Maximum cash withdrawals from Building Societies - so low!

7sefton

I have a few accounts with various building societies, and am very frustrated at the limits they place on cash withdrawals over the counter. I know they're not clearing banks, but their limits are ridiculous.

Most building societies have a £500 limit, including the mighty Nationwide (who have had such a limit for over 15 years). Skipton is even worse: £250. Cash machines allow bigger withdrawals than that! And don't even get me started on Santander - despite now being a bank, they still have the £500 limit Abbey National had in 1990! They even reduced the amount that old Bradford & Bingley customers were used to having access to, from £750 to their punitive £500. Only Yorkshire Building Society seems to have moved slightly with the times, allowing up to £1000 to be withdrawn in cash.

My point is, inflation has moved up and up since these limits were established years ago. Whilst £500 might once have been quite significant, it's now not that big a deal. So why don't the societies lift their limits in line with the present day? Will they still be limiting me to £500 in 2050?

Anyone who knows the reasons for this, I'd be very interested to hear your views...

DrSyn

You must be very rich, have very expensive habits and go around
with a body guard if £500 at one go is not enough!

poppy_f1

its mainly cos they dont carry as much cash as a bank does

if you need to make a bigger withdrawal then call them and arrange it in advance

ILoveEoin

i used 2 work in the nationwide, it because they dont have much money in the buildin actually very little and at times worried goin 2 run out! but if need more that £500 u just ring them up and u get it asap! and for Santander once a month i go in and empty my wages of more that £500 out u just need id! so i havent come across a problem wit them yet!

[Deleted User]

if you want no limit try Metro Bank
unlimited (subject to ATM limits)

pinkdalek

Having a low cash withdrawal limit promotes that the bank/building society has not much cash in the branch and therefore deters raids, if someone raided a cashier in a building society at the till the likelihood is they would get away with £1000 max.

So in that respect it protects the customers and the staff, bit of a bigger picture don't you think? You can always order larger cash withdrawals if you give them plenty of notice and to be honest nowadays most people pay with plastic or do bank transfers as it is safer than carrying money.

All banks/building societies are insured to hold a maximum amount of cash in their branch too, even though say £1000 may not seem a lot, if ten people came in and withdrew the maximum amount then that is £10k less the branch has.

Also think from a fraud perspective, if a branch has a maximum limit then the most a thief/fraudster could get away with is the daily limit, should they succeed as many banks would ask for additional ID the higher amount of cash you withdraw. Therefore the bank has lost a daily limit rather than the customer having their entire account emptied, to the bank this amount would not be seen as a huge loss, an inconvenience yes but not a huge loss.

SammyS1987

7sefton wrote: »

Anyone who knows the reasons for this, I'd be very interested to hear your views...

I'm pretty sure that I read on here before that the reason they don't hold as much cash as a bank is because Building Societies don't tend to have a large vault like a bank does.

As other people have mentioned just give them a call a couple of days before hand if you need to withdraw a large amount and they can order some extra money in for that day.

rb10

SammyS1987 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that I read on here before that the reason they don't hold as much cash as a bank is because Building Societies don't tend to have a large vault like a bank does.

Ha! Most banks don't have 'large vaults' ... and those that do don't just use them to store their cash.

You can very easily store a million pounds in cash in a standard safe. Large amounts of cash actually take up a surprisingly small amount of space.

The real reasons have been given above - they surround security and insurance.

chambta

opinions4u wrote: »

There is of course the other point that cash sat in a branch earns no return.

If it's lent out, even if it's on an overnight basis, it's earning a return. If it's in a cashier's till, a safe, a vault etc then it's not earning a penny.

Low cash levels in branch = more profit.

I think I'm right in saying that banks still have to report to the BoE their cash holdings on a weekly basis and get charged accordingly.