The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

phillw

nic_c said:
If it was something like £100 held up, you could answer, politely:

"What's the amount?"

Well, if you don't know, then how do I know I'm talking to my real bank?

"Why are you making the transfer?"

Because the savings rates you have are insulting. Do you not know what the BoE base rate is? Have you not read what the FCA have said about unfairly low savings rates.

"Is anyone making you do this?"

Yes, you. You, the bank, are making me call up and go through a set of ridiculous questions just because I want to move my money to somewhere the savings rate isn't an insult.

If I were a customer service agent on the receiving end of this, you'd get parked in the "do not help" pile.

I take it in my stride & try to remain light hearted. I'm already inconvenienced, upsetting myself over something so trivial would be pointless.

Wheres_My_Cashback

phillw said:

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

The problem with the banks is that their systems have been set up to be more meticulous in querying transactions, not for the benefit of the customer, but for primarily their own protection because ultimately they become liable in most cases.

They became liable for the benefit of the customer. What do you expect them to do? Be held responsible for your actions, while also just letting you YOLO any transaction you wish?

They became liable for the benefit of the 'stupid' customer not for the vast majority who are sensible. I alone am responsible for my actions, the banks are just covering the minority who want to blame anyone but themselves !
I expect them to have proper facilities/staff in place to be able to deal with the outfall, not put the onus and cost back to the customer due their own inefficiencies/inadequacies.
Blocking out of 'character' payments is absolutely fine, but not regular payments to the same regular beneficiaries, via the the same IP address, via the same transactions method/time.
The UK Government is just starting to take long overdue action against the banks who operate like cartels at times.

masonic

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

Blocking out of 'character' payments is absolutely fine, but not regular payments to the same regular beneficiaries, via the the same IP address, via the same transactions method/time.
The UK Government is just starting to take long overdue action against the banks who operate like cartels at times.

This is the issue, that some banks are taking such a blanket approach, rather than performing a pragmatic risk assessment to payments. With banks starting to post record profits following rate rises, this is a good time for the regulator to apply pressure to banks to invest in improving their systems to better target the riskier transactions.

Zaul22

Just saw this morning that Shawbrook have proposed a merger with Co-op bank. It's probably many months away from affecting their savings in any way but just potentially interesting. 

Wanderer101

tg99 said:

Wanderer101 said:

Alicon88 said:

Does anyone have experience with Monument?
I would like to give it a try but would be nice to have some opinions first 

I can vouch for Monument. Opened up an account back in July. Transfers in and out are pretty much instant, customer service chat function in the app is really useful and the app in general has a nice 'feel' to it. No complaints from me.

Is that 24/7 including weekends instant similar to Chip ie within seconds or more like Tandem where transfers in and out take around 15 mins?

It's not quite instant, normally takes a minute or two so not too bad.

Alicon88

thank you for your feedbacks about Monument

S_uk

Bridlington1 said:

Section62 said:

masonic said:

boingy said:

 

At the airport, you can expect to be asked if you packed your bag yourself, if anyone has given you anything to take in your luggage, and if anyone could have put anything in there without your knowledge. These questions, like with banking, are designed to pick up suspicious circumstances that could be indicative of them being an unknowing party to criminal activity. If they are talking to a criminal, then the criminal will have answers to such questions, but is less likely to be able to get through the other security checks and board the flight. The vast majority of travellers will just answer the questions in the negative, and you do have to wonder about those who would accept something to take through airport security for someone else, but perhaps some do realise what they are doing is dodgy at the 11th hour. In banking, there have been reports of people coming to their senses during questioning. 

The questioning also serves two other purposes -

1) How is the question answered... is there nervousness, doubt, irritation etc in the content and tone of the reply, which might indicate the person isn't telling the whole truth.

2) Incrimination... if you've answered specific questions (which are probably being recorded) then it is harder to subsequently change your story.  In the airport situation you can't deny knowledge of the $1M stashed in your suitcase if you've just confirmed you packed it yourself.  In the banking case the 'incrimination' is mainly in not being able to claim subsequently that the bank did nothing to stop you handing over your money to a fraudster, or in the case of someone (e.g. a family member) making unauthorised transactions this would be evidence that they misled the bank and answered untruthfully.

If it's of any value, when I had a Halifax payment blocked in June 2022 I had to ring them to get the payment unblocked. I submitted a DSAR into Halifax earlier this year when LBG decided to close all my accounts and I found this detailing the phone call:

Accent 'good'?? What do they think is a 'bad' accent?

crumpet_man

I presume they are checking the accent matches the nationality/region of the caller.

S_uk

crumpet_man said:

I presume they are checking the accent matches the nationality/region of the caller.

If that case perhaps they should've worded it as accent 'matching' rather than 'good/bad'.

And if this means that they think it's more likely someone is carrying out fraud because they have an accent that isn't local to where they live then I'm quite shocked, especially with regard to The Equality Act.

ranciduk

Zaul22 said:

Just saw this morning that Shawbrook have proposed a merger with Co-op bank. It's probably many months away from affecting their savings in any way but just potentially interesting. 

My friend worked at co-op bank last year

He said the whole place is an absolute joke and he would certainly never bank with them knowing what he knows now

as a Shawbrook customer myself I hate the sound of this!