Lloyds Close More Branches While Their Online Banking Fails

karvala

It was today announced that Lloyds Bank are closing more branches because apparently everyone is doing their banking online and all much prefer it.  I'm that would be great, except for the fact that the technology frequently fails.  What are people supposed to do then?

This week I have had to make two payments to new recipients.  Both people I know, both totally reliable, neither for outrageously large sums.  What happened?

1. For the first one, the recipient details were confirmed and all matched etc, but they needed to call me to verify it was me setting up the new recipient (standard process, fair enough).  Problem was, they couldn't because the Three network was down and calls were not getting through.  Sure, that wasn't the banks fault but they have no backup system in that situation (such as logging on to the website), so you simply can't pay someone.
2. For the second one, the recipient details were confirmed and all matched again, but the website insisted that I needed to update my phone number to the "latest one".  I have not changed my phone number, my correct phone number was and still is visible in my account profile and on the app, so there was nothing to correct it to.  But the system says no, and will not allow any new recipients to proceed until I've given a different phone to the one that is actually mine.  Go figure.  So I phoned up the internet banking people, who proceeded to try themselves only to admit after 4-5 attempts that they couldn't even get as far as verifying the recipient details with their bank, even though they were definitely correct.

It's all very well closing branches and pointing people to the website and app, but when they are so clearly unreliable, what are people supposed to do?  Yet another example of profits before service and "customer can lump it" corporate mentality.  Will be looking for another bank now, but struggling to find any that aren't equally useless.

Theleak250

Are you sure you didn't try to change the number to another number, when the three mobile network went down? to try and get the payment to go through. 

Unfortunately it is the case that hardly any customers use the branches so as a business it doesn't make sense to keep paying for them. The online banking systems on the whole, work as expected. 

double_dutchy

I've banked with First Direct for many years. They don't have any branches and never had. Their online banking app works just fine for everything I need to do.

Bank branches disappearing will be just the tip of the iceberg with AI now booming. Many jobs and institutions will change or disappear.

Rob5342

Online and app banking certainly isn't faultless but I wouldn't say they frequently failed. In the last 25 years I've only had two problems that I can remember which both took about 20 minutes on the phone to sort out., which is less time than one visit to a bank would have taken.Branches  use computer systems too so they aren't infallible either, Nationwide for example had problems a few years ago that affected payments on all accounts.

If I ran a business I'd want to move with the times and maximise my profit, I certainly wouldn't throw my money away on archaic services that nobody used.

Hoenir

karvala said:

Yet another example of profits before service and "customer can lump it" corporate mentality.  

Retail current accounts in the UK are a free service therefore cost money. Would you prefer the international model of a monthly £10 - £15 charge?  I would as have very rarely used a branch in the past 30 years.  

kinger101

Define frequently?  

My recollection of branch banking was (A) them losing ID documents and (B) being stuck in a queue behind local businesses paying in cash or collecting coins.

Vert rarely had any problems with online banking. Recall one occasion where the bank blocked a transaction due to security checks which I thought were OTT.

But then again, I don't have a regulator breathing down my neck telling me I'm not going enough to protect people who lack common sense from fraud.

TheBanker

Hoenir said:

karvala said:

Yet another example of profits before service and "customer can lump it" corporate mentality.  

Retail current accounts in the UK are a free service therefore cost money. Would you prefer the international model of a monthly £10 - £15 charge?  I would as have very rarely used a branch in the past 30 years.  

I often wonder if the people who want branches to stay open would be happy to pay a transaction fee per visit to cover the costs of operating the branch. 

I looked at a fact sheet for one of the Lloyds branches that's closing. It says the branch has 901 regular customers. Assume the branch has three staff on £30k a year, that's a cost of £100 per customer per year simply to pay the wages. They'll also need to pay all the costs associated with employees i.e. pension contributions, National Insurance, sick pay, as well as paying for the lease/maintinance/utility supplies/insurance/cash deliveries and collections/etc.

I know the way they've calcuated the number of customers is open to challenge, but there is just no way this branch can break even unless these customers are very wealthy or paying high fees.

Rob5342

TheBanker said:

Hoenir said:

karvala said:

Yet another example of profits before service and "customer can lump it" corporate mentality.  

Retail current accounts in the UK are a free service therefore cost money. Would you prefer the international model of a monthly £10 - £15 charge?  I would as have very rarely used a branch in the past 30 years.  

I often wonder if the people who want branches to stay open would be happy to pay a transaction fee per visit to cover the costs of operating the branch.

I also wonder how many of the people that want them to stay open actually use them themselves. I know a few people that say it's terrible that banks are closing yet they all bank online as it's more convenient.

MABLE

My local Lloyds branch use to support a fully fledged manager , his deputy and chief clerk.  Now it has only few staff and now only opens 4 days a week and reduced hours.  

I have been at this branch for 40 years but at least it hasn’t closed down.  However I now do all my banking online.

boingy

Banking hubs are the way. One counter, any bank, maybe with specialist advisors in attendance one day per week.
They don't even have to be in premises of their own. They could be in supermarkets, cafes etc.
Whether the industry can summon up enough enthusiasm to do that sensibly remains to be seen. The problem the big names have is that if they get rid of all of their branches they lose their advantage over the low cost app-only banks.

PocketWatchMan

TheBanker said:

Hoenir said:

karvala said:

Yet another example of profits before service and "customer can lump it" corporate mentality.  

Retail current accounts in the UK are a free service therefore cost money. Would you prefer the international model of a monthly £10 - £15 charge?  I would as have very rarely used a branch in the past 30 years.  

I often wonder if the people who want branches to stay open would be happy to pay a transaction fee per visit to cover the costs of operating the branch. 

I looked at a fact sheet for one of the Lloyds branches that's closing. It says the branch has 901 regular customers. Assume the branch has three staff on £30k a year, that's a cost of £100 per customer per year simply to pay the wages. They'll also need to pay all the costs associated with employees i.e. pension contributions, National Insurance, sick pay, as well as paying for the lease/maintinance/utility supplies/insurance/cash deliveries and collections/etc.

I know the way they've calcuated the number of customers is open to challenge, but there is just no way this branch can break even unless these customers are very wealthy or paying high fees.

I often wonder if the people who bank online, have any idea of the scale and simplicity that criminals can commit ID theft and fraud.  I often wonder if the people who bank online ever take time to think, that in the milliseconds taken to blink their eyes, at least two online accounts somewhere will have been breached. Just in terms of pure statistics, if you have not been a victim of serious online theft in the last 4-5 years, you are technically way overdue.