Harassment for not switching to online banking

brianposter

colsten said:

brianposter said:

About once a month - the next one on Monday.

It doesn't appear to be very MSE to use Halifax/BoS for regular overseas payments as bricks & mortar banks generally don't give you the interbank rate and/or charge high fees. If your payments are always to Italy/the Eurozone, Starling Bank seems the way to go. They will definitely not ask you to attend in a Branch since they haven't even got any. If other currencies are involved, or if you don't mind about lack of FSCS cover, Transferwise would be your other alternative. Again, no need for a Branch visit as they a wholly online.

You appear to be missing my point. These places are wholly online until something goes wrong, when the customer may well need a branch ( or a Court). The head offices are at least rather inadequate substitutes for branches.

NottinghamKnight

brianposter said:

colsten said:

brianposter said:

About once a month - the next one on Monday.

It doesn't appear to be very MSE to use Halifax/BoS for regular overseas payments as bricks & mortar banks generally don't give you the interbank rate and/or charge high fees. If your payments are always to Italy/the Eurozone, Starling Bank seems the way to go. They will definitely not ask you to attend in a Branch since they haven't even got any. If other currencies are involved, or if you don't mind about lack of FSCS cover, Transferwise would be your other alternative. Again, no need for a Branch visit as they a wholly online.

You appear to be missing my point. These places are wholly online until something goes wrong, when the customer may well need a branch ( or a Court). The head offices are at least rather inadequate substitutes for branches.

Don't think she is and you appear to have an out of date view on what can be achieved in branch which is very limited these days. Still you are contributing large amounts to bank profits so that's helping he economy at least. 

colsten

brianposter said:

colsten said:

brianposter said:

About once a month - the next one on Monday.

It doesn't appear to be very MSE to use Halifax/BoS for regular overseas payments as bricks & mortar banks generally don't give you the interbank rate and/or charge high fees. If your payments are always to Italy/the Eurozone, Starling Bank seems the way to go. They will definitely not ask you to attend in a Branch since they haven't even got any. If other currencies are involved, or if you don't mind about lack of FSCS cover, Transferwise would be your other alternative. Again, no need for a Branch visit as they a wholly online.

You appear to be missing my point. These places are wholly online until something goes wrong, when the customer may well need a branch ( or a Court). The head offices are at least rather inadequate substitutes for branches.

I don't think I am missing any points. Unless you have a need for massive cash deposits and lots of coins (e.g. as a market trader), there is absolutely no reason why bank transactions cannot be handled online and/or over the phone. This is particularly true for simple things such as bank transfers - even if these cross national borders.

There are very good reasons why more and more bank Branches are closing, and why online-only banks are growing fast; the pandemic is likely to speed this up substantially as the challenger banks are fully functional without face-to-face contact.

Foreverfinance

I'm slightly surprised by the comments but I wouldn't class it as harassing you. 
Online banking is so much easier but I can understand your parent's resistance to go online as none of us like change. 

Ballard

Tokmon said:

brianposter said:

Bank branches are not needed until something goes wrong - which happens quite frequently.

eg;   https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6231440/debit-card-frozen#latest

There is no reason that a bank can't verify someone's identity online and many banks do this quite effectively currently. So it certainly is possible for all banks to operate without branches they just don't have all the technology in place yet.

It being possible and it being desirable are two separate things. For KYC purposes, a face to face meeting with a customer carries a lower risk than electronic. Each bank will decide which fits their appetite more.

Stuart_W

If you want to avoid the spiel from branch staff, are you able to visit a post office? It depends what it you're trying to do in branch I suppose. NatWest deposits and withdrawals are permitted. 
https://www.postoffice.co.uk/natwest