Metro Bank: No account for those that are learning english

grumbler

Aquamania wrote: »

The UK legal system appears to manage it. i.e. law courts.

Well, in the courts they surely have certified/accredited interpreters, not some strangers.

Or is this more evidence that the UK banking sector is above the law?

above the law
1.
in a position where one can avoid being bound by the laws that govern ordinary people.

So, is there a law obliging banks to have interpreters from various languages in their branches?

colsten

It's not difficult to learn the language of the country you really want to live in. If the country of choice is Britain, it's even easier as English is one of the most commonly spoken/written languages. in the world.

Rich2808

I don't see how you can expect a small bank in the UK to provude translators for the hundreds of different languages spoken by people arriving from all over the world.

They need to ensure the person understands their terms and conditions.

As has been said try Santander.

callum9999

Rich2808 wrote: »

I don't see how you can expect a small bank in the UK to provude translators for the hundreds of different languages spoken by people arriving from all over the world.

They need to ensure the person understands their terms and conditions.

As has been said try Santander.

Who expects the bank to provide a translator?

And is Santander UK, a British bank, likely to have any Spanish speakers in their branches? I would imagine the only Spanish staff are a few of the upper management. There's a chance they'd have some translated literature, but their website isn't translated at all so I'm not convinced by that either.

Anyway, they can just apply online for any other bank.

grumbler

callum9999 wrote: »

Who expects the bank to provide a translator?

Aquamania.....

Blue_Max

This requirement about knowing English is shallow thinking.
Particularly cos its Mastercard can be used in Europe.
As Aquamania said, "The UK legal system appears to manage it. i.e. law courts"
Like many other such organisations; Metro need to have transalations of the forms in various languages. The branch can download it online, as and when required.
Metro Bank has many innovative features and has been in the UK for few years now.
But Metro continues to make losses with a deficit of £8 million reported in the period between March and June 2015.
Time for a re-think and stop making huge losses, IMO.

ProudDad

In my experience other banks can help with this however they ask for identification from the translator as well, so would just just suggest trying another bank

Ballard

Blue_Max wrote: »

This requirement about knowing English is shallow thinking.
Particularly cos its Mastercard can be used in Europe.
As Aquamania said, "The UK legal system appears to manage it. i.e. law courts"
Like many other such organisations; Metro need to have transalations of the forms in various languages. The branch can download it online, as and when required.
Metro Bank has many innovative features and has been in the UK for few years now.
But Metro continues to make losses with a deficit of £8 million reported in the period between March and June 2015.
Time for a re-think and stop making huge losses, IMO.

It's not just application forms, though, is it. Statements, debit & credit advices, fees, Terms & conditions, changes in T&Cs, telephone staff. If they're going for this market they can't do it half-heartedly. They need to provide a proper service. They would have to employ at the very least half a dozen customer service people in each language. They'd probably also need to upgrade software.

Which languages? French, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, Flemish, Portuguese? Further afield we have Greek, Turkish, Hindi, Tamil, Arabic, Hebrew, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean. I could go on.

There would be plenty of customers in each of those languages that a bank could target but it wouldn't be cheap. The question would be whether the income derived from the expense would make the service profitable. Something tells me that it wouldn't.

callum9999

grumbler wrote: »

Aquamania.....

They hadn't posted at that time though have said no such thing. This is the second time in this thread you've distorted something!

Blue_Max

Post by Ballard explains the practical reasons why Metro Bank can not provide a multi-lingual service. Far outside the scope of a small bank, let alone the big ones.
On the other hand, the Legal System has the financial ability and more importantly, a multi-lingual service is essential to maintain law and order. Therefore it is for the benefit of everyone in this country including English speaking people.