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

TheBanker

gsmh said:

Section62 said:
If they bank with Nationwide then not using the app to pay in cheques won't be a matter of choice.

As a member of this forum I would imagine I’d do what others on here do and have another current account which does allow cheque deposit via the app, then transfer the funds to the intended account. Those less savvy could pay cheques in at the Post Office - the majority of banks offer this facility.

EDIT: Nationwide doesn’t allow the paying-in of cheques at the Post Office! I’m very surprised.

The banks have to pay the Post Office for use of their counters, and the cost of this increases every time the contract is renewed. The Post Office need to generate more income to replace their 'traditional' income of dealing with parcels, TV licenses, DVLA transactions etc (and, say some, pay the massive compensation bill...) and they have the banks backed into a corner given the number of branch closures. 

Nationwide have probably decided that the cost of providing Post Office access to their accounts is not worth it, given they've made their promise not to close any branches. 

TheBanker

[Deleted User] said:

Bit of an oddity this (I think).

Bank branches based inside a hospital. Used to visit one near me as it was closest to my work.

The bank I worked for 25 years ago had hospital branches. We had one in our city which was a sub-branch of the branch I worked in. That meant it was basically an extention of our branch, we had to supply the staff, order their cash, etc. I was told it opened when the hospital staff started to be paid by BACS, as an opportunity to sign up lots of new customers.

By the time I worked there, it consisted of just two cashier positions, and we'd usually only open one fo them to save the effort of repeatedly balancing both tills. Anything more complex than a deposit/withdrawel or simple task like cancelling a Direct Debit had to be done in a main branch. Even cancelling Direct Debits was done by recording the details on a form which was processed at the main branch as the cashier terminals didn't allow us to do that. It was only open a few hours a day and was not very well used. At some point an ATM was installed which reduced use of the branch even further. We used to take it in turns to work there, it was not a popular shift. Long gone, now.

A similar thing happened to university branches - it used to be quite competitive between banks to be able to open a branch actually on the university campus, for the student customers and also the university staff to use. Our uni branch used to have queues out the doors at certain times of the year, as student grants/loans were paid by cheque. During the freshers weeks it would be all hands on deck and we'd have to call in staff from miles around to help out.

I don't think there are many of these branches left now, there might be a free ATM if you're lucky.

Rob5342

I remember Lloyd's having a branch on my University Campus, that's the last place anyone would put one these days. 

WillPS

There was a bank branch (Midland IIRC, presumably also a sub branch) at Alton Towers too, just inside the main entrance to the left. Replaced by cash machines which are still in the same position. Allegedly the whole branch is still there behind them...

I remember for a period in the late 90s/early 00s Lloyds TSB opened 'autobank' branches inside some newbuild Asdas, which as the name suggests had no teller windows, but did have paying in machines and a member of staff to do other account-related admin. Didn't last long.

https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/lloyds-tsb-puts-banks-in-store-asda-deal/55242

Rob5342

I remember there being one of those in the Asda near me. 

gsmh

Many Co-operative food stores had a little counter where you could write a Co-operative Bank cheque, payable to yourself, to obtain cash. I used the facility often.

YoungBlueEyes

The bucolic scenes they used to print on cheques always made me smile. Woodlands and pretty birds etc

UKX69

YoungBlueEyes said:

The bucolic scenes they used to print on cheques always made me smile. Woodlands and pretty birds etc

I still use that design of cheques with NatWest. Mrs T wanted that type many years ago and when I reorder that’s what we get. 😁

YoungBlueEyes

Jeez do NatWest still do them do they? I'm with Lloyds and they stopped doing them years ago. I was wanting a new pretty cheque book for daddy (probably about 10 years ago) and they'd stop doing them a few years before that :O 

ChirpyChicken

gsmh said:

Many Co-operative food stores had a little counter where you could write a Co-operative Bank cheque, payable to yourself, to obtain cash. I used the facility often.

Yes I remember that