The other side of the coin: The case for bank charges

JohnPeard

Quick question. Now that we have on-line banking, is it possible to open a non-UK based bank account, and use that in the UK?

One way of keeping the charges down is by real international competion rather than the UK cartel.

eslick

JohnPeard wrote:

Quick question. Now that we have on-line banking, is it possible to open a non-UK based bank account, and use that in the UK?

One way of keeping the charges down is by real international competion rather than the UK cartel.

You will find that its more expensive and direct debits cant be used, however in the next few years Euro countries will develop a new process called Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) which will allow transactions across euro countries at the same price as for local ones. Direct Debits and payments will both change. Wont impact the UK yet, but there is still much discussions in the banking industry about SEPA will look like and the EU are at present letting the banks take the lead, but might step in and put the rules down in law if the banks cant agree processes to improve the whole bankin world.

Like the changes from next year with the time it takes for cheques to clear and payments to reach accounts there will be more and more changes coming in the next few years.

LesD

AndieJagain wrote:

the Asda analogy above is quite interesting, they, like the rest of the retail sector, provide a crucial service, just like the banks, now, if Asda announced tomorrow they'd charge you £10 a month to shop with them, would you? or would you go to Tesco, who are cheaper anyway.*
equally, why should we pay FD £10 a month for something smile will do for free, and pay us a better interest rate?

*for the sake of this argument, let's assume Tesco are cheaper, and not get into a debate on that!.

Interesting analogy - what about delivery costs for online shopping?

LesD

Believe me, I haven't read every word of every post, but one point I haven't seen made is that reducing the cost of 'debt' by reducing the fees charged to people who couldn't manage their finances effectively, still doesn't seem to me to be encouraging them TO manage their finances effectively.

One point made all the way through this website is that 'debt' is a major problem in the UK.

I would have thought that INCREASING the cost of 'debt', therefore, would have been something we should be lobbying for!

And, before anyone says that merely increases the debt, I would suggest that debt is no less immune to the laws of price-elasticity as any other commodity.

AndieJagain

Mercenary wrote:

If it's not vital that the money arrives on a Tuesday, help yourself a little by transferring the money on a Monday, not a Friday .
It will still be 3 or so working days (depending on whether cleared or uncleared funds).... but, at present, by making the transfer on a Friday, you are putting the weekend in between the weekday working days necessary for the transaction, therefore you are losing yourself more time...and interest.

For a basic banking transfer the money has to be processed and leave the FD clearing system at the end of the first working day, then transfer between banking systems to the A&L clearing system, processed again....then finally it is credited to your A&L account. This is (usually) only done during the usual weekday working days. Weekends don't count.

HTH

the weekend being involved is completely irrelevent to the point I'm making. - i'm not fussed as long as it gets there in truth. but if I'm PAYING for the service by way of a fixed fee, then I expect a BETTER SWIFTER service and no back hand sneaky ways of making a little bit extra such as this.

yes, it's 3 working days, but the point I'm making, is why, when everything is now computerised, does an electronic transfer still need 3 working days?
why is it electronically longer to do something than it is physically?
let's face it, I could take the amount out on friday morning, walk accross to A&L & put it in cash 10mins later and it's there. but a computerised modern ultra tech system takes half a week? so much for progress eh?.

taking 3 days to leave one acount & enter another is ridiculous. clearing house or whatever way you dress it up, is !!!!!!!!. money can leave instantly, so why can't it enter the same?. we all put up with such things because it's the norm, the way it's always been, but it's the way it was when such things where done via post (internal or external) or phone manually, not by linked computer systems. We also put up with it because it scarcely effects our balance, 2 days worth of interses on a ton is barely noticable, even in a high rate current account, you're talking pence, but tat pence all adds up, 1million customers in the same situation, you're talking 100's of £k

a PDQ machine in Argos can take money direct from my account at the touch of a button, yet that same link takes 10 days to refund the same amount? Why? - profit, that's why, the bank sits on your money for that period.

I wouldn't be in the least bit suprised if the profit made from such slow service totalled over a million a day.

AndieJagain

YnotL wrote:

This has happened with my Morgan Stanley credit card. I've never missed a payment. However my terms and conditions have changed, the standard apr has risen from 16.9% to 23.9 % and the maximum they charge for a missed payment has dropped to £12. It's not hard to work out what's going on there.

I would hope that what's going on there is you're grabbing a 0% card & transfering your balance!!!.

AndieJagain

LesD wrote:

Interesting analogy - what about delivery costs for online shopping?

not sure exactly what the delivery fee's are, but if I'm staying home waiting for the delivery, I'm not spending on petrol, they are, and they incur a cost as such, for fuel, vehicle lease/hire/purchase, staffing. I think a delivery charge is fair there, so long as it's reasonable, which I think they are.

Call_Centre_Monkey

AndieJagain wrote:

a PDQ machine in Argos can take money direct from my account at the touch of a button, yet that same link takes 10 days to refund the same amount? Why? - profit, that's why, the bank sits on your money for that period.

When you make a transaction with say a debit card, it is wrong to assume money is transferred instantly. The company wouldn't actually receive the money for a number of days. For instance, say you do a transaction for £10, that £10 gets put to one side of your account to cover the transaction. The company would then get the money a few days later. But it would show up on your statement as on the day of transaction (giving the impression that it's been done on the same day).

With regards to payments on credit cards taking so long, the banks are currently working together on making some forms of payments quicker (ie within a few hours) and hopefully we'll see some sign of it towards the end of 2007.

inmypocketnottheirs

AndieJagain wrote:

the weekend being involved is completely irrelevent to the point I'm making. - i'm not fussed as long as it gets there in truth. but if I'm PAYING for the service by way of a fixed fee, then I expect a BETTER SWIFTER service and no back hand sneaky ways of making a little bit extra such as this.

yes, it's 3 working days, but the point I'm making, is why, when everything is now computerised, does an electronic transfer still need 3 working days?
why is it electronically longer to do something than it is physically?
let's face it, I could take the amount out on friday morning, walk accross to A&L & put it in cash 10mins later and it's there. but a computerised modern ultra tech system takes half a week? so much for progress eh?.

taking 3 days to leave one acount & enter another is ridiculous. clearing house or whatever way you dress it up, is !!!!!!!!. money can leave instantly, so why can't it enter the same?. we all put up with such things because it's the norm, the way it's always been, but it's the way it was when such things where done via post (internal or external) or phone manually, not by linked computer systems. We also put up with it because it scarcely effects our balance, 2 days worth of interses on a ton is barely noticable, even in a high rate current account, you're talking pence, but tat pence all adds up, 1million customers in the same situation, you're talking 100's of £k

a PDQ machine in Argos can take money direct from my account at the touch of a button, yet that same link takes 10 days to refund the same amount? Why? - profit, that's why, the bank sits on your money for that period.

I wouldn't be in the least bit suprised if the profit made from such slow service totalled over a million a day.

I fully agree!

inmypocketnottheirs

Call_Centre_Monkey wrote:

When you make a transaction with say a debit card, it is wrong to assume money is transferred instantly. The company wouldn't actually receive the money for a number of days. For instance, say you do a transaction for £10, that £10 gets put to one side of your account to cover the transaction. The company would then get the money a few days later. But it would show up on your statement as on the day of transaction (giving the impression that it's been done on the same day).

QUOTE]
Irrelevant really. When I apy by debit or credit card, the amount of the transaction is immediately deducted from my available funds. The fact that it is then 'a few days later' to quote call centre monkey, is further evidence of the banks deliberately delaying the transfer of funds, thus earning them extra interest. In a word, it is a scam, pure and simple.