How do you pay in shops, pubs, restaurants etc

[underbank]

R/e "real" banks, when dad passed away and I executed his affairs/probate, I was so glad to have a branch open just a mile away. Frome there I could hand over documents, signatures and even my ID in their office, and wait while they organised stuff in the background. Wouldn't know what would happen without - Maybe a 13-mile ride into Manchester? Or everything through the post, which means sending wills, probate docs, statements, passports/ID and all the rest of it which would be worrysome, never mind time-consuming?

It depends on the bank. When my mother passed away, I thought it would be easy to deal with as she had most of her accounts at the local branch of the Halifax. How wrong I was. I had to make an appointment (refused to do anything over the counter), and ended up meeting someone who had less of a clue than I did. All she did was make a few notes, photocopy the bank statements/passbooks and said she'd send them on - I asked her about the process and she couldn't tell me anything at all. I asked about whether she needed to copy the will, my ID proof etc., but she just said no. Then a couple of weeks later, I got a letter from their probate dept asking me to post all the important documents. I phoned them to ask if I could get them copied/certified at the local branch and they told me no, they wanted the originals. Seemed they didn't trust their branch staff! The actual visits to the branch were a complete waste of time and achieved nothing.

 

[Howardh]

Trouble is that branches don't actually provide the services any more, they are just there to sell things. All they did when my mother passed away was forward all the paperwork to a head office department who took a month to sort things out. A process which would have taken 48 hours in the branch back in the 70s when I worked for NatWest.

It depends on the bank. When my mother passed away, I thought it would be easy to deal with as she had most of her accounts at the local branch of the Halifax. How wrong I was. I had to make an appointment (refused to do anything over the counter), and ended up meeting someone who had less of a clue than I did. All she did was make a few notes, photocopy the bank statements/passbooks and said she'd send them on - I asked her about the process and she couldn't tell me anything at all. I asked about whether she needed to copy the will, my ID proof etc., but she just said no. Then a couple of weeks later, I got a letter from their probate dept asking me to post all the important documents. I phoned them to ask if I could get them copied/certified at the local branch and they told me no, they wanted the originals. Seemed they didn't trust their branch staff! The actual visits to the branch were a complete waste of time and achieved nothing.

In that case I'll give a big thumbs up to Lloyds who were absolutely brilliant! All banks are supposed to have dedicated bereavement teams, and not only that they have to allow HMRC access to at least one (frozen) account to pay any inheritance bills which isn't as easy as it sounds.
If anyone has had dicciculties with banks in this regard, maybe they should contact the ombudsman and the consumer pages of the national media - this is one area where banks MUST get things right!

 

[Clip]

i try to run off without paying or get my dining partner to pay!

I use my card for food and cash for drinks unless they are on a combined bill. I tend to use contact less quite a lot now

Yeah contactless is the way forward - well until you wake up in the morning and seem to have more on there then you thought it possible to drink

Never knew they still done cashing personal checks - thought that got binned in the 60s

 

[Typhoon]

It depends on the bank.

I think you are absolutely right. I had to deal with an issue I had to deal with on behalf of my mother - given until some date in October (last year) to sort it out. Can't make an appointment at the bank, had to phone up some call centre. Earliest appointment offered was January as they are very busy. When I offered to provide photographic evidence that this was not the case, they suddenly found me an appointment in the following week. The appointment took less than 10 minutes, most of which involved them photocopying documents I had brought in.

Seemed they didn't trust their branch staff!

I think it is more that they want bank branch staff to be effectively redundant so that they can make them actually redundant. One reason why I sometimes pay (small) credit card bills with cash. No-one can tell me I can do that on-line or over the phone!

 

[Clip]

An interesting report on the BBC website this morning

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45515666

Using a payment app to pay your friends directly or split a restaurant bill has become increasingly popular among younger generations in particular. But are they safe?

Such P2P apps, like PayPal-owned Venmo, Zelle, Apple Pay, Facebook Messenger, WeChat Pay, and Square Cash, let you pay someone in seconds because they're hooked up to your bank account, credit card or debit card.

But there are concerns that security and privacy are being sacrificed on the altar of convenience...

 

[PeterC]

I think you are absolutely right. I had to deal with an issue I had to deal with on behalf of my mother - given until some date in October (last year) to sort it out. Can't make an appointment at the bank, had to phone up some call centre. Earliest appointment offered was January as they are very busy. When I offered to provide photographic evidence that this was not the case, they suddenly found me an appointment in the following week. The appointment took less than 10 minutes, most of which involved them photocopying documents I had brought in.

I think it is more that they want bank branch staff to be effectively redundant so that they can make them actually redundant. One reason why I sometimes pay (small) credit card bills with cash. No-one can tell me I can do that on-line or over the phone!

It is such a complex process:
1. Look at the grant of probate to see who is the executor
2. Establish that the person you are talking to is the person named in the grant of probate if they aren't known to the branch. (back in the 70s this involved sending a copy of their signature to the account holding bank for verification - 1st class post both ways, answer back in 48 hours)
3. Transfer funds to a new account in the name of the executor (with 70s computers this wasn't complete until next morning)
4. Order cheque book - 2 to 3 days.
In my day a senior clerk at a branch would deal with the customer on the spot.

 

[radamfi]

An interesting report on the BBC website this morning

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45515666

To today's youngsters, online banking is old hat, and it is all about mobile app banking. Even I have accounts with banks that only use apps. The only Dutch bank account I could get as a UK resident is app only (Bunq). The great advantage of an app bank is they can verify your ID by video call, so geography is irrelevant. I also have a Revolut account to move money from regular British banks to my Dutch euro account cheaply.

 

[Typhoon]

It is such a complex process:
1. Look at the grant of probate to see who is the executor
2. Establish that the person you are talking to is the person named in the grant of probate if they aren't known to the branch. (back in the 70s this involved sending a copy of their signature to the account holding bank for verification - 1st class post both ways, answer back in 48 hours)
3. Transfer funds to a new account in the name of the executor (with 70s computers this wasn't complete until next morning)
4. Order cheque book - 2 to 3 days.
In my day a senior clerk at a branch would deal with the customer on the spot.

Sorry, it was not a case of a bereavement. It involved my mother's account, she is very much in the land of the living but is housebound (so does not have an active passport or driving license so they would not accept her even if she visited the bank - her passport was one week out of date). I made numerous suggestions including asking them to send the document by recorded post, for which I offered to pay - the Post Office is just up the road from the branch - branch staff are not allowed to send letters, apparently, even though the original letter had a handwritten signature from the branch manager. It just seemed like they wanted the branch to be as little involved as possible. Thank you for this information, anyway. I dread if this ever happens.

Still this is moving some way from the original intention of the thread.

 

[Journeyman]

Always credit card as I get 1.25% cash back on all my purchases and the card has no annual fee. I get a small amount of interest from my bank account while I wait for the money to be taken out, and anything you buy on a credit card comes with full protection if your scammed or if buying on line if the company goes bust. Why would you pay any other way?

Yup, I pay for everything by means of two credit cards now - I never use my debit card. Primarily I use Amex where it's accepted (generous cashback) or a MasterCard where it isn't. Both paid off in full automatically every month - I never pay a penny in interest, and because of the way I time certain regular purchases, you get almost two months of free credit where the money is earning interest in your account.

 

[Mag_seven]

Always pay by credit card now but I always have about £30 in my wallet as some small shops (usually cafes) prefer cash.