Barclays Current Account and Blue Rewards

xlnc99

wmb194 said:

xlnc99 said:

wmb194 said:

xlnc99 has it backwards: there was a time when the big banks would barely pay us a penny and would charge for every little thing. Then came free banking and then, during and after the financial crisis, all of the competition to attract current account customers, the really important one being Lloyds TSB initially offering, IIRC in 2008, 4% on its current account on balances up to £5k and later £7k, and you could have three accounts. Everything followed from this. Barclays had dabbled in the occasional 5% regular saver but introducing Blue Rewards in 2015 was in response to this competition, not because it is thumbing its nose at us. I’m sure it would really rather not have bothered to give us anything. Like most other people, I’m happy with the £21 less fee that Barclays Blue is paying me every month at the moment for doing next to nothing. I’ve worked a lot harder to earn a lot less per hour: I’m thinking in particular of the jobs I hated when I was at school and a student, stacking shelves and washing dishes.

No. You are still missing my point. They have giving us peanuts as rewards yet making billions each year of OUR money. They should be contributing more then a few quid a month. If it was not for our money and our services they would not be making all this profit that instead of giving it to their customers their share/stake holders get a nice big fat bonus/dividend every year.

Its an outrage

No, you’re missing the point. They used to offer no rewards but now they do. It’s progress, and it’s been thanks to competition rather than a conspiracy. Relative to the size of their balance sheets their profits aren’t that impressive and, at the behest of the Bank of England, ever since the financial crisis they’ve all been retaining more of these profits than they ever have in order to cover them for times like now when it looks like they’re facing lots of defaults. If you think they’re so great go and buy shares in them. They’re going cheap right now... However, your deposits are nice and safe. It’s risk versus reward.

If you want to cut out the bank and building society middleman you can lend via e.g., peer to peer lending and buying company corporate bonds either directly or via funds. You might end up raging about them using your money to make more profit than you are, though.

Is this really about missing four pounds or whatever it was for just one month? It seems strange to go off the rails like this over something so minor.

Its not progress at all. The banks had a monopoly since the beginning of time. The only reason they are offering peanut rewards is because people have clocked on and started their own banks and firms. So there is no more competition and the greedy banks trying their best to keep their customers or get new ones by offering rewards. That is the only reason, not because of their good nature. Have a look at the banks profit and loss for 2019 and you tell me if 40 billion (last time i checked) for HSBC is not impressive. 

We cant cut the bank or building society out because we are forced to have banks, all explained in this thread. This is not just about the 4 pounds its the principle of the matter and how banks are using our own money to make billions and reward us with a few quid a month. We should be getting more

xlnc99

dcs34 said:

xlnc99 said:

wmb194 said:

xlnc99 has it backwards: there was a time when the big banks would barely pay us a penny and would charge for every little thing. Then came free banking and then, during and after the financial crisis, all of the competition to attract current account customers, the really important one being Lloyds TSB initially offering, IIRC in 2008, 4% on its current account on balances up to £5k and later £7k, and you could have three accounts. Everything followed from this. Barclays had dabbled in the occasional 5% regular saver but introducing Blue Rewards in 2015 was in response to this competition, not because it is thumbing its nose at us. I’m sure it would really rather not have bothered to give us anything. Like most other people, I’m happy with the £21 less fee that Barclays Blue is paying me every month at the moment for doing next to nothing. I’ve worked a lot harder to earn a lot less per hour: I’m thinking in particular of the jobs I hated when I was at school and a student, stacking shelves and washing dishes.

No. You are still missing my point. They have giving us peanuts as rewards yet making billions each year of OUR money. They should be contributing more then a few quid a month. If it was not for our money and our services they would not be making all this profit that instead of giving it to their customers their share/stake holders get a nice big fat bonus/dividend every year.

Its an outrage

How much money have they made off you and you alone do you reckon? What methods have they used to do that?

Offset those 'gains' against the interest/rewards/bonuses they've paid out to you.

Factor in the cost of operating accounts for you, sending you letters, paying staff to answer the phone to you, setting up computer systems, online banking systems, security procedures, regulations compliance, testing and auditing, insurances, and so on...

Still feel ripped off? Then opt-out of the system. But it's odd you've been a semi-regular contributor to a forum literally called "Bank Accounts" asking questions about how to take out products with the very same organisations you've apparently got such disdain for.

And as ever when people are clamouring about 'Big Banks' and 'Big Corporations', remember Revenue =/= Profits.

They have made tons from me from fees, credit card interest, loans, you name it. Visa card transactions, direct debits. I have made diddly squat against them. Yes i still feel ripped off and we cannot opt out the 'system' as the banks own and govern the world and us people. So they have forced us to have them. 

eskbanker

xlnc99 said:
Have a look at the banks profit and loss for 2019 and you tell me if 40 billion (last time i checked) for HSBC is not impressive.

Whether or not it's impressive, it's somewhat moot as it isn't true!  Their 2019 profit was £10bn, still not exactly peanuts obviously but if you're going to quote figures and try to give the impression of having some sort of credibility, you could at least make a cursory effort to validate them, as I found the real number within about five seconds on Google.

Do you boycott supermarkets because they make profits that are derived from the money you pay them?  Or travel companies?  Utilities?  Phone companies?  If your criteria for objecting to companies is profitability that's ultimately coming from what you contribute to their coffers, then you're either going to have to go completely off-grid or mount a rather more comprehensive and wide-ranging campaign of indignant disinformation....

crumpet_man

I think it's time to stop replying to xlnc99.

xlnc99

eskbanker said:

xlnc99 said:
Have a look at the banks profit and loss for 2019 and you tell me if 40 billion (last time i checked) for HSBC is not impressive.

Whether or not it's impressive, it's somewhat moot as it isn't true!  Their 2019 profit was £10bn, still not exactly peanuts obviously but if you're going to quote figures and try to give the impression of having some sort of credibility, you could at least make a cursory effort to validate them, as I found the real number within about five seconds on Google.

Do you boycott supermarkets because they make profits that are derived from the money you pay them?  Or travel companies?  Utilities?  Phone companies?  If your criteria for objecting to companies is profitability that's ultimately coming from what you contribute to their coffers, then you're either going to have to go completely off-grid or mount a rather more comprehensive and wide-ranging campaign of indignant disinformation....

ok 10 billion - my mistake. I have nothing against profit, but banks are different for all the reasons i have mentioned.

1- the run the world, control everything
2- the force us to have accounts so they can profit
3 - they use our own money to make money for themselves giving us peanuts in return

eskbanker

xlnc99 said:
I have nothing against profit, but banks are different for all the reasons i have mentioned.

1- the run the world, control everything
2- the force us to have accounts so they can profit
3 - they use our own money to make money for themselves giving us peanuts in return

The reason I was citing all the other types of company is that you could say much the same about them if you were so minded (except for the first point which is obviously just silly paranoid conspiracy theory nonsense) - you give them your money, they provide goods or services, while keeping enough margin above the cost of sale to make a profit....

xlnc99

Completely different comparing banks to tesco. Tesco is fair trade. We choose tesco or asda or anyone else we want and we can buy what we want and we have a choice.They are providing a service or goods as you say. Nothing extortionate about what we pay either.

As i said before banks do not provide a service - we are forced to to use them. We are forced to put money in them, forced to use our cards etc. They profit using our money whilst giving nothing to us and keeping everything for themselves. So its not a service because they have forced it upon on leaving us with no choice then robbing us blind.

Tesco is a service and we have a choice to use them or not. But we as humans choose too. Banks dont give us that choice, we are forced too use one bank or another.

eskbanker

You're no more forced to use Barclays than Tesco - in both case there are plenty of competitors providing equivalent goods/services, some of similar size and classification but others different, such as credit unions or corner shops, that are more palatable to those who feel that they like to stick it to The Man.  Or you can do your own thing entirely, putting all your money (if any) under the mattress and growing/finding/shooting all your own food, your choice....

dcs34

xlnc99 said:

Completely different comparing banks to tesco. Tesco is fair trade. We choose tesco or asda or anyone else we want and we can buy what we want and we have a choice.They are providing a service or goods as you say. Nothing extortionate about what we pay either.

As i said before banks do not provide a service - we are forced to to use them. We are forced to put money in them, forced to use our cards etc. They profit using our money whilst giving nothing to us and keeping everything for themselves. So its not a service because they have forced it upon on leaving us with no choice then robbing us blind.

Tesco is a service and we have a choice to use them or not. But we as humans choose too. Banks dont give us that choice, we are forced too use one bank or another.

You don't use Tesco Bank by any chance, do you?

colsten

 xlnc99, please stop posting ridiculous nonsense. Nobody is forced to use [the services of] a bank. You can use building societies or credit unions if you like them better than banks. You can even go and live in the woods if that's what you prefer. The choice is all yours.