Keep Physical Documents Says UK government

masonic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82180754#Comment_82180754

They did pay out cash to some customers and for this they required proof of ID and proof of TSB account. A debit card would have done for this, but no doubt a bank statement would also have been accepted. I don't think the choice of proof would have made a lot of difference. If you only held a savings account then perhaps a statement would be your only record of having the account.

They recorded withdrawals manually and had to accept the risk of customers going overdrawn or making fraudulent withdrawals as a necessary cost to maintaining order and good will. They waived fees they would normally have charged for customers becoming overdrawn and wrote off some negative balances, the costs of which were included in the £360m losses they reported from the migration failure.

I can remember them randomly paying compensation money into one of my accounts months after the event, even though I'd previously complained and been awarded compensation by the FOS.

GeoffTF

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82180790#Comment_82180790

Thanks for that. I expected it would have been like that. The branch staff would have had to decide how much they would let each customer withdraw. I expect that if they were able to show that their last statement had a large balance and that they had just received a large urgent bill, they might be able to secure a larger withdrawal. It was dire situation. TSB had businesses that could not pay their staff. There was comment that branches had their uses after all.

I am in the habit of collecting my Santander Edge current account monthly statements, but do not bother with the Edge Saver or Regular Saver. I just collect the annual accounts for them. I could deduce the running balance of those accounts from my current account statements. (It may be possible to make withdrawals directly from the other two accounts, but I do not do that.) That strategy might be less than ideal in a meltdown situation, but I have other accounts anyway. I am not going to panic and collect even more statements.

GTR_King

Most banks nowadays outsource their statement printing and mailing to specialist companies such as Paragon, rather than printing statements in-house as they used to do.

What I find confusing is why the government would suggest that keeping physical paper documents is best, when so many government departments and local councils are trying to reduce paper usage and move towards digital services. Surely, that seems a little contradictory?

I completely understand the importance of keeping certain physical documents, such as P45s, marriage certificates and other important paperwork. However, I also believe that people should have the choice to receive paper copies of their bank statements.

Personally, I enjoy collecting my monthly paper bank statements. I like sitting down and reading through them each month, and I enjoy having a physical record of my finances rather than everything being stored digitally.

My question is this: when someone from the government makes comments to the media about the importance of keeping physical documents, are they expressing their own personal views, or are they communicating an official government position that they have been instructed to put across?

I’d be interested to understand whether this is actually government policy or simply the personal opinion of the individual speaking to the media.

eskbanker

As I recall there was no mention of paper in the interview - the word 'physical' was used (in response to a question involving taking photos of statements), and this was interpreted by OP as signifying paper.

My question is this: when someone from the government makes comments to the media about the importance of keeping physical documents, are they expressing their own personal views, or are they communicating an official government position that they have been instructed to put across?

I’d be interested to understand whether this is actually government policy or simply the personal opinion of the individual speaking to the media.

I posted my view earlier, i.e. that if this was to be government policy then it would be disseminated properly through standard channels (including the NCSC resource centre being highlighted), as well as being mentioned briefly on TV by one minister, so unless and until that happens I'd suggest treating it as one person's personal opinion…