Is it moral to churn bank accounts?

Archi_Bald

CLAPTON wrote: »

it's legal but immoral as they are clearly not complying with the banks actual intentions

You are surely jesting - - - how are you going to determine a bank's "actual intentions"? As none of these are documented and therefore have no legal right.

If we are to pay moral attention to a bank's "actual intentions", then surely banks will also have to pay moral attention to their customers' "actual intentions", aren't they?

As in:

• my actual intention (undocumented) was to make 4% net after tax interest. The bank did not deliver this, so acted immorally.
• my actual intention (undocumented) was to pay 0% for an unlimited overdraft. The bank charged me, so acted immorally

pmduk

A better topic would be "when did morals become part of banking in the UK?"

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

MSE_Joanne wrote: »

He has raked in a couple of hundred pounds so far. Is this moral?

Only a couple of hundred? Amateur!

sooty&sweep

Banks, insurance companies, energy firms etc etc all try to entice new customers in with deals and then hope you'll be lazy & stay put & take the rising price or falling interest rates.
The financially savvy aren't lazy & shop around.
If these firms dont like it then they should stop trying to compete on these introductory offers.
However this churn in banks, energy firms, insurance companies must create quite a few jobs dealing with new customers & closing down old accounts.
Jen

GingerFurball_2

CLAPTON wrote: »

it's legal but immoral as they are clearly not complying with the banks actual intentions

But the banks actual intentions are just to grow their share of the current account market. Note how none of the Big 4 English (Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC, Barclays) or Scottish (Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, TSB, Clydesdale) banks offer joining incentives. It's all challenger banks like Halifax, M&S, First Direct and Co-op trying to entice people to try them out and hopefully have their main banking relationship with them if people like what they get.

Loops23

Totally right, seriously why cant these banks just try to KEEP current customers AND try to get new customers, by giving old ones something too good to move, instead of enticing new customers only, meaning they leave the door open to let old customers leave. They rip us off once we're in, so why not get something back from the ones who are happy to have you!

eskbanker

As with most other posters, doesn't seem like a moral issue to me but if MSE see it that way, do they consider it moral to promote 'loopholes' with such transparently-named HTML tags as http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa#manipulate?

CLAPTON

Archi_Bald wrote: »

You are surely jesting - - - how are you going to determine a bank's "actual intentions"? As none of these are documented and therefore have no legal right.

If we are to pay moral attention to a bank's "actual intentions", then surely banks will also have to pay moral attention to their customers' "actual intentions", aren't they?

As in:

• my actual intention (undocumented) was to make 4% net after tax interest. The bank did not deliver this, so acted immorally.
• my actual intention (undocumented) was to pay 0% for an unlimited overdraft. The bank charged me, so acted immorally

your intentions (however honourable) were not the subject of the question
clearly the banks intention is for the person to become a loyal customer


personally I don't care what their wishes are ; only the T&Cs and my own advantage, but that wasn't the question.

Archi_Bald

CLAPTON wrote: »

it's legal but immoral as they are clearly not complying with the banks actual intentions

CLAPTON wrote: »

personally I don't care what their wishes are ; only the T&Cs and my own advantage, but that wasn't the question.

are you saying then that you are immorally pursuing your own advantage? And that because you consider what you are doing immoral, everyone else applying for switch offers is also doing something immoral? Sorry if this sounds confusing, I am just trying to understand what it is you are trying to say.

pennypinchUK

Of course it's "moral". Banks, along with untold numbers of other businesses, offer incentives to encourage new customers to join them. They know they'll keep some customers and others will drift away. It's just business - nothing to do with ethics.