Natwest Banking Broken

innovate

Because the expected fine had been known about for some time, and although a lot of money for thee and me, £325m isn't too painful to RBS in the grander scheme of things. Shame though they weren't as smart as UBS and Barclays, who bought themselves out-of-jail cards by cooperating with the investigators.

callum9999

pineapple wrote: »

Thankfully most glitches are sorted eventually. But in the meantime (as we have seen) it can cause not just inconvenience but major problems for those affected. Plus we are increasingly vulnerable to cyber attack - both nationally and on an individual company basis. As for bankruptcy well people are kidding themselves if they think this country is healthy financially or is insulated from global problems. Plus at the merest hint of problems, capital controls etc there will be a major run on the banks. Does anyone fancy standing for hours in an angry queue?
I might add that under such circumstances you can kiss your deposit guarantee goodbye till it is sorted.
In fact there is a world of possibilities aside from out and out national bankruptcy. Just this latest fiasco has shown the prudence of having a cash float.
So you are wrong and backbreaker makes some good points. It does make sense to have some cash stored in a safe place at home. Unless of course one lives in an area often featured in Crimewatch ....

No, people are kidding themselves if they think the UK is in any danger of going bankrupt.

And I didn't say people shouldn't keep any money at home... Firstly, I didn't say what people should do at all - I was disputing what that poster said is the "best option", people can keep £10k in pennies in their basement for all I care. Secondly, I said that they shouldn't keep all their money at home. Huge difference between "some" and "all".

innovate wrote: »

I'd rather be an annoying pedant than someone who vastly exaggerates. As it happens, I do have all these interest paying current accounts, as well as a couple of Halifax Rewards, so I am well informed about how much you can make from them.

As I said earlier, Halifax Reward doesn't count as interest but you are right, a non-tax payer can make £6.25 a month from it.

You originally said you had roughly £5K, so I will ignore that you now say it might be £5.5 to £6K. You also never mentioned that you are a non-tax payer, which obviously makes a difference.

So, for £5K, the best interest you can currently get a month, before tax, is
- approx £10.60 for £2.5k in a FlexDirect
- approx £4.20 for the other £2.5K if held in Lloyds, TSB, BOS, or £8.50 if held in YB/CB but I didn't see you mention them.

That makes £14.80, or £19.10 if you use YB/CB, in interest before tax. Not even 75% of the £30 you claim. Even if you add your Halifax money, you just about creep over £20 before tax unless you have half of your money in YB/CB (and skim off the interest for compounding into something like a 6% Regular Saver).

For anyone who pays tax, the figures are of course lower, and by default, all the banks pay with BR tax deducted. For a BR tax payer, this means max per month approx
- £8.48 from FlexDirect
- £3.36 from Lloyds etc, or £6.80 from CB/YB

Even if you then add the Halifax fiver, you will just about scrape £20 a month at best. Which is, of course, still about £20 more than you would get in a Natwest current account but it isn't almost £30 in my book.

The other point to note is that you cannot extrapolate the above numbers. E.g. if you had £10k, you could not normally make twice as much as you can make from £5k since things like the FlexDirect, YB/CB and Halifax Rewards have limits per person, and these limits are now being enforced.

As I said, those were ROUGH figures off the top of my head as it is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT to my point whether the amount is £20 or £30.

If you enjoy being an annoying pedant however then more fool you.

innovate

callum9999 wrote: »

No, people are kidding themselves if they think the UK is in any danger of going bankrupt.

I would agree that there are a few other countries with bigger risks, but nothing is impossible. Remember the times when banks were as safe as houses? You just need some idiots at the helm, and not even running the money printing machines 24x7 will save the country then. If you believe the opinion polls, we could be heading to that in 2015.

callum9999 wrote: »

As I said, those were ROUGH figures off the top of my head as it is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT to my point whether the amount is £20 or £30.

If you enjoy being an annoying pedant however then more fool you.

You would make a really good policitian. If your logic gets unpicked, you try to change the goalposts. And if that doesn't help, you try personal insults and shouting. Feel free to continue like that, it's water of a duck's back as far as I am concerned if people get personal and shout when they run out of arguments. I'll leave the last word on this matter to you.

Suplex_Backbreaker

callum9999 wrote: »

No it's stupid advice. The only way you can lose money from your bank account is if your bank, and then the entire UK, went bankrupt. (Unless you have a particularly large pot of savings - in which case even negligible interest rates would still be worth a decent amount)

If the entire UK went bankrupt, the money under your bed will become worthless anyway. And in the meantime it's at risk of being burgled.

Uh - when did I say keep ALL your wealth/savings as cash at home??? If you read my post you'll see I was talking about keeping a cash float for emergencies.



As regards the other part of my post, people should really learn the difference between bank credit and the mistaken concept of 'money in the bank'.

If you are giving your money to the bank in return for a note of credit from them, it pays to examine whether or not you are getting an appreciable return for it in light of inflation and the counterparty risk of keeping it there.

In general, limited accounts and promotions aside, the nominal rate of return you get from bank accounts these days falls short of maintaining its real value. All the more so when you deduct tax from the interest.

pineapple

Suplex_Backbreaker wrote: »

Uh - when did I say keep ALL your wealth/savings as cash at home??? If you read my post you'll see I was talking about keeping a cash float for emergencies.

Indeed. Imo a good starting point is to keep at least one weeks average expenditure on transport/general household expenses and more if you can manage it. Not talking about salting away thousands :eek:.
It's called good housekeeping - a quaint and old fashioned concept maybe. :rotfl:
It's worrying how many just have a few quid in hand and rely on a bit of plastic for everything - even when they could afford to do otherwise..

anotheruser

But surely if the country goes bankrupt, cash will lose value anyway?

pineapple

anotheruser wrote: »

But surely if the country goes bankrupt, cash will lose value anyway?

As already pointed out there a myriad possibilities where a bit of cash kept by would be useful. The country going bankrupt is probably the least likely scenario.

Chrisblue1962

opinions4u wrote: »

Bank systems can and will go down. I'd be surprised if, over the last few years, any bank has avoided a situation like RBS / Nat West enjoyed last night.

Although they do have more form than most
So while I'd always encourage leaving a bank that regularly naffs you off, make sure you do so with precautions.

Primary account with one banking group
Secondary account with another banking group
Savings account with an ATM card with another banking group
A small amount of cash in a drawer, just in case
Credit cards with two different banking groups too

Your bank systems can fail. The payments system can fail. ATM networks can crash. They usually recover.

Having a Backup Plan like the outlined by opinions4u seems like commonsense and let's face it, it's not "rocket science".