Bank Profits

IvanOpinion

You think thats bad ... I have just read the small print on my car insurance policy and I reckon that the only thing I am covered for is being attacked by a 3 month pregnant hippopotamus while driving underwater.

Has anyone actually considered how much insurance they pay for each month ... it is a significant portion of anybodys salary
- national insurance
- life insurance
- endowment policies
- critical illness insurance
- accidental death
- buildings insurance
- contents insurance
- motor insurance
- pet insurance
- redundancy protection
- third-party insurance
- liability insurance
The list is endless ... and thats not including pension plans which are basically insurance for your old age.

Its a bloody joke. Why can we not simply buy a single policy that covers the whole lot? Why do I need so much thrid party and liability insurance? If other people can't be bothered to insure themselves then why should I?


Oh, and on the original subject ... banks make profits, thats why they are in business ... in fact every company I know off is in business to make profits ... its just that the profits of banks and insurance companies usually have a few more zeroes on them. If you don't like it MOVE BANK ... simple.

Ivan

obeywan_kenobe

I agree with the idea of profit. We need it to pay for taxes , insurance, pensions etc. However there must be a point when profit is excessive.
The art of business is to get a customer hooked on a product and then increase profit by reducing costs and increasing price.
Banks get us hooked on debt and then increase interest rates to increase profit. They reduce costs by closing down branched and building call centres in india.
With a trillion in debt we are teetering on the edge of a financial meltdown.

By the way I am with a building society

Queenie

Having worked my fingers to the bone all morning I turned on BBC2 in the afternoon and settled down to watch an old B&W movie - one scene had the local bank in the background (USA) and in the window of the bank ....


... ASSETS: $amount

... LIABILITIES: $amount

I thought that was cute

zcaprd7 wrote:

Seriously, insurance companies are no better than bookies (in fact worse) - when you take out home insurance you are actually betting that someone will burgle your house or it will burn down.

Have to disagree on that - several years ago, a car drove into the front of my house - thank goodness for our insurances! Oh and I don't live on a corner or on a busy main road - I'm not a betting person, so don't understand how "odd's" are worked out, but I reckon the "odds" on that happening were billions to 1 because of our location, etc.

zcaprd7

Queenie wrote:

Having worked my fingers to the bone all morning I turned on BBC2 in the afternoon and settled down to watch an old B&W movie - one scene had the local bank in the background (USA) and in the window of the bank ....


... ASSETS: $amount

... LIABILITIES: $amount

I thought that was cute



Have to disagree on that - several years ago, a car drove into the front of my house - thank goodness for our insurances! Oh and I don't live on a corner or on a busy main road - I'm not a betting person, so don't understand how "odd's" are worked out, but I reckon the "odds" on that happening were billions to 1 because of our location, etc.

Hmm - so you would have been better off placing a £1 bet at Ladbrokes at a billion to 1 on it happening?

Rafter

Transferred from the debate on the banking board.

I am a first direct customer and was challenging why people feel entitled to the £25 joining bonus, even though they have no intention of using the account.


So, HSBC made about £6bn in profit last year. Do I think that is excessive? Do I think it is justification for moneysavers getting free £25's out of them?

NO ON BOTH COUNTS!

Why?

Well, HSBC made about £2bn from UK operations and half that was from business customers.

If HSBC had invested their shareholders money in a savings account they would have made £3bn profit - it is that big a company so the 'real' profit is about £3bn for the risk the shareholders take.

So, they made about £1bn out of personal customers in the UK and about £500m of that was 'real' profit.

They have about 10m uk customers so they make on average about £50 out of each.

For my £50 I get great service, free banking, not bad interest, a good offset mortgage product, 24 hour telephone banking, internet banking.

They have made one mistake in 10 years that was rectified immediately over the phone.

So I don't think that 'moneysavers' have the right to make £25 in cash plus cost my bank loads of money in application processing costs, paper etc wiping out my profit.


In a lot of ways this site is great. It helps consumers get good value for money on a lot of goods and services for a good price, without being ripped off.

There is a big big difference between getting a good deal and getting something for free or less than cost.

Stoozing and exploiting offers like that from first direct is not money saving - it is getting something for nothing.

An analogy you won't like is that the prices we pay on the high street are estimated to be 2-5% higher than they could be to fund all the shoplifting that goes on. Shoplifting is illegal - it is getting goods and services for free that should be paid for. Stoozing and offer exploiting isn't illegal, but it does mean that other consumers end up having to pay more in just the same way.

You can pretend all you like that you are hurting fat cat directors and greedy shareholders, but really it is other customers who end up paying more as well.

I'm not making myself popular here, but I'm sure there are loads of people who get a buzz out of selling some discounted item they have found through this site and selling it on for 100's of % of profit.

However when a bank makes a 10% profit, even if that is a big number like £6bn, all hell breaks loose that we are being ripped off.

R.

PS - I don't work for HSBC!

obeywan_kenobe

I just have one thing to say. 10years ago when stoozing did not exist interest rates were 25-30% on credit cards. Now all credits have a 0% deal or cashback. And they will continue to be around for the next 5 years because fo every 10 stoozers there are 100s of mugs who get themselves into debt, dont pay the correct amount everymonth.
Its the mugs that make the banks profits. The stoozing costs are negligible.