MSE News: RBS punishes basic account holders in ATM crackdown

opinions4u

RBS punishes basic account holders in ATM crackdown

As ever with these MSE articles, the headline is misleading.

There will be no impact on many customers who either don't use ATMs at all or only use the firm's own machines.

Some customers will be mildly inconvenienced.

A few will be more significanty impacted.

But punished? Tosh!

Thrugelmir

Seems as if LLoyds has had this policy for years.

A spokesperson for Lloyds expressed surprise the bank had been mentioned in RBS’ statement today, insisting its policy preventing basic bank account customers from using ATMs belonging to other providers had been in place for years.

‘Lloyds has made no changes to its basic current account offering,’ Lloyds said. ‘Our basic bank accounts provide a variety of facilities including a debit card and free access to cash machines but customers can only withdraw money from one of Lloyds' 4,000 cash machines or the Post Office's 12,000 machines’.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/money/rbs-stops-poorest-customers-using-rivals-cash-machines/a517053?re=15524&ea=237867&utm_source=BulkEmail_Money_Daily&utm_medium=BulkEmail_Money_Daily&utm_campaign=BulkEmail_Money_Daily

stclair

I think the only thing the bank has forgotten to recognise is that when the branch sale is complete alot of the ATM machines will be removed.

jasonwatkins

Just wonder if the other banks will follow suit ?.

I have a basic account with Barclays at the moment.

mandi

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Current accounts cost money to run.

Now that the income generated by cross selling of PPI and high bank charges has been stopped. LloydsHBOS was earning a return on capital of 472% selling PPI. The figures were enormous. The banks will have to change their business model in the future.

This is the first step of many.

I agree Thrugelmir

Scaring basic account holders into changing accounts is unacceptable .

It's had the reverse effect with me .

Whereas I used RBS as my main account and deposited into another bank. I'm now in the process of transferring all funds and DDs and will close my account .

I never use the cash machines , but I don't like the principles behind this . The problem is that unfortunately many people won't have the same choice .

jamesd

One approach might be to see whether Co-op will offer a reduced charge for such accounts. They tend to have stores in relatively poor areas and might be willing to do something socially useful, particularly since it would undoubtedly increase the chance of those people being their customers for shopping.

Basic bank accounts have limited access to credit products and those are more likely to make the banks money, so it's no real surprise that there would be some lower features to reflect the lower chance of making money elsewhere from the accounts. Probably also lower savings and current account balances on average as well.

stclair

mandi wrote: »

I agree Thrugelmir

Scaring basic account holders into changing accounts is unacceptable .

It's had the reverse effect with me .

Whereas I used RBS as my main account and deposited into another bank. I'm now in the process of transferring all funds and DDs and will close my account .

I never use the cash machines , but I don't like the principles behind this . The problem is that unfortunately many people won't have the same choice .

I dont think that is the case though as 9 times out of 10 a basic bank account customer will have adverse credit history anyway so they wouldnt be able to get a full current account. (I dont mean that in a horrible way either)

mandi

stclair wrote: »

I don't think that is the case though as 9 times out of 10 a basic bank account customer will have adverse credit history anyway so they wouldn't be able to get a full current account.

I understand stclair but I'm confused as to why RBS keep pushing people with basic accounts into moving to a current .

There is no advantage as far as I know other than an overdraft which obviously incurs fees .

It's all too tempting for people on a low income .

Sorry if my reply is confused . It's late for me .

Vincent_Buenisedes

Absolutely sickening. As per usual, the poorest lays at the bottom continuously being buried by the dung from above!

Skeenfleent

Why be surprised when society DOES treat such people as second-class citizens, and banks and their allies are who really seems to run society? I'm on benefits and as such would be in the target market if I didn't luckily have good enough credit to qualify to keep my standard account with overdraft. However the disgraceful performance of my bank recently led me to look at switching to another (which will be the biggest test of my credit rating for a while...). Good to know who NOT to give my business to, then... Thanks for pointing this out.