MSE News: EU plans to widen access to basic bank accounts

innovate

I have no idea how many Romanians are here right now, what %age of the currently resident Romanians are criminals, how many will be coming next year, and how many of them will be criminals.

I just notice you are - once again - homing in on a tiny part of the overall issue. 3.1% of all arrests by the Met in 2012 were Romanians. What about the other 96.9%, why don't you talk about them? Why don't you hammer on about the UK nationals that apparently account for 75% of the arrests?

It seems you are not such much interested in reducing crime, but more in a vendetta against certain nationalities.

I do apologise to everyone that I got this thread off topic - - this discussion has nothing any more to do with the subject of the thread and I am not planning on continuing the debate here.

DunPin

You-kip wrote: »

This is just Romanians without the Free movement treaty that comes in force next January. Wonder what it will be like when 50k arrive each year!
http://www.met.police.uk/foi/pdfs/disclosure_2013/feb_2013/2013010001669.pdf

Have you ever met a Romanian? as I have a feeling you have not and you are just one of those barmy EDL people that hasn't set foot outside of the UK and hates everyone that comes in.

Also who says 50,000 will come to the UK? surely as Romania has closer ties to France, Italy and Spain, the majority will go to those countries as they do currently, there are a million each in both Italy and Spain with significantly less in France.

There are currently 80,000 in the UK with the potential for 50,000 according to your link, we still have less coming to us than Italy or Spain both of whom vastly outstrip the UK with the number of settled Romanians.

I can tell you what it will be like, it will be a breath of fresh air, not all will go to London, it will be like with Polish people and they ended up all over the country and they have contributed unlike a lot of Britons.

HereToHelp_2

What has all this to do with being able to open a Basic Bank Account relatively easily if for instance you travel to Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid or EU country frequently? For that matter? and would find not having to carry around Euro's some use after you have already gotten the best exchange rate then put it in that account.

pqrdef

HereToHelp wrote: »

What has all this to do with being able to open a Basic Bank Account relatively easily if for instance you travel to Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid or EU country frequently?

Have they said anything about that?

The problem seems to be that some continentals still have trouble getting a current account. So the banks will be leaned on.

The UK government is already leaning on the UK banks. It wants to see smarter basic accounts. With pots, and DDs assigned to pots. To help people manage their Universal Credit. Assuming they don't go straight to the cashpoint and draw out the whole £200 for the month all in one go.

Clueless as usual. The people who can log in and manage the pots aren't the people who'll need the help.

JuicyJesus

pqrdef wrote: »

The UK government is already leaning on the UK banks. It wants to see smarter basic accounts. With pots, and DDs assigned to pots. To help people manage their Universal Credit. Assuming they don't go straight to the cashpoint and draw out the whole £200 for the month all in one go.

Clueless as usual. The people who can log in and manage the pots aren't the people who'll need the help.

Hilarious, isn't it? They want the most unprofitable customers to receive the most expensive services. Idiots.

imoneyop

pqrdef wrote: »

The UK government is already leaning on the UK banks. It wants to see smarter basic accounts. With pots, and DDs assigned to pots. To help people manage their Universal Credit.

So they would give them a booze pot, a fag pot and a pot pot then?

Seems a bit pointless really - my pot supplier doesn't take DDs (or Credit Cards for that matter).:cool:

innovate

pqrdef wrote: »

It wants to see smarter basic accounts. With pots, and DDs assigned to pots. To help people manage their Universal Credit.

Wonder how this would help people to get more clued up about finances in general, and their personal responsibility for their own finances in particular. Why don't they make spreadsheets on smartphones compulsory and make teachers teach kids how to operate them.

They could even have regular competitions in which kids who know their facts about bank accounts and how to manage them could win stuff (not necessarily money - - may be tickets to the cinema, or a season ticket to the swimming pool etc). Only a fraction of the money saved by educating kids properly would be needed to pay for such competitions.

Gentoo365

If banks have to accept EU customers this is would be an issue if they have to give the same terms to EU customers as to UK nationals.

If that happens then the mortgage rates will have to go up, as well as overdraft rates, and other account charges. This is due to the extra risk of default by non-uk nationals and the costs involved.

Even basic services, like debit cards, sending statements, dealing with the various national regulators and ombudsmen will increase the cost 'per account'. If this has to be divided between all account holders then the cost will go up for UK nationals.

In addition the UK has the 'cheapest' banks when it comes to normal usage. In most other countries there are charges, either regular, or transactional. So the UK banks could end up with an influx of applications from overseas.

This could be good, if the banks manage to make a profit (or even break even) from these new accounts. However it could also result in even more cherry picking of customers.

Even if the banks do not cherry pick, and allow all applicants some sort of account it will increase the risks, as the cashflow in and out of banks will now be dependent on the economies of multiple countries.

It would make more sense to make the 'basic bank account' law one that compels every bank to offer basic services to all citizens in the countries that the bank operates.

Even this is not a perfect solution. Imagine a bank wants to start up in the UK. It wants to start small, maybe in the local community, maybe just run as a small bank until it finds it's feet. If it is them compelled to offer accounts to the whole of the EU population then it will find itself in serious difficulty. It will no longer be able to operate without expanding it's staff and facilities very quickly.

This does not seem to be a good idea.

innovate

Gentoo365 wrote: »

If banks have to accept EU customers this is would be an issue if they have to give the same terms to EU customers as to UK nationals.

Let's not get carried away here. The numbers of EU citizens who would, IMO, want to open a basic GBP account will be anything between minute and zero. Do you really think the average Joe Bloggs would want to change their few Euros in GBPs? And then do what with them?

gb12345

imoneyop wrote: »

Seems a bit pointless really - my pot supplier doesn't take DDs (or Credit Cards for that matter).:cool:

I assume that you pay for your "medication" with Bitcoins then :rotfl:.