A Bankers View, Open Letter To Martin Lewis And His Followers On Bank Charges.

Knightowl

Please pardon the above pun but I would like to pass a few comments based on experience.

1) My bank offered myself a limited overdraft if I paid a monthly fee. The bank changed that agreement and when I needed the overdraft was told it was now subject to status even though I had continued to pay the monthly fee. In essence I was paying for my banking and still being penalised.
I use the word penalised I will not go into the story for I wish to keep this brief but when I queried the unfairness of this particular time ,as it was blatantly so, the "person" at the service desk belittled me in front of the whole occupants of the bank with the following, raising her voice deliberatly and saying "If you can't have the funds in your account on time you have to pay the PENALTY!":eek:

A well known telecoms company mentioning no virgins, had requested a payment early. The bank stated I should recover my PENALTY from the telecom virgin. My telecom company said "nothing to do with us claim the penalty back from the bank, they are illegal anyway"

I have to be the 1st to admit I have been naeive in times of my own confusion and misplaced trust in those whose very occupation demands it. HEALTH IS RETURNING and I am fighting back.
The psychological impact of a lot of this issue is IGNORED and dismissed by those who have not experienced but have created....SHAME ON YOU!

2) I now watch my finances and I make a simple observation at the click of my own mouse I can transfer funds from a savings account to a current account then run around to the cash machine less than 60 seconds away (3 if I call in to the loo to spend a penny) and I can withdraw it.
That's how quick computers work today!

GOLD OR PAPER IS NOT BEING TRANSPORTED mere electronic signals of MYTH "ether" money.....no HUMAN IS INVOLVED...even the letters are computer generated. How many do you read that say "if payment has already been made please ignore"...great get out clause!

NO BANK CAN SURVIVE A RUSH........in reality the rocks are built on quicksand .

Knightowl

A litttle message for Banker Girl......your employers (and others in the industry) are most keen to promote remote/internet banking because they dont have to pay YOUR inflated salary. If I was you I would be MOST AFRAID of the arriving concept of PRE PAID credit cards.....look to Japan where a Mobile sim doubles up for a credit/prepaid card.
As mobile service providers embrace the internet they embrace online remote banking/top up etc and your out of a job!:p

Tim_L

Phaelok, you may work for a bank, but it's quite obvious you've never actually had to deal with bank CS.

I'm amused that the first thing that the bank employees seem to want to do is to resort to silly personal attacks on anyone questioning what they say. It' symptomatic really of an attitude that banks are somehow doing their customers a favour. And never once have any of you taken on the substantive points, which broadly speaking are that there is no moral or educative part of these charges, they are designed to take customers money. The Times referred to one of the systems as apparently having been designed by !!!!!! Turpin, and so it is.

I'm perfectly well aware that DDs go out overnight. But just try and stop one 2 days in advance. Or even 3 days in advance. You'll be told that it's "already in the system". And there is not a thing you can do about it. Well actually that's not true: it's quite possible to be told a DD has been cancelled and then find out it hasn't and the money goes out twice.

I've been in situations where I've done a debit card transaction which has been taken off my "available balance" immediately (which is fine, obviously). Then I've won a bet, withdrawn from the bookmaker the same evening, and had both transactions posted to my account two days later, i.e. the bookmaker received the money the same day as I received his payment back. Yet I've been charged as if the money had been taken from my account the first day.

It's daylight robbery.

And then you expect customers to ring you up and crave your indulgence while you deign to "help" them as a favour. Well you (as an industry) would do a hell of a lot better by not "helping" them in the first place by stealing their money, and then creating a spurious system of "services" to camouflage the larceny. All you're doing by helping them is to help them to escape from a trap you laid for them in the first place.

Why not create an opt out for people who don't want this "service" but who would rather simply have the transactions stopped?

As far as CHAPs goes, it is hugely unreliable. I know that, because I need to move large amounts of cash around quickly. I can and do deposit tens of thousands of pounds instantly anywhere in the world with bookmakers. Yet it still takes days to move money between banks. Maybe instead of sneering at your customers you might (again as an industry) address this problem?

Phaelok wrote: »

<TABLE class=tborder id=post7221003 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" align=center border=0 _base_target="_self"><TBODY _base_target="_self"><TR vAlign=top _base_target="_self"><TD class=alt1 id=td_post_7221003 _base_target="_self">'This has to be the funniest statement I have ever seen on this subject'

Indeed but as I work for the bank and you don't, I suggest you read what I put and take that on board rather than being ignorant

DDs are done automatically. It's actually pretty difficult to stop one days in advance, let alone on the day of the payment. On the occasions I have spoken to customer services about potential problems, I have received precisely zero help - the "computer says no". And it's really not surprising given the contemptuous attitude towards customers displayed here by people I assume work in banks.

' The bank's quite clearly state that cleared funds MUST be in the working day BEFORE transactions are due. The decision to pay transactions from your account is made MIDNIGHT into the early hours of the next working day. Therefore putting cash in the same day is TOO LATE as the bank has already made a decision to return the item(s) as being unpaid. Yet again, if you had read my post, you would notice that I did state that IN EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES this can be overruled. Those who have told you that COULD, and probably should have done that for you as a one-off

And can you explain how to put cleared funds in a bank account the same day when CHAPS is unreliable and costs pretty much same as the charge,

My earlier comment above talks about this.


So if anyone is laughing at anyone, its me at the ludicrous statement you make. Before questioning someone who actually works for a bank and is telling you straight how it works, perhaps you should read again in order to allow the information to 'sink' in.


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jonesMUFCforever

I have read this long and complicated thread with interest.
I am a banker I agree with what some of the OP said but I also agree with Martin on other points.

My solution - if you don't have enough money to pay a D/D - it is returned and CANCELLED.
If a card transaction takes you over your o/d limit or o/d without a limit then the card is BLOCKED.

No return fees, no unauthorised fees.

To unblock you would have to make an appointment or speak to someone on the phone to review the way the account is run. If you are creditworthy you would get an o/d if not you have to make alternative ways to pay and live.

As has been stated on here it would not affect 80% of customers who run their accounts without bother.

You would of course then get a hell of a lot of arguments such as 'but I was only a few pence short of having the money to pay the mortgage this month' - well tough - you can't have it both ways.

YorkshireBoy

ejones999 wrote: »

To unblock you would have to make an appointment or speak to someone on the phone to review the way the account is run.

But would that not be a 'service', albeit an enforced one, and so a fee would likely be charged?

You would of course then get a hell of a lot of arguments such as 'but I was only a few pence short of having the money to pay the mortgage this month' - well tough - you can't have it both ways.

I think there may also be a lot of hungry people EJ, because many people incurring these fees state that it was a choice of going overdrawn or not feeding the kids. They then go onto say that the "choice was simple"...go overdrawn! Sadly, they may not have that choice if this approach was implemented by the banks.

Smasher

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I think there may also be a lot of hungry people EJ, because many people incurring these fees state that it was a choice of going overdrawn or not feeding the kids. They then go onto say that the "choice was simple"...go overdrawn! Sadly, they may not have that choice if this approach was implemented by the banks.

How ridiculous!

If they hadn't been stung by previous charges, they wouldn't have been in that position in the first place.

YorkshireBoy

Smasher wrote: »

How ridiculous!

If they hadn't been stung by previous charges, they wouldn't have been in that position in the first place.

OK, let me simplify it for you. I'm referring to the first ever time you go overdrawn...not because you've incurred charges before.

By way of an example, you think you have £50 in your account. You forget you have a DD coming out today for £49.99. You go to the shops to buy food. Your card is declined because you only have £0.01 in the account. Previously you would have been able/allowed to spend, say, £10 (or some other 'shadow' amount). However, under the new system there is no such facility now available.

There are no charges to be paid...but also (if many of the posters are to be believed) there is no food on the table either.

Not so ridiculous now is it?

Smasher

Oh sure, the scenario is understandable enough. Its just your suggestion that "there may be a lot of hungry people" if banks simply refused payment instead of allowing people to go into unauthorised overdraft. That is what is ridiculous, still ridiculous now and will still be ridiculous tomorrow..

YorkshireBoy

Smasher wrote: »

Its just your suggestion that "there may be a lot of hungry people" if banks simply refused payment instead of allowing people to go into unauthorised overdraft. That is what is ridiculous, still ridiculous now and will still be ridiculous tomorrow..

It's simply an impression I've formed from reading posts on this board (and it's predecessors).

It's possible many of them may have been made before you joined the site and therefore you may not have seen them (yet?).

plumduff-2

Ive just read the original post but nt all of the responses... What a laugh...

Firstly we have a 21 year old kid telling us worldly wise that we shouldnt be stupid enough to get into debt in the first place....

She is the misguided one.. Has she experienced life as a single parent, or someone living with a disability - no longer able to work ... Has she lived on two wages for her partner to walk out and leave her with all the debts.. Has she ever been made redundant and wondering whether she can get another job before the next loan payment is due out.... did she try life out as as student, having to live off loans and part time earnings..

Has she ever experienced life...? Not a chance and the sanctimonious cow comes here spouting this crap...?

And then she has worked for the bank for 7 months... She reading from the hymn sheet like a good new employee should..!

She should try being a debt adviser for 9 years...See the other side of life and give people holistic advice that encompasses all the isssues that person may have...

What a silly little girl...