Britannia Building Society & ID

yangptangkipperbang

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10052639/Co-op-bank-bosses-face-clawback-of-bonuses.html

Mrs_Overall

On a recent visit to a Britannia branch I was told that the Britannia pass book accounts will be terminated on 1st January 2015. As the building society is now under Co-Op bank management, I was offered a Co-Op account alternative. One of the reasons the Brit passbook account is useful is that you can w/d cash in form of a cheque payable to 'whoever'/a bill for example. However, for those on low incomes who do not meet the Co-Op's requirement of £800 deposit per month [for an account with a free cheque-book facility], there appears to be no alternative. I will double check to ask whether it is simply the case that Britannia passbook a/cs will no longer be *offered* or, whether it is the case that passbook account holders will have to close their accounts by 1st January 2015, but would appreciate it if anyone has more info. Thanks

Minrich

Britannia !
I had £50 in two bonds with them that matured and in their letter they said if you cannot get into the branch before maturity you will not benefit from the rate we offer you (1.9% in the letter) i was on holiday when i received this letter so on my return called the branch and asked for an appointment before the maturity date . There was not one available , so i was not going to be in a position to get the 1.9% due to them . I was not impressed and complained (i have been a customer for 44 years on their system) the new rate was 1.62% . I withdrew my money and put it elsewhere , the complaint was looked into , i got £30 compensation ! But no offer of the 1.9% ! I cannot believe such a poor response , so they lost the £30 and my £50k , never going back , their branch is less than a mile from my home .

jonesMUFCforever

Mrs_Overall wrote: »

On a recent visit to a Britannia branch I was told that the Britannia pass book accounts will be terminated on 1st January 2015. As the building society is now under Co-Op bank management, I was offered a Co-Op account alternative. One of the reasons the Brit passbook account is useful is that you can w/d cash in form of a cheque payable to 'whoever'/a bill for example. However, for those on low incomes who do not meet the Co-Op's requirement of £800 deposit per month [for an account with a free cheque-book facility], there appears to be no alternative. I will double check to ask whether it is simply the case that Britannia passbook a/cs will no longer be *offered* or, whether it is the case that passbook account holders will have to close their accounts by 1st January 2015, but would appreciate it if anyone has more info. Thanks

I would suggest the accounts will not be closed but transferred to a statement basis with withdrawals by cashpoint cards.
I don't know if they will still issue free cheques to pay bills but if you are able to post here you really can get a bank account with internet access to pay 99% of your bills online.
It is quite simple and secure as long as you ignore all emails purporting to say your account has been compromised or such like - just ignore and delete those you would be fine.
If you don't want to use ATM cards then your original posting will come back to haunt you!

Mrs_Overall

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I would suggest the accounts will not be closed but transferred to a statement basis with withdrawals by cashpoint cards.
I don't know if they will still issue free cheques to pay bills but if you are able to post here you really can get a bank account with internet access to pay 99% of your bills online.
It is quite simple and secure as long as you ignore all emails purporting to say your account has been compromised or such like - just ignore and delete those you would be fine.
If you don't want to use ATM cards then your original posting will come back to haunt you!

Is the above definitely in response to my post? I did not indicate any personal difficulties using atm/online banking.
However.. when the rare need to pay by cheque arises, most banks will not allow low income customers a cheque book of their own: in the Co-Op's case, a minium monthly income of £800 is required.
The ironically expensive alternatives to this are:
(a)paying the Co-op's one-off fee of £10 to withdraw your own money via a counter cheque/banker's draft,
or,
(b) Paying through the nose for a PO Postal Order, - that's if the payee organisation accepts POs.
So you can see the attractions of being able to keep ahold of a passbook ... for now :-(
If anyone knows of a better solution, your advice will be most appreciated :-)

jonesMUFCforever

Mrs_Overall wrote: »

Is the above definitely in response to my post? I did not indicate any personal difficulties using atm/online banking.
However.. when the rare need to pay by cheque arises, most banks will not allow low income customers a cheque book of their own: in the Co-Op's case, a minium monthly income of £800 is required.
The ironically expensive alternatives to this are:
(a)paying the Co-op's one-off fee of £10 to withdraw your own money via a counter cheque/banker's draft,
or,
(b) Paying through the nose for a PO Postal Order, - that's if the payee organisation accepts POs.
So you can see the attractions of being able to keep ahold of a passbook ... for now :-(
If anyone knows of a better solution, your advice will be most appreciated :-)

Sorry I was replying to the original poster of the thread.
My mistake.


However the passbook is a red herring - what you are actually needing is a service offering free cheques.
If you have a good credit rating you can open a current account with many banks who will offer a cheque book.