500 per week. I think you're just looking for something that doesn't exist here. And as I belong to Nationwide and have actually attempted to withdraw more than £500 at a time I think I can be the best judge of what is and what is not allowed in our local branch. Thank you!

moo_cow

Also as previously stated yes, over £500 with notice. But my point was, why should I have to make requests to get at my own money? I don't want a bank account and that's about the size of it. And as far as i'm concerned all the bleating in the world about banks being businesses not charities won't change the fact that banks are dirty, underhand, and stop at nothing to make as much money as they can by miss selling etc etc. (I don't need to repeat my previous post on this subject) There's never going to be a valid winning arguement for banks as they have shot themselves in the foot by creating the whole mess through devious moneygrabbing.

natweststaffmember

gobbo wrote: »

Yes Some people seem to think that banks should be charities not businesses , if the banks were fully nationalised like post office telephones / british telecom used to be ,, the charges would be much higher than they are now , I can remember what British Telecom used to charge before it became a business (privatised) and it was much higher than it is now , so you have to be carefull not to chuck the baby out with the bathwater , much better competition than everyone being charged huge amounts of fees.
The OFT would be able to refer the charges to the Competition Commission if they raised them higher
Looking to Europe , I know someone with a spanish bank account and there the charges are much higher than here , you are charged 0.5% for every DEPOSIT you make into the bank , you are charged for your switch card , an annual fee for your account , and other charges as well , and you are not permitted to overdraw at all , so in some ways you could argue we don't know when we are well off

With regards to charges in Europe, they are at least open with what you are charged rather then hidden, for example, interest forgone on accounts in credit. European banking is less profitable in retail than in the UK so I am not so sure we are so well off.

gobbo

This is the quote I was answering re the £500 where moo cow said it would not be practical to draw out their wages in cash because they couldn't draw out more than £500 a DAY , I looked at it as weekly wage but moo cow seems to want to draw out more than £500 a day

quote moo cow -
Originally Posted by moo cow
Well there's a slight problem with that for us gobbo. We live 5 miles away from our bank (nationwide) and they will only let us draw £500 per day

Re the spanish account , I believe that the police would be notified

kittiej wrote: »

Gobbo, being able to withdraw £500 at a time is not the same as earning £500 lol.

Who has said banks should be charities? They are businesses yes and as such they should act like businesses and not dodgy geezers :rotfl:and have the forsight to be able to stay in the market without resorting to unscrupulous practices.

I take you are mature in years since you can remember GPO telephones, therefore I sort of understand where your attitude to banking comes from and that you are worried about being charged for banking.

If your friend with the Spanish bank account cannot overdraw, would this person be charged if an attempt was made to make the account go overdrawn?

I don't know what happens in the rest of Europe, I don't have a passport and even less inclination to travel, home is where the heart is

gobbo

moo_cow wrote: »

Erm, at no point did I say I earn £500 per week. I think you're just looking for something that doesn't exist here. And as I belong to Nationwide and have actually attempted to withdraw more than £500 at a time I think I can be the best judge of what is and what is not allowed in our local branch. Thank you!

well if you don't earn £500 a week why is it a problem to only be able to draw £500 a DAY from your account to get your wages ?

Originally Posted by moo cow
Well there's a slight problem with that for us gobbo. We live 5 miles away from our bank (nationwide) and they will only let us draw £500 per day

gobbo

moo_cow wrote: »

Also as previously stated yes, over £500 with notice. But my point was, why should I have to make requests to get at my own money? I don't want a bank account and that's about the size of it. And as far as i'm concerned all the bleating in the world about banks being businesses not charities won't change the fact that banks are dirty, underhand, and stop at nothing to make as much money as they can by miss selling etc etc. (I don't need to repeat my previous post on this subject) There's never going to be a valid winning arguement for banks as they have shot themselves in the foot by creating the whole mess through devious moneygrabbing.

if you don't want a bank account why not get a job that pays you by cheque and then go to a cheque cashing service , yes they will charge you but at least you won't have a bank account

gobbo

natweststaffmember wrote: »

With regards to charges in Europe, they are at least open with what you are charged rather then hidden, for example, interest forgone on accounts in credit. European banking is less profitable in retail than in the UK so I am not so sure we are so well off.

Possibly , but if the banks were fully nationised as per my point then the government would instruct the oft to leave it and they would

kittiej

I should imagine if it's 5 miles to the nearest branch of her bank then a cheque cashing place is probably out of the question.

Employers won't do it anyway due to the cost.

So there wouldn't be a charge if say a DD was requested but insufficient funds but the police would come to see you?

Do most companies ie suppliers insist upon being paid by the bank or is cash acceptable in Spain?

I can only assume the people over there have a different way of going about their bill paying?

If their banks can be open and honest then why can't the British banks be the same?

I wonder if anyone else has experience of European banking?