Santander closing down more than 100 branches

eskbanker

7sefton said:

Branches are expensive, full stop. But also they attract the less affluent and more ‘needy’ type of customer. So the economics look even worse when you factor in the types of people who prefer to use them...

Richer customers with modern jobs are very comfortable - and prefer - taking out higher margin products online.

Meanwhile branch staff spend time dealing with the poor who are quibbling every small transaction on their account which might push them overdrawn, or people who struggle to speak English / understand the banking norms in this country, or the elderly who demand to deal in cash.

I’m not for a second saying these people don’t deserve support, but quite frankly as a customer I don’t want to cross subsidise these people. Either the government should step in to help them, they learn to fend for themselves a bit more, or they put up with the small inconvenience of having less branches available to them.

We’re not a socialist country, and banks aren’t charities.

I’m afraid that’s the way it is.

Great, just what this thread needs after all the gratuitous generalising about ages and computer literacy, a sneeringly condescending Daily Mail style rant stigmatising some more minorities....

[Deleted User]

eskbanker said:

Great, just what this thread needs after all the gratuitous generalising about ages and computer literacy, a sneeringly condescending Daily Mail style rant stigmatising some more minorities....

As I stated I live opposite sheltered housing and helped the residents with such things so it certainly isn't gratuitous if you happen to be referring to my posts. 

Thrugelmir

Eco_Miser said:

Deleted_User said:

colsten said:

Deleted_User said:

For most people up to to about 60 they can manage it fine, above that the problems begin.  

Not sure where you got the 'about 60' from. I am rapidly approaching 70 and have been using online banking in one form or another since at least 2005, probably much longer. Since then, I have probably been inside a bank half a dozen times, mainly to get change for parking meters. Thankfully, the meters not accepting contactless payments, or car parks not accepting electronic payments, are now far and few between. I can't remember when I last paid cash for anything, in the UK or anywhere else, and the only time I write a cheque is when some stuck-in-the-past Building Society requires an opening deposit by cheque. I also rarely need to call banks as near enough everything can be done electronically now. I should add, I have not had a need for a mortgage or loan for some time now, so my more recent experience is 'limited' to current, savings and investment accounts. My last mortgage, taken out in  1998, was applied for and managed online. 

My contemporaries and many older people I know are, in the main, doing no different to me. May be people who were 60ish in 2000, and people who had no internet access, were/are not so ready to embrace online banking but few people who are  60ish nowadays will insist on doing their banking in the 20th century way. If anything, the inhibitors to accepting technological advances are mainly socio-economic rather than age.

BTW, I have now switched to app banking wherever it is possible, and use online banking just as a back up.

I live opposite a sheltered housing complex, pre covid I used to go over and help out with TV retunes and the like. I know them from when my late nan also lived there. Most of them 60+ don't have a computer or a smartphone!

It is a good thing if people are able to keep up with the times, but for whatever reason it seems a lot of older people are not. Possibly a combination of not wanting to, or fear, or they are not capable due to health issues. 

There is also the factor that very low income elderly perhaps cannot afford internet, smartphones etc. Certainly if someone had a PC in 2005 i'd imagine them to be at the higher end of wealth as they were still pretty expensive back then. I think my first new PC was in 2002/3 and it cost around £600/700. It is a lot to put out on a computer as pre 2008 ish they were still in the corner type of thing.

Someone who is just 60 now, would have been 20 back in 1981 when the ZX81 came out, and 22 for the ZX Spectrum (other computers were available). So not quite lived all their adult lives with freely available cheap computers, but close. Internet was later, and online banking later still, but anyone with the slightest interest in technology would be well acquainted with keyboards and screens, not to mention all the computers in offices for most of their lives.

In my younger years I worked on Friends Provident Life Office's GLADIS (General Life Administration Display Information System) project. Rather than running on a combination of punch cards and manual records. Two mainframes each the size of tennis courts were put back to back. Financial accounting moved to overnight processing. 

Remember the IBM Displaywriter that cost around £12k in the early 80's. Followed not long afterwards by the IBM PC. 

VisiCalc, Multicalc and Lotus 123 all superseded Microsoft Excel in terms of spreadsheets. 

Change is little different to the advent of the canal, the railway, the car. the airplane, the fax machine, the telephone etc. As technology evolves so does the world. 

MrFrugalFever

Personally I couldn’t think of anything worse than going to a bank and queuing or paying in wads of cash. It’s internet only for me unless forced otherwise.
the sad thing is the loss of jobs, hopefully redeployment will see a high retention rate.

Thrugelmir

MrFrugalFever said:

the sad thing is the loss of jobs, hopefully redeployment will see a high retention rate.

The majority of bank branch jobs were lost a very long time ago. Days are long gone when virtually every business did daily banking. 

od244051

molerat said:

Another one here closer to 70 than 60 and have been using on line banking for years.  The only reason I went into branch was to use the ATM in the dry !  Many people don't use internet banking because they don't want to, not because they can't so they need to wake up to the new way of doing things.  I have mentioned before that my SIL who is younger than me still does things the old way.  She needed to transfer money between 2 different banks - withdrew cash over the counter in one and drove 20 miles to the other and paid it in ! She has admitted she doesn't want to use any form of non direct banking, even phone banking, as it is not safe. Pays council tax over the counter etc etc.

Let me guess, she pays her gas/electricity via quarterly bills on standard tariff. 

od244051

colsten said:

It might come as a surprise, but "older" isn't the same as "elderly". I can't find 'elderly' in either of the two links you posted but thanks for posting information that supports my opinion on age and ageing.

You get 2 generations of older people. If people in their 70s still have parents around in their 90s or 100s, That hardly happened when I was a child

od244051

Then you get people like a former friend
She didn't do any technology. She still had a Nokia 1100 the last time I saw her in 2016 and didn't use the phone book. She dialled the numbers as and when.

Her husband always did everything financial and anything technical. He's 8 years older than her. She didn't know who her husband banked with, insurance with etc. She asked for cash from him and he got it. 

So if he goes before her, she will be clueless in what to do money wise.

roddydogs

MrFrugalFever said:

Personally I couldn’t think of anything worse than going to a bank and queuing or paying in wads of cash. It’s internet only for me unless forced otherwise.
the sad thing is the loss of jobs, hopefully redeployment will see a high retention rate.

So how do you pay in "wads of cash" over the internet.?

[Deleted User]

So many on here seem to think that because they do 'online banking', they will never need a branch, or even an atm.

How short-sighted.

I've being making use of online banking since it was first available, and STILL occaisionally require a branch, or ATM for certain functions.

The 'i'm alright jack' attitude on here is depressing, but unfortunately, not surprising.