This make me furious

Nytehawk

margaretclare wrote:

Well, if you complain that you want 'freedom of choice' not to have a bank account then you shouldn't whinge and complain (which people do) about the inconveniences caused by not having one. Having a bank account is not just a matter of going in and drawing out a week's money in cash - there are other services and conveniences as well, like paying all your bills by direct debit.

We have 9 direct debit payments which go out from our joint account every month, it's the morning of the first of the month and 6 of them have gone out already, including £11.37 for the TV licence. 'Freedom of choice' - yes, but freedom from worry too, freedom from having to give boring things like bill-paying a single thought once the direct debits are all set up and running. Freedom from not being mugged the moment you step outside the post office with a bag full of money.

We were away at the weekend, I'd paid for Saturday night's dinner in advance by cheque, I'd booked an overnight stay at a DaysInn using my credit card, DH paid for petrol on the way back using his credit card. On our return he paid the credit card balance up to date, as he does every month (we both use credit cards and pay them off monthly). None of this would have been possible without bank accounts.

My eldest granddaughter has only recently got a job after 6 months' unemployment. She's still sleeping on her uncle's sofa. Because she had difficulty getting a bank account - no ID, no utility bills - when I wanted to help her she cashed the cheques I sent her at a MoneyShop instead of paying them into her account. Not ideal. She now has an account with Nationwide which she needs to get paid into from her new job. She told me 'My other grandad HATES chip and PIN. Absolutely hates it!' Well, that's his prerogative. I would have thought he was busy enough - his second wife has Parkinson's, his younger son has ME - to appreciate the convenience. But apparently not.

It's also worth mentioning that if you have any form of annuity or other type of pension payment then there is no question of getting it paid to you by any other means than through a bank account. My DH was a manager in industry back in the 1970s and he remembers the furore about paying people into a bank account and not in a little brown packet in their hands. The unions even invoked the Truck Acts of the 1840s which said that payment had to be made in 'coin of the realm'. But when wages increased huge sums of money were handled weekly by a factory's pay office, and like now, there are obvious risks and dangers. If a person is only on the basic state pension with pension credit then they can walk out of the PO weekly with over £100 in their hand. I prefer not to take those kind of risks.

Margaret

Yes those facilities are available in the bank but I am sure that you will remember that people are "whingeing" as you put becasue those facilities were taken away from them without choice or consultation. They were called Local Post Offices. Thats a place where all bills were paid and pensions were collected. If you speak to some of these people who haven't the luxury of a car and in some areas not even a reliable public transport service you will be educated by them. Not only do they collect the £100 pension but pay all of their bills out of that pension (just like you do in your bank but it includes a bit of a thing called community spirit something that doesn't occur in a bank unless of course someone is "whingeing" about how long your taking at the counter). Now in my opinion when you look at our current employed generation, they don't have the organisational skills to sort out their finances hence the reason for so many bankruptcies and repossessions. I believe that these people many of which have age related medical difficulties have been brought up successfully without modern day banking and you should feel fortunate to have the luxury of a car and by the comments you make you are physically mobile. Many of these "whingers" are not so fortunate.

Twopints

mountainofdebt wrote:

I think that this part of some secret plan to make post offices a thing of the past.

I didn't realise this was supposed to be a secret - I thought it was policy.

home_alone

Mikeyorks wrote:

Absolutely untrue. See post #11 in that you pay for next year's licence over the first 6 months (instead of forking it all out now!!). And then (lesser amount) you pay 6 months towards the next license in advance (then get the license) - and a further 6 months in arrear. So you end up spanning the due date of the license with your payments.

You then simply pay one twelfth each month - the last 6 months automatically adjusted if the price increases - and get your license delivered in the middle of each 12 month period.

Sorry it is true my tv licence was due sep, so from sep 2006 to sep 2007 I pay £191, it would be nice to say that from sep 2007 to sep 2008 I will only pay half the fee about £66 but no. I have many direct debits this is the only one that I pay half 6 months in advance and most of the DDs there is a financial gain for paying DD.

gary

margaretclare

mazdamansport wrote:

Yes those facilities are available in the bank but I am sure that you will remember that people are "whingeing" as you put becasue those facilities were taken away from them without choice or consultation. They were called Local Post Offices. Thats a place where all bills were paid and pensions were collected. If you speak to some of these people who haven't the luxury of a car and in some areas not even a reliable public transport service you will be educated by them. Not only do they collect the £100 pension but pay all of their bills out of that pension (just like you do in your bank but it includes a bit of a thing called community spirit something that doesn't occur in a bank unless of course someone is "whingeing" about how long your taking at the counter). Now in my opinion when you look at our current employed generation, they don't have the organisational skills to sort out their finances hence the reason for so many bankruptcies and repossessions. I believe that these people many of which have age related medical difficulties have been brought up successfully without modern day banking and you should feel fortunate to have the luxury of a car and by the comments you make you are physically mobile. Many of these "whingers" are not so fortunate.

Oh-oh. I could call all this 'sour grapes', couldn't I?

Just one point. I don't pay all my bills 'in the bank' i.e. I don't have to go by car to the bank to pay them. We are pretty fortunate here in that the little town centre is about a mile away from this 1930s estate of bungalows, there is a reasonably-good bus service and in that town centre there are 2 banks and a post office. However, I've never been in the habit of paying all bills -as you say - either in the bank or in the post office.

Physically-mobile - you must be kidding. Both hips have been replaced, one of the replacements has been revised twice, the second time was last December. There have been weeks and weeks when I couldn't go anywhere, and months on end last year when I couldn't drive due to shortening of the left leg which meant I couldn't reach the clutch. This was at a time when I was 'given' a free bus pass but couldn't walk as far as the top of the road to catch the bus. I could hardly manage to walk as far as the front gate, and without the car, we wouldn't have gone anywhere.

DH has recently had yet another knee replacement on the same knee - 2003, 2004 and 2006, the other one was replaced in 1999. Goodness only knows what we would have done if we hadn't had the facility of being paid into the bank. In fact, it was never much of a choice - both of us had had years and years of being paid into our bank accounts and it never occurred to us to opt for a pension book, even when we were given that choice.

I've been so grateful at times, for example, last January when I was home from hospital on crutches and had difficulty even managing 2 little steps to the front door. I sat here and watched the cold rain and was thankful that I could check my accounts while sitting here in the warm.

We've just set up yet another direct debit, this time to pay the monthly milk bill. Another cheque that we don't have to bother to write.

We have the security of knowing that our pension income will not stop as long as we're alive, and bills get paid automatically. There can be very difficult and unpleasant scenarios if people are taken ill or fall over on a slippery pavement in the coming winter - they can't get to the post office or the bank, what happens about e.g. their council tax, everything slides into arrears and no one can get at their money to do it for them!

I have spoken to some of the people you mention, and I have been far from 'educated' by them. One of DH's friends from the computer club has a private pension paid into a bank account but she also likes to collect her state pension because she likes to have a 'wodge of money'. Just as I feel secure by having no more than £10 in cash, she feels more secure having a 'bag-full' of it, as she said one day when she turned up here - she leaves it for several weeks and then collects the lot at once. She can't educate me and I can't educate her, because the thought of walking around with a 'bag-full' of notes would scare me silly, and I can't see the point of it.

A few years ago now I spoke to 2 old women in the post office. They were moaning about their quarterly gas bills which they were waiting to pay at the counter. They were whingeing and complaining so much, I couldn't resist. I pointed out that they would actually get a rebate - i.e. pay less - if they paid their bills by direct debit. They turned on me like wolves. 'Are you working for the banks by any chance?' Then they laughed at me.

Talking to people like that does not 'educate' me in the slightest, so don't patronise me. In addition, don't be so quick to assume that I'm physically mobile. I am not too sure that a car is a 'luxury' for which I should 'feel fortunate'. The fact is, DH and I do know that we're very fortunate, at least I do - he says that luck is when enterprise meets opportunity, and we're not 'fortunate', we've just made the right decisions at times when it mattered.

Margaret

seven-day-weekend

I know a young man who is only in his 20s and because he has mild Asperger's Syndrome, he gets in a complete and utter muddle with direct debits. He does not have the organisational skills to work out (or even to remember) which DDs have gone out and therefore always thinks he has more available money in the bank than he actually has.

I have helped him by working out a budget for his everyday spending and one bill which he pays at the post office. I've told him to draw this much money out once a fortnight and then leave the bank account alone. This works much better for him and he has now stopped exceeding his overdraft.

However....it means he has to get a wodge of money out at a time and then keep it in the house in cash.

So, Margaret Clare, don't be scathing about people who carry money around. Sometimes you don't know their story.

Nytehawk

Talking to people like that does not 'educate' me in the slightest, so don't patronise me. In addition, don't be so quick to assume that I'm physically mobile. I am not too sure that a car is a 'luxury' for which I should 'feel fortunate'. The fact is, DH and I do know that we're very fortunate, at least I do - he says that luck is when enterprise meets opportunity, and we're not 'fortunate', we've just made the right decisions at times when it mattered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My dear friend I did not assume you were mobile; you actually state it in your correspondence so that is not patronising believe me. Maybe you should read what you post before making such comments, this is a public forum after all.:T It is your own patronising comment about people moving into the 21st century that is truly patronising. I believe that these people should have their choice like you have. Many folk live in remote villages that always had typical village facilities when they became pensionable. We can't all have the luxury of a nice town a mile down the road now can we The PO has always been a mini village community centre, it's where people meet and chat, most banks do not allow that luxury. But still you will have your pompus attitude towards people less fortunate than yourself irrespective of any counter response. I wish you well :rotfl:

Edinburghlass_2

My local PO is certainly one of the hubs of the community, recent thread in DT about this subject.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=285380

margaretclare

To mazdamansport

I have never said that I was 'physically mobile'. I am more mobile than I was this time last year, true, but it can take many months to regain complete mobility following a second revision of hip replacement and I don't walk very far yet.

BTW the hip problems are not 'age-related' which is something you mention. They are familial. My daughter had both hips replaced when she was 35, she walks with a stick, and when you speak about 'being fortunate' enough to have the 'luxury' of owning a car, she, like me, would not be able to live her very busy life without her car. I can't see what's so 'fortunate' about owning a car or that it's a 'luxury' - I've had a car for the last 30 years and it's just a normal way of living. I know a lady who's just had her 90th birthday and still drives - her husband is visually-impaired and without their car they would be really limited as to where they can go.

The point about direct debits is that you don't HAVE to remember what goes out when. They just do - automatically.

I could say a lot in response to your words about me being 'pompous', but why bother. I don't say that people should not do as they please, whatever makes them happy, but they should not then complain about the disadvantages i.e. not being able to pay their TV licence which is where this thread started. BTW there is a PayPoint in our local post office so presumably there is no reason why every post office could not have one, thereby solving the problem. Every time I've gone into our post office I've not noticed people stopping to chat, treating it as a social centre - there are other places for that.

Margaret

margaretclare

seven-day-weekend wrote:

I know a young man who is only in his 20s and because he has mild Asperger's Syndrome, he gets in a complete and utter muddle with direct debits. He does not have the organisational skills to work out (or even to remember) which DDs have gone out and therefore always thinks he has more available money in the bank than he actually has.

I have helped him by working out a budget for his everyday spending and one bill which he pays at the post office. I've told him to draw this much money out once a fortnight and then leave the bank account alone. This works much better for him and he has now stopped exceeding his overdraft.

However....it means he has to get a wodge of money out at a time and then keep it in the house in cash.

So, Margaret Clare, don't be scathing about people who carry money around. Sometimes you don't know their story.

Well, I hope that this young man has the 'organisational skills' to remember to keep his door locked, and not to be taken in by men on the doorstep saying they're from the council or the water board and they need to check his plumbing or the like. Because that's what we get around here.

Recently one elderly lady locally went to visit her friend, another elderly lady. They were both sitting chatting with their handbags down beside them. Someone rushed in the (unlocked) back door, picked up both their handbags and ran off. There are frequent similar reports in the local paper, and usually the victim says 'but they were only in there a minute or two'. The point is, these people know exactly where to look, they don't need long. They're looking for cash, and whether it's a tenner or a few hundred, it's all useful to them, whereas they don't bother with jewellery etc that they would have to sell.

Margaret

System

Margaret, given that you now quote me, as the originator of this thread iei.e not being able to pay their TV licence which is where this thread started. BTW there . is still feel I have a point and that I am entitled to it. Clearly it has brought about debate, even though it looked as though it might get nasty at times.Maybe now we should consider the subect well and truely discussed ?.