FCA 'won't stand in the way' of an end to free banking, says boss

jameseonline

I don't understand how paperwork being sent out is still a thing with banks etc, like why do I need a letter on telling me my regular Saver is ending?, welcome to your current account, booklets about how a current account works, login info etc etc, things can be sent via phone/email/through app/website if at all.

eskbanker

jameseonline said:

I don't understand how paperwork being sent out is still a thing with banks etc, like why do I need a letter on telling me my regular Saver is ending?, welcome to your current account, booklets about how a current account works, login info etc etc, things can be sent via phone/email/through app/website if at all.

Some of it is for security reasons, i.e. it's much harder to fake postal addresses than to use burner phones, disposable email addresses, etc, so sending certain documents (e.g. new account confirmations, login activation codes, etc) in paper form makes sense, but some are undoubtedly superfluous....

jameseonline

So post can't be tampered with?, get wet etc before it gets to me & that's even if it gets to me.

I physically have my phone with me &/or a laptop behind a locked door. To me post is the worst form of communication, it's the slowest & over the years becoming worse and worse with postal strikes etc etc.

Thing is why send me things through the post when other options are available + in certain cases I've already been given the information anyway by the other options available.

When banks decided/forced (whatever) to go paperless I thought brilliant, it's 2024 and still they sending out paper to houses, flats etc, just not needed & must still be a big cost.

subjecttocontract

Some of us prefer paper copies don't you know.
We don't all have printers or smart phones !

MattMattMattUK

subjecttocontract said:

Some of us prefer paper copies don't you know.
We don't all have printers or smart phones !

The point is that if you want that and banking costs were to be transparent you should be charged for that. Probably around £1.50-2.50 per statement 

MattMattMattUK

I have no problem with banks charging, overall it would make more sense, full transparency and every service and transaction chargeable. We are an outlier in European terms in that, where the banks in most countries charge a few cents for various transactions, a bit more postal statements, cash handling etc.

jameseonline

subjecttocontract said:

Some of us prefer paper copies don't you know.
We don't all have printers or smart phones !

I get that but if you don't have a phone or printer (I don't have a printer), cant you go somewhere that does?, eg library (or hubs as they sometimes go by)

If not I expect the banks etc will charge if not already.

I thought banks charged for certain documents (eg statements) to be sent out anyway or did, unless I'm getting mixed up with something else.

Thing is like it or not things are more and more digital and it doesn't make sense to send a load of paper through to places, if you get something by email/website or whatever you have a choice to print out &/or just view the document 

Bridlington1

MattMattMattUK said:

subjecttocontract said:

Some of us prefer paper copies don't you know.
We don't all have printers or smart phones !

The point is that if you want that and banking costs were to be transparent you should be charged for that. Probably around £1.50-2.50 per statement 

My only issue with that would be scenarios where you need a statement but the bank is unable to supply pdfs. I'm in the process of buying my first home and have had to get hold of the last 6 months of bank statements from my various accounts, which include my name and address.

For many of the savings accounts I've yet to receive a statement so have had to request that one is generated. Despite getting paperless statements and explicitly requesting a pdf statement be generated, some banks (Santander, Nationwide, First Direct etc) were unable to send custom pdf statements and instead sent paper ones (First Direct insisted on providing both for some reason), despite many others (Monmouthshire, NatWest, Coventry etc) being able to generate custom pdf statements which include your name and address whenever you like. In this scenario it could be considered to be unfair to charge for a paper statement if the bank can not produce a pdf version.

MattMattMattUK said:

I have no problem with banks charging, overall it would make more sense, full transparency and every service and transaction chargeable. We are an outlier in European terms in that, where the banks in most countries charge a few cents for various transactions, a bit more postal statements, cash handling etc.

Personally I'm quite happy for us to remain an outlier compared to the rest of Europe. I think the basic things such as sending/receiving faster payments, paying out DDs, using a debit card aught to be free, particularly if we are going to move to a cashless society in which holding a current account in one form or another becomes more essential.

By all means charge for additional items though, such as receiving paper statements where the customer banks online and has the ability to generate a custom pdf statement whenever they wish, ability to receive certain offers such as cashback, exclusive savings products, insurance benefits etc and wasteful/excessive requests such as if someone decided to do a DSAR every week etc. They could also possibly make some cut backs such as making physical debit cards an optional extra etc.

p00hsticks

jameseonline said:

subjecttocontract said:

Some of us prefer paper copies don't you know.
We don't all have printers or smart phones !

I get that but if you don't have a phone or printer (I don't have a printer), cant you go somewhere that does?, eg library (or hubs as they sometimes go by)

If not I expect the banks etc will charge if not already.

I thought banks charged for certain documents (eg statements) to be sent out anyway or did, unless I'm getting mixed up with something else.

Thing is like it or not things are more and more digital and it doesn't make sense to send a load of paper through to places, if you get something by email/website or whatever you have a choice to print out &/or just view the document 

I think some banks used to charge for extra copies of paper statements, but (rather contra-intuitively) they tended to do away with it to encourage people to move over to paperless communications, saying that if you went paperless but ever needed a paper statement for ID purposes you could request one for free. 

I'm surprised that you still get much stuff through the post if you don't want it - the only things I get from my various banks are new cards and an annual statement of ISA interest etc earned (which I think is a legal requirement). I'm not even sure that I proactively opted to go paperless in all cases - I seem to recall that several took the stance that going forward they would only communicate via secure message / online banking unless I specifically opted to continue getting paper communications sent by the post. 

 

pecunianonolet

In other European countries, and I have first hand experience, it is almost impossible to get a free current account. If you're lucky fees are waived if you have certain salary income each month.

However, you may get still charged for faster payments but luckily the EU has stopped this now mandating all EU banks to offer instant transfers for free. 

You may get charged if you want to do more than x number of transfers a month, you get charged if you take out cash from a cash machine not belonging to your bank or it's group. You may get charged for paper statements, get charged if you take up any service in a branch, a fee is charged for deposits of cash, definitely for taking cash from the counter and not the cash machine.

What concerns bank switches, nobody forces the banks to run such campaigns, maybe people are just no longer receptive to the usually rather stupid TV adds they run, which are far more expensive to produce and air. 

Take Coop bank, despite option for digital only, I still got a letter to welcome me for my cashminder account, I got another letter confirming my account is open and I think another one with the account details. Pretty much the same for the current account. Sure, data centres not run with just air either and need electricity, lots of it, service, protection, IT experts on standby to prevent blackouts or react very quickly to fix stuff if things go wrong.

A lot of postage and paper on the other side isn't very ethical either. 

I think before we see things there will be more and more app only banks and they for as long as possible will offset such cost keeping pressure high. More branches to close. Also, if I am not mistaken, most banks reported record profits so they must have cost fairly under control.