Bank practices or branch practices that have ceased....

ChirpyChicken

Writing a cheque out to cash in order to get cash
3.30 pm cut of for cheque deposits to be credited same day.
Quicker cheque clearance if you deposited a cheque in that came from the same branch you used....

Anyone else.......

Brie

Staff greeting you by your name when you walk in rather than when you put your card in the reader.  
And staff asking if everything is alright when they see you juggling money to pay bills.

TheBanker

ChirpyChicken said:

Writing a cheque out to cash in order to get cash
3.30 pm cut of for cheque deposits to be credited same day.
Quicker cheque clearance if you deposited a cheque in that came from the same branch you used....

Anyone else.......

This brings back memories of the start of my banking career, about a quarter of a century ago.

I remember shops and pubs either paying in tonnes of change or needing tonnes of change. I remember the department store across the road from my branch paying in the manual credit card slips from what we referred to as 'the zip zap machine'. We sold and cashed quite a lot of travellers cheques. Internet banking existed but most people didn't use it. Loads of people used the ATMs to get a mini-statement. We paid loads of utility bills using the slip from the bottom of the bills. We had a good number of customers who didn't have a debit card, they got by with their chequebook and £50 cheque guarantee card and/or an ATM card.

The lady who trained me, who is sadly no longer with us, told me her first job in the bank was a typist. Typing up the bank statements so they could be posted out. When she joined, women were not allowed to be cashiers. Only men were judged to be capable of that level of responsibility!

EssexExile

Brie said:

Staff greeting you by your name when you walk in rather than when you put your card in the reader.  
And staff asking if everything is alright when they see you juggling money to pay bills.

Staff being very friendly to their, shall we say not so savvy, regular customers so they can upsell products that the customer neither wants nor needs.

gsmh

Customers queuing in palatial branches to do things that can be far more easily accomplished these days online. Having to visit a branch in your lunch hour and not having time to eat lunch because it took so long. The manager knowing far too much about you and your family and you knowing he might well know what you've bought - a bit like Handelsbanken today.

flaneurs_lobster

Staff wearing business attire rather than gym wear.

Teller checking your overnight balance on microfiche.

Having an "arrangement" at a second branch to allow cheque cashing.

7sefton

Paying in slips 

Banking halls that looked like Fort Knox with full glass screens and security drawers, rather than open plan hotel-style  lobbies

‘Cashier number 3 please’ automated announcements 

Pens on chains

Passbooks (not just for building societies, but clearing banks too)

A touch tone machine so you could make the right sounds for telephone banking if you had an old style rotary telephone 

Branded folders where you put all your postal bank statements in date order 

Solo/Switch/Delta/Electron cards 

BlueonBlue

The bricks and mortar bank premises where the ceased practises actually took place .

Rob5342

gsmh said:

Having to visit a branch in your lunch hour and not having time to eat lunch because it took so long. 

Indeed. Branch banking was so inconvenient that it's a hard to imagine how we managed lookung back. 

Eco_Miser

Having a bank on-site at work, so you could visit it in your lunch hour. (Big site, long way from anywhere).

I still use paying in slips occasionally.

M25

ChirpyChicken said:

Bank practices or branch practices that have ceased....

Actually speaking to a manager? A real manager. I've had an experience of that where they look you in the eye before approving a loan on the spot.

Either way travelling in bad weather trying not to damage cheques, fumbling around with money and bank books, queuing etc was a total nightmare and I scoff everytime I pass a bank. Yes, handy for depositing cash but that's about it. Banks are needed but as long as we have apps and ATMs I'm happy to forget about the 'good ol' days'.

New style banking is not perfect or always smooth but it definitely makes for an easier life.

I think people under 30 have no idea how grateful they should be for online banking.