Banks and Building Societies
AS with other folk the local branch of our bank closed a couple of years ago so the options for paying in to accounts are either make a journey to the next town, free bus pass, and use the bank there. That's not really a problem as we can always combine the trip with visiting other banks/BS where we have accounts and/or go shopping. Most of my business is done using internet banking. From time to time I do use the local post office which is a short stroll down the High Street, not too worried if account not credited for 2/3 days
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It is becoming a problem for some isn't it?
Living in the county town we have access to all the big banks, most big building societies/banks although they have closed smaller branches at parades, don't know what else to call them, on more local shop areas. We also have a Metro Bank, great service in there 7 days a week til late, free use of coin counter, dog friendly always treats and water 😉.
The small market town I went to school in has lost banks and now only has one bank and building society bank, fortunately my mum was already with them both. These days she rarely uses them in person, she felt to vulnerable withdrawing cash and now doesn't go into town on her own anyway. My brother and I sort her shopping and cash then she gives us cheques.
Our son rarely visits a shopping centre let alone a bank so I can see it only getting worse. He doesn't work in town and weekends etc are busy.
I didn't know you could pay money the post office. Is that for any bank? I knew you could withdraw money - ocassion lly mum does at her post office.
Metro Bank seem to be going from strength to strength maybe it's the service, maybe it's the products? I' certain that wanting your custom and thus opening in ine with high street trading must help. Ours even has safety deposit boxes - a facility not one other bank in town offers!
Maybe the closures are down to business practices and profit margins 😉😉
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Our small town lost it's only bank last year. Retail businesses are finding it almost impossible to pay in their takings etc. at the only Bank for miles around in another town. Apparently this bank is so overwhelmed by customers, that people have to make a timed appointment to be able to do any banking business. -- Not Good
K
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Timed appointments for banking 😲 That's quite telling in itself isn't it? Is it greed or wanting out of personal banking?
Once again it's the 'little' man bearing the cost, petrol, time, parking fee, where and tear on the vehicle etc.
We all know, and there's evidence of, electronic payment methods and online failing for long periods..........
Do you think we'll return to hoarding cash under the mattress? Along with modern banking.
I'm making something that requires weights in the hem 78p a single weight about 50p size but heavier or £1.95 for a metre where it's long and thin. I'm using coins of the realm as it works out cheaper 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 what does that say about our economy?
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They're not always easy to find either these days.
Even in the county town we don't have a post office it's upstairs in W H Smith. Luckily we have a sub branch in our local street, they offer other services too 😃, fabulous service and friendly family run 😆
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It's very seldom that cash is needed these days because most things can be paid easily by card and contactless has made that whole lot easier when it comes to small payments. For me, the difficulty is paying money in because I collect a lot of coins through drop money and tips which weigh too heavily if I keep them. So I need cash deposit facilities.
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Well Malcolm you could try a post office if that's closer to home. It taking a few days to hit your account shouldn't be an issue as your other payments come into the bank direct. Would save on fuel too, driving and circling 😉. Better for the environment too 😃
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i cant give my 8 year old granddaughter any pocket money with a card or contactless payment. She will only accept cash.
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Good for her 😆.
As I've said on another thread children learn with physical evidence not abstract. If you'e got £1 you can only spend £1, less if you like and have change 😉. Spend some save some motto easier too.
I can still recall when as a child I asked my dad for something and his reply was I don't have any money. Whatever I wanted hasn't been remembered so it can't have been that depriving 😉. I said go to the bank, they give you money. In those days you had to cash a cheque. I had no concept that it needed to be there before you could have any. (Not quite the same these days when loans and overdrafts on shoved at you from every which angle 😉😉)
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Post offices are useful for paying in cheques and I’ve done it a few times. It takes an additional 48 hours for your account to be credited. Note, though, that you cannot pay in cash.
I think it’s ironic that banks encourage us to use online banking and then cite that as the reason for closing branches. What they mean is that they want to cut overheads and the more we use online facilities, the more we help them achieve that goal. I don’t trust any of them.
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Internet banking is fine till you hear your ISA rates etc are about to plummet and then the whole rigmarole of filling in on line forms, proving identity starts all over again. I sometimes think the customer does all the spade work and the banks build the money mountains. We are just the faceless providers of their fortunes.
Having said that I see that junior ISA rates are a lot better than many adult rates and are a useful tool if you want to help out grandchildren with future savings.
I can remember when my grandfather handed over 2s 6d after family visits (half a crown) and these would buy a few extra stamps for our National Savings Books, remember them?
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My thoughts as well. Use it in the supermarket, garage, or wherever.
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Our Nat West closed last week.In the county town. Nearest is now 35 miles away. But they are not a charity so no doubt in their minds it was a commercial decision. Not sorted out where I can get cash yet as I am a big "Cash is King" person.
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Oh yes I remember those saving stamps. Loved going off to buy it at the post office and when I reached the last page 😆. For the life of me I don't know what I did with the full book. Cash it in, put it into a different account? But I know I had a little nest egg at 16 😉. Didn't have grandads 😢 but nan's who' been widowed for years so tended to be a tanner or a shilling, birthday might be 5/-
I saw the junior ISA rates, shame my grandchildren don't qualify.
I so agree with your comments about the banks sitting back and making their money whilst we do the hard work 😉. What gets me is that when you've made your decision and go into said bank say you want to open X account you can't do it on the spot you need an appointment so they can explain the product to you to check it's suitable for your requirements rarely can it be done that day please come back at time on date 😤😤
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Yes but I get cash everyday in drop money and tips so I'm not without cash for longer than a day. I bank the cash once a week when I get a day off by which time the coins are too many to fit into my wallet coin pouch.
Recently, I've not needed to buy anything from the CC site shop but I have used the shop to buy things like a new tv aerial and just kept enough cash aside to pay for it because like you say, the warden doesn't accept card payments for shop items on sale.
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I have online access to my Cash ISA through internet banking.
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I would get less points in Tesco for spending cash. If I use my Tesco debit card for shopping, fuel etc. I get double points. For this reason I pay the cash into my HSBC account and then use internet banking to pay money from my HSBC account to my Tesco bank account.
Also paying cash in, on top of my other money received, improves my account status. For certain types of account, such as the Advance account, they require that you pay in a certain amount of minimum payment each month to qualify.
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I find it's better to use interest free credit cards rather than loans and overdrafts. Loans will cost some interest although you can get cheaper interest loans depending on status. Overdrafts seem to me to be the most expensive way of borrowing money. Borrowing £3000 through a bank overdraft facility can cost as much as £36 per month. Why pay so much interest when you can borrow the same amount of money, free of interest costs, on a credit card?
The banks may well prefer you to use loans and overdrafts because they can make more money that way!
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Yes, I have an HSBC account that requires a £1750 pay in each month, I just transfer it in from elsewhere and then move it out again, leaving enough to fund my monthly saver.
I am not sure what "account status" is, or how paying in cash improves it. We have multiple accounts, at least 25 current accounts at the last count, all for various different perks, such as interest, every little helps these days! My company pension and our State pensions go into our main current account, while my Norwegian State pension comes via Nationwide, the other accounts are purely to earn what little interest the banks will part with.
I thought you would quote Tesco points as a reason for putting the cash through the bank, but do you actually get in enough cash for the value of your earned Tesco points to cover the cost of driving to the bank to pay it in,and driving round and round while your wife goes to do so?
Up till now, we have had 2 hours free parking locally, good for things like banking, going to the post office or the library, but now the council are trying to kill off the village centres by introducing a minimum parking charge of £1.
Fortunately the Tesco, Waitrose and M&S car parks in one village are owned by the stores and are still free, so we will just combine banking with shopping there, the other village centre seems to me to be doomed. High parking charges are also killing Glasgow city centre.
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My Tesco Clubcard points add up to an extra £40 in vouchers each quarter which seems to be a worthwhile amount to accumulate.
By account status, I mean the facilities the bank are prepared to offer you depending on how much money is received into your account each month. In your example, £1750 per month is required to achieve the necessary account status for an HSBC Advance Current Account. A lower amount than this would cause the account to revert to an ordinary current account with less perks!
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What is the interest rate on your ISA? You may well be able to get more interest having your money in an interest bearing current account.
Nationwide have one that pays 5% on £2500 for a year, TSB are now paying 5% on up to £1500 per person, and you can also have a joint account. Your Tesco current account should be paying you 3%. Even Lloyds and Halifax/BOS and Santander are paying 1.5%.
Most of these accounts also do monthly savers that pay a higher rate of interest.
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You will still earn some points whether you use cash or whatever to pay with. What you need to look at is just at how many more points you are earning by depositing this cash in the bank in order to spend it, and compare that with what it costs you to do so.
Is the £40 the face value of the vouchers,or what you can exchange them for using the Club Card Boost?
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0.55% AER on the HSBC Cash Isa with a subscription limit of £20,000 per annum.
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Face value plus I got coupons last quarter that earned me 200 extra points in addition to a double points coupon that doubled the points on the overall total bill which came to £84 earning 168 points plus double points by paying using Tesco debit card!
Last year, I used my quarters vouchers to pay for a IOW return ferry crossing because it boosted to 3 times the face value of the vouchers.
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