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

flaneurs_lobster

horsewithnoname said:

Not having to “prove it’s me” every bloody second of the day. 

Being able to spend my own money without the Spanish Inquisition. Everything is such a faff these days. 

There are alternatives to secure banking and people making sure that it's you - try withdrawing all your money in cash and carry it about with you in a Tesco bag. No faff or Spanish required.

EnPointe

brianposter said:

A cheque guarantee card that would work in the remote South American jungle.

we are both fluent Bough , sadly in different Dialects ... 

Nasqueron

Rob5342 said:

M25 said:

ChirpyChicken said:

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

Banks are needed but as long as we have apps and ATMs I'm happy to forget about the 'good ol' days'

I'm happy to forget about them too, I haven't been to a bank branch for 25 years. A trivial 30 second task like sending some money to your son at university used to take over a week with all the hassle of having to go to the post box and/or bank.

I remember keeping my debt card receipts and writing everything down each evening, calculating what I had left in my account , having to remember how much I had when I went out and then having to check through a whole month of transactions when I got my statement. It seems an absolute nightmare now you just check the app esch time you spend. 

Or sending cash by post and it being delivered to the wrong house as we had at university - found it in a big pile of post for previous residents and fortunately the guy was still down the road

CarolynCh

gsmh said:

YorksLass said:

One of the banks (TSB) used to send a rep to my children's primary school on Monday mornings so the kids could hand over their cash and have it written up in their passbook.  It taught them the fundamentals of saving small amounts regularly.

Yes - I was a primary school teacher in the 80s and I ran the school bank, courtesy of the TSB. It was very successful and the children loved saving their money. 

I used to work for Midland/HSBC and set up a lot of school banks.  Ours were in high schools though.  We taught the students how to run them after they had applied for the "jobs" and been selected (within the school).  Great experience for them and for all of the students on how to open an account and save their money.

badmemory

I still remember back in 1965 (New Years Eve) being totally surprised & very relieved that a garage 200 miles from home could actually take payment from my fathers barclaycard remotely.  I didn't know he even had one & I didn't have a bank account back then & I certainly didn't know they could take a payment without him being there.  Only 59 years ago.  Almost as big, the family I was going to stay with didn't have a phone so I had to send a telegram to say I would be late.  Can you imagine a household these days with not a single phone between 3 adults.

TheBanker

ChirpyChicken said:

And the days of credit card invitations through the post ! From the likes of barclaycard 
Limits were proportionally much bigger back then with the likes of gold cards
They were seen as the "in" thing
Gold Barclaycard. Gold next card
!

Do you remember the credit card cheques you used to be sent unsolicited? They were charged to your credit card bill as a cash advance I think, so were an expensive way to pay.

TheBanker

CarolynCh said:

gsmh said:

YorksLass said:

One of the banks (TSB) used to send a rep to my children's primary school on Monday mornings so the kids could hand over their cash and have it written up in their passbook.  It taught them the fundamentals of saving small amounts regularly.

Yes - I was a primary school teacher in the 80s and I ran the school bank, courtesy of the TSB. It was very successful and the children loved saving their money. 

I used to work for Midland/HSBC and set up a lot of school banks.  Ours were in high schools though.  We taught the students how to run them after they had applied for the "jobs" and been selected (within the school).  Great experience for them and for all of the students on how to open an account and save their money.

My first bank account was with Midland, opened through the school bank. I think it came with a book of vouchers for discounted CDs. I kept the account until I went to uni, then I moved to a different bank for some reason.

My sister opened an account at the Midland school bank too, and she still has the same account today. And when my mum needed her own bank account, she chose Midland just because both me and my sister had accounts, and she's still with HSBC to this day.

ChirpyChicken

TheBanker said:

ChirpyChicken said:

And the days of credit card invitations through the post ! From the likes of barclaycard 
Limits were proportionally much bigger back then with the likes of gold cards
They were seen as the "in" thing
Gold Barclaycard. Gold next card
!

Do you remember the credit card cheques you used to be sent unsolicited? They were charged to your credit card bill as a cash advance I think, so were an expensive way to pay.

Yes barclaycard used to send them.. for what ever reason I had the gold barclaycard and because of that they gave me a gold Mastercard and sent credit card cheques at the same time.
Madness

dinosaur66

i read on a thread the other day you now have to be 18 to open a bank account

i remember being surrounded by staff in a barclays branch in stratford town center when i was 16 because i changed

from whatever signature i joined with to the one i currently use now / do not remember what i had to do or say to get out of the situation.

TheBanker

ChirpyChicken said:

TheBanker said:

ChirpyChicken said:

And the days of credit card invitations through the post ! From the likes of barclaycard 
Limits were proportionally much bigger back then with the likes of gold cards
They were seen as the "in" thing
Gold Barclaycard. Gold next card
!

Do you remember the credit card cheques you used to be sent unsolicited? They were charged to your credit card bill as a cash advance I think, so were an expensive way to pay.

Yes barclaycard used to send them.. for what ever reason I had the gold barclaycard and because of that they gave me a gold Mastercard and sent credit card cheques at the same time.
Madness

Yes, I had a Barclaycard Visa (not gold though) and they randomly gave me a Mastercard too. When I asked why I needed both, they said if I went abroad I would find some countries only recognised one or the other. Of course in those days if you went abroad, you took plenty of foreign cash and some travellers cheques. Not like today where you just take a couple of cards, being careful to use the one with no fees/best rates.