NI 'Big 4' Forced to scrap charges!!!

IvanOpinion

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Ivan

Kevin_AdviceNI

Ivan, I like your 30MPH example, and I think you are spot on, I would add that if the 30mph sign is obscured, hidden away behind a massive tree, or written in vague and unclear language, then a motorist may have an arguement for disputing the fine.

Furthermore, people are quite clear about the speed limits, even though they sometimes don't stick to them, I just don't think people are as clear about bank charging - question is, is this the fault of the banks or the customers? And as the big 4 have been 'referred' we will get an answer to this in due course.

irishjohn

Hello Guys
I have just returned to NI after living in England for 32 years. I have a Barclays bank account and cannot remember the last time I set foot in a branch or paid a charge. I manage the account entirely by Internet.

On moving here it has been easy to use cashpoints to get money and log on to cancel the direct debits for all my services for my last house in England. So I get a few cheques sent to me - refunds from Utilities companies - so off I wander to the local banks to deposit these - they look at the cheque, the paying in slip and me and give me one of those looks - Sorry sir, unless there is a link to our bank in the transaction we cannot accept these.

So - I realise I won't be able to carry on using Barclays who I have to say have provided trouble free service for 25 years and made managing a current account very easy - as a result - my profits from my house sale in England will go nowhere near any of the Big 4 - Nationwide were very helpful and opened me a current account withing an hour last week. I popped into the office and did it because I knew that having a new address might cause me a lot more keying on the internet and I decided to let the clerk do it for me - and she did it well with a smile - Thanks to Nationwide.

IvanOpinion

Kevin wrote:

Ivan, I like your 30MPH example, and I think you are spot on, I would add that if the 30mph sign is obscured, hidden away behind a massive tree, or written in vague and unclear language, then a motorist may have an arguement for disputing the fine.

Furthermore, people are quite clear about the speed limits, even though they sometimes don't stick to them, I just don't think people are as clear about bank charging - question is, is this the fault of the banks or the customers? And as the big 4 have been 'referred' we will get an answer to this in due course.

There is absolutely NO excuse for not being aware of bank charges. I get a load of information about them with virtually every statement I receive (both from the Abbey (my main bank) and the Ulster (my old bank)) ... personally I think it is the biggest waste of paper out. I even have the original documentation that CLEARLY explained charges when I opened the accounts. No amount of legislation will help people who are too lazy to read the information they are sent or are given.

Some people would complain if they won the lottery because they would have to get up of their asses and complete a claim form and then post it.

Ivan

IvanOpinion

irishjohn wrote:

So I get a few cheques sent to me - refunds from Utilities companies - so off I wander to the local banks to deposit these - they look at the cheque, the paying in slip and me and give me one of those looks - Sorry sir, unless there is a link to our bank in the transaction we cannot accept these.

I don't understand this since I regularly pay in cheques from different banks and have never had a problem ... as long as the cheque is made out to the account holder.

Thanks to Nationwide.

A good choice.

Ivan

irishjohn

I was trying to bank cheques from English banks into my Barclays account and they irish banks I tried all said they could only accdept cheques from irish banks to go int barclays or if they were english cheques they had to be paid into an Irish bank account

IvanOpinion

irishjohn wrote:

I was trying to bank cheques from English banks into my Barclays account and the irish banks I tried all said they could only accept cheques from irish banks to go into barclays or if they were english cheques they had to be paid into an Irish bank account

I see the problem now - I misunderstood, I thought you were trying to lodge english/scottish cheques into your account over here. I would have suggested opening up a building society account over here (one with good internet access) and lodge them into that and then transfer them onto the destination account ... but you already seem to have solved it this way.

Ivan

dee2005

The banks here thrive on the fact that people tend not to change bank accounts, and they stay with the same bank for a lifetime. They like to claim that they are a longstanding customer, or whatever. The fact of the matter is that they are not in fact receiving any better service than someone who has not been a customer for very long. Things are changing, and it pays to shop around. Other banks are looking for custom, and theres absolutely no reason not to close an account and move to another bank. And if you dont get what you want there, move on to another one. After all there are plenty of different banks to choose from ! I do it and if a bank thinks you are going to leave them, they will try to offer you something better to make you stay. They are desperate to keep customers, but people dont realise that.