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Why do Banks try so many tricks?

verntern
Posts: 247 Forumite
I know I have answered my own question! To make as much money as possible from our savings. Banks and Building Societies use the internet to promote savings accounts with trickery! 'Bonus' rates that rely on you, as the customer, to remember the expiry date. Sometimes, new accounts 'not available' to existing customers who have been loyal. Particularly with ISA transfers. Expensive 'customer service' phone numbers. Difficult to find your current interest rate on their websites. All designed to accept your savings and hope that you forget where and when you trusted your savings with them. Chuckle, I guess the situation is better than transferring savings to under the mattress.
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to note one thing i had a "isa direct reward" - all my paperwork says "isa direct reward" - apparently this isnt the current "ISA Direct Reward 4" that is out now, but an "Isa Direct Reward 2" that doesnt anywhere on any paperwork mention the number 2, and gives 0.5% less interest.
note on the website for said bank, the product also only notes "isa direct reward" and no numbers are quoted.
Yet another reason not to bank with HBOS / LLoyd's - if they didnt have this half decent rate i'd be a mile clearMr & Mrs Doomcow Wedding Fund: £10200/£18000 (by 04/2012) (spent £2000)
meiow meiow purr meep merp purr urble purrup
requires further financing0 -
Because they are a business, and not a charity???0
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Because they have to cover the whopping bonuses they pay their employees somehow.0
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Because they are a business, and not a charity???
If the bank isn't giving the right service then vote with your feet and move somewhere that is.Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.0 -
'Bonus' rates that rely on you, as the customer, to remember the expiry date.
If you know that an account has an introductory bonus, is it really that difficult to keep track of it in a spreadsheet / in a diary / on your mobile phone? If you do find it difficult then stick to simpler savings accounts with lower interest rates."The trouble with quotations on the Internet is that you never know whether they are genuine" - Charles Dickens0 -
Banks and Building Societies use the internet to promote savings accounts with trickery! 'Bonus' rates that rely on you, as the customer, to remember the expiry date.
The consumer is getting the product that they demand. Its not ideal but the banks want to push their products up comparison sites and league tables and the best way to do that is to offer short term bonus rates (or discounts in case of other products).Because they have to cover the whopping bonuses they pay their employees somehow.
Bank staff in general are actually quite low paid. Many are under the national average.
Personally, i would like to see bank charges on bank accounts and the money used to train staff like they used to be and bring back quality service and knowledgeable staff who are not being flogged to death with the choice of hitting sales targets or getting the sack. Consistency of interest rates would be nice as well but there is no chance of either when the typical consumer wants everything on the cheap and everything short term.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
because on balance they think they gain more through the "deception", than they loose in bad publicity
if they had more sense they would realise that consumers are not there to be exploited, they are there to pay for a good service0 -
Several banks offer cash / incentives if you bank with them. For example Halifax offer £5 if you pay in £1000 per month. Lloyds pay interest on their Vantage Classic account if you pay in £1000 per month. Can you open several accounts and simply set up a direct debit and transfer the same sum of £1000 from Bank A to Bank B to Bank C... each month and get the bonuses?0
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Neurohypop wrote: »Several banks offer cash / incentives if you bank with them. For example Halifax offer £5 if you pay in £1000 per month. Lloyds pay interest on their Vantage Classic account if you pay in £1000 per month. Can you open several accounts and simply set up a direct debit and transfer the same sum of £1000 from Bank A to Bank B to Bank C... each month and get the bonuses?0
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I think most of us know that bank branch staff are not the recipients of large bonuses - those are mainly the exclusive province of staff in the investment part of the bank that play with the large deposits at their disposal, some proportion of which are retail savings deposits.
It is however not a zero-sum game in the branches - these are the people whose job it is to entice deposits at the tricky rates we are discussing0
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