The future of "in branch" banking.

[Typhoon]

As long as the machine can actually read what's written on the cheque... If not, it comes straight back to you and you have to trudge over to the person behind the counter.

Quite - I have always added two parallel line after the amount in writing and in numbers but I have had cheques returned and when I take it to the cashier I am told that I shouldn't do that as the machine cannot always read it, I should put '.00' instead. I'm too old to change now - and I was always told that the two lines helped prevent alteration - when pence were important). Also, I have tried to pay a chequee in for an amount which was too large for the machine apparently. (Anyone short of a few bob - the money moved on pretty quickly, sorry).

What percentage of people queuing up outside the bank are doing transactions available online, on the phone or the cash machine? They are inconveniencing themselves and others, and getting wet in the rain at the same time.

Yes, I queue (smallish town less than 30k) but I prefer that to the phone. No irritating music, no 'all of our lines are busy' for the fifth time or other inane messages (the staff on the door actually talk to you), no being passed from one person to another (and being put 'on hold') and having to repeat myself; instead there is an excuse to get out, can usually chat to others in the queue, (my bank) can see how things are progressing inside, if the queue is too long I can do some shopping and come back. Getting wet? That is why I take a coat (and check the weather forecast beforehand).

If people want to bank by phone or online fine but some of us prefer to bank in person for at least some types of transaction. (Online was no help when my hard drive failed.)

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

As long as the machine can actually read what's written on the cheque... If not, it comes straight back to you and you have to trudge over to the person behind the counter.

Possibly but how often do you write a cheque?

I'm no great technophile or techophobe but, having checked my cheque book, I've written 5 in 5 years, the last one being about 2 years ago.

In the larger towns, there will be a critical mass of punters to justify the existence of a branch but in small towns and neighbourhoods, the number of people using them is tiny.

 

[radamfi]

TSB is stuck in the past and doesn't.

So why bank with them? As far as I can tell, they have no attractive accounts. I have a current account with them, currently paying 2% (was 5% not long ago) but they are removing interest in a few weeks and at that point I will close my account.

 

[Bald Rick]

I find it astonishing that anyone pays domestic bills by cheque or cash. In my quarter century of paying such things, I have only ever paid direct debit. Why would you choose to do anything else? Paying when the bill comes is more hassle and often more expensive.

 

[Gloster]

For those who say that they do all their banking over the ‘phone, I have one question: Just how long do you spend sitting listening to excerpts from Vivaldi‘s Four Seasons or some nameless piece of mid-Atlantic rock, jumping every time it stops, only to find it is a repeat of a message of how they value your custom? You can’t really do anything else because a fair proportion of your attention is focused on the ‘phone. I go to the bank when I am going into town anyway and am usually in and out of the bank in a couple of minutes.

 

[radamfi]

For those who say that they do all their banking over the ‘phone, I have one question: Just how long do you spend sitting listening to excerpts from Vivaldi‘s Four Seasons or some nameless piece of mid-Atlantic rock, jumping every time it stops, only to find it is a repeat of a message of how they value your custom? You can’t really do anything else because a fair proportion of your attention is focused on the ‘phone. I go to the bank when I am going into town anyway and am usually in and out of the bank in a couple of minutes.

It depends what you mean by "phone". Most people use mobile apps, so you don't listen to anything. You only need to listen to hold music if you actually have to speak to someone. The better the bank, the fewer times that is needed.

 

[nlogax]

For those who say that they do all their banking over the ‘phone, I have one question: Just how long do you spend sitting listening to excerpts from Vivaldi‘s Four Seasons or some nameless piece of mid-Atlantic rock, jumping every time it stops, only to find it is a repeat of a message of how they value your custom? You can’t really do anything else because a fair proportion of your attention is focused on the ‘phone. I go to the bank when I am going into town anyway and am usually in and out of the bank in a couple of minutes.

I use my bank's phone app. Haven't needed to speak with anyone in years, outside of responding to a security alert on my account which required a conversation with a human being.

 

[S&CLER]

Paying for antiques with an antique, quite the novelty!



Well unless the ATM map is lying, I count 4 cash machines in Arundel. They also seem to have two post offices in close proximity, i'm quite surprised at that considering you made it sound like the last outpost.

I just relied on what the dealer told me - he's a local after all and ought to know.

 

[jfollows]

I find it astonishing that anyone pays domestic bills by cheque or cash. In my quarter century of paying such things, I have only ever paid direct debit. Why would you choose to do anything else? Paying when the bill comes is more hassle and often more expensive.

Direct debit gives control to organisations which are fundamentally untrustworthy. The banks sell direct debits on the basis of "we'll always correct any mistake" but to me the mistake happening in the first place is the problem.

But this is clearly something personal, I have a small number of direct debits which now includes electricity & gas bill payments, but I didn't used to. I also monitor my bank account very closely anyway. I still don't like direct debits, but accept them because they have some advantages also, plus they cost me less.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Direct debit gives control to organisations which are fundamentally untrustworthy

Should you really be choosing to do business with organisations you don't trust?

(Excepting Council Tax and water bills, where there's no choice of who you get it from)

 

[Bald Rick]

For those who say that they do all their banking over the ‘phone, I have one question: Just how long do you spend sitting listening to excerpts from Vivaldi‘s Four Seasons or some nameless piece of mid-Atlantic rock, jumping every time it stops, only to find it is a repeat of a message of how they value your custom? You can’t really do anything else because a fair proportion of your attention is focused on the ‘phone. I go to the bank when I am going into town anyway and am usually in and out of the bank in a couple of minutes.

I don’t think many (any?) people use the phone as a primary method of banking now. I’ve not phoned my bank in years. I can pay any bill with three screen taps, typing in the amount to be paid, and fingerprint recognition. It never takes more than 15 seconds.

 

[jfollows]

Should you really be choosing to do business with organisations you don't trust?

(Excepting Council Tax and water bills, where there's no choice of who you get it from)

It's a fair question, but I don't know of a single utility supplier whom I trust. It doesn't seem to matter which one, they are all capable of getting things wrong in spectacularly bad ways which cause their customers a lot of pain. Which is why I used to pay quarterly bills on receipt.
I had a meter reading not too long ago with a 2 mis-read as 7, and received a whopping quarterly bill, which I didn't pay and got revised. Yes, I could have done the similar thing with direct debit, but perhaps I wouldn't have noticed, or perhaps at least my non-payment of the original bill made the supplier react more quickly.

I don't trust the council much either, but the bill is much more predictable and fixed up front.

 

[Bald Rick]

It's a fair question, but I don't know of a single utility supplier whom I trust. It doesn't seem to matter which one, they are all capable of getting things wrong in spectacularly bad ways which cause their customers a lot of pain. Which is why I used to pay quarterly bills on receipt.
I don't trust the council much either, but the bill is much more predictable and fixed up front.

You don’t pay utilities quarterly by direct debit, surely? Fixed amount per month - much more straightforward, simple to spot a mistake (although I’ve never had one), and much easier for budgeting. And this isn’t new - my parents were doing this in the 1980s.

 

[jfollows]

You don’t pay utilities quarterly by direct debit, surely? Fixed amount per month - much more straightforward, simple to spot a mistake (although I’ve never had one), and much easier for budgeting. And this isn’t new - my parents were doing this in the 1980s.

Monthly, I agree. Personally I have no problem with budgeting either way, but that's because we're all different!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Oct 2020 ==

The other problem I have with monthly direct debits is that I now change my supplier every year, to pay less than otherwise. I don't get rewarded for staying with one supplier and they're all as "bad" as each other. However each year I get an "estimated" monthly bill to start with, which is significantly too low for my usage. So I work out what I should pay, and pay the difference into a savings account (0.7% interest now!). Then in due course they catch up and revise my monthly payments up, and I use the accumulated money towards the higher payments.

It's all a bit of a game for me, I guess. The interest I earn is negligible. With quarterly bills in arrears the process would be simpler, but a lot of the lowest rates now require a monthly direct debit. So be it!

 

[Mojo]

Should you really be choosing to do business with organisations you don't trust?

(Excepting Council Tax and water bills, where there's no choice of who you get it from)

And in such cases for Council Tax and water both these types organisations are not allowed to charge you more for not paying with direct debit.

(At risk of going offtopic but for a crossover with another thread, I pay these bills via Paypoint at a convenience shop so I can benefit from the rewards offered by my credit card).

 

[Senex]

I don’t think many (any?) people use the phone as a primary method of banking now. I’ve not phoned my bank in years. I can pay any bill with three screen taps, typing in the amount to be paid, and fingerprint recognition. It never takes more than 15 seconds.

You're lucky that your fingerprint recognition is reliable! Mine's hopeless (OnePlus 3) — the facial recognition was excellent, but now that we have masks to wear ...

 

[Bletchleyite]

You're lucky that your fingerprint recognition is reliable! Mine's hopeless (OnePlus 3) — the facial recognition was excellent, but now that we have masks to wear ...

You can use a PIN instead if it isn't.

OnePlus face recognition isn't adequate for banking, it will unlock from a photograph of you.

 

[Mike395]

Must admit I've been into a branch once in the last 5 years, and that was fairly recently for an ID check when being added as a signatory to an account. But there was a reasonable queue outside the branch (and most of the banks on my local High Street seem to have a queue on a Saturday particularly), so there's obviously still some demand for it!

 

[island]

I find it astonishing that anyone pays domestic bills by cheque or cash. In my quarter century of paying such things, I have only ever paid direct debit. Why would you choose to do anything else? Paying when the bill comes is more hassle and often more expensive.

I find it astonishing that anyone pays electricity and gas bills by direct debit. In my 15 years of paying such things I have used an assortment of methods including cash, cheque, bank transfer, and credit card. Why would you choose to give a utility company the right to decide on and take an arbitrary amount from your bank account? Paying when the bill comes means you can check its accuracy and only pay for what you actually use. And when there are service issues or errors, withholding payment catches their attention very quickly and ensures prompt resolution.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Must admit I've been into a branch once in the last 5 years, and that was fairly recently for an ID check when being added as a signatory to an account. But there was a reasonable queue outside the branch (and most of the banks on my local High Street seem to have a queue on a Saturday particularly), so there's obviously still some demand for it!

Or it could be that those people didn't have another way of doing what they were doing with that bank - and despite things that really do ease it like the current account switch scheme people are very conservative over banks - almost everyone still uses the one they had their child/student account with, and almost nobody ever bothers to change.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Oct 2020 ==

I find it astonishing that anyone pays electricity and gas bills by direct debit. In my 15 years of paying such things I have used an assortment of methods including cash, cheque, bank transfer, and credit card. Why would you choose to give a utility company the right to decide on and take an arbitrary amount from your bank account? Paying when the bill comes means you can check its accuracy and only pay for what you actually use. And when there are service issues or errors, withholding payment catches their attention very quickly and ensures prompt resolution.

Because:
a. It just happens, with no effort
b. The Direct Debit Guarantee means it (plus any applicable charges) is reversed without question if I say it's wrong (the Guarantee is very much on the side of the accountholder - it doesn't mean the debt doesn't exist, but it does solve the issue - the guarantee is even better than the credit card anti-fraud guarantees in that respect
c. I don't believe I have ever actually experienced a DD error. Whereas I have forgotten to pay a bill manually before.

 

[jfollows]

I find it astonishing that anyone pays electricity and gas bills by direct debit. In my 15 years of paying such things I have used an assortment of methods including cash, cheque, bank transfer, and credit card. Why would you choose to give a utility company the right to decide on and take an arbitrary amount from your bank account? Paying when the bill comes means you can check its accuracy and only pay for what you actually use. And when there are service issues or errors, withholding payment catches their attention very quickly and ensures prompt resolution.

Agreed, and my post #72 essentially makes the same point - I only pay by direct debit now because it's significantly cheaper, or at least signing up to a service which is supposed to switch me to the best tariff every year required it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Agreed, and my post #72 essentially makes the same point - I only pay by direct debit now because it's significantly cheaper, or at least signing up to a service which is supposed to switch me to the best tariff every year required it.

I used to have the concerns you do and was quite a slow adopter, but none of the concerns have actually come to pass.

 

[jfollows]

I used to have the concerns you do and was quite a slow adopter, but none of the concerns have actually come to pass.

Yes, and I agree that the reality of my increased adoption of direct debits hasn't been bad. I get a few ££ from my bank for using them as well, so at least if the reason for using them is that the recipient is better off, some of that benefit appears to be shared. It simply got too hard to try and continue paying quarterly bills in arrears and I was obviously missing out on potential benefits.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Oct 2020 ==

I've also found that the utility companies have been good at telling me about any changed amount well in advance and not surprising me. That's how it's supposed to work, I know, but so far my experience is that it does.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Add to that that I bank with Monzo now, so if anything is wrong I can report it literally within seconds of it hitting my account. But the only thing I've had to report is debit card fraud, not anything to do with DDs.

With card fraud, what you tend to get is them making a small test transaction before they whack the big stuff on shortly afterwards, too, so if you get "buzzed" for a card transaction when you're sat not making card transactions you can stop it really quickly, and that avoids the faff of having to claim back huge sums.

 

[island]

Because:
a. It just happens, with no effort
b. The Direct Debit Guarantee means it (plus any applicable charges) is reversed without question if I say it's wrong (the Guarantee is very much on the side of the accountholder - it doesn't mean the debt doesn't exist, but it does solve the issue - the guarantee is even better than the credit card anti-fraud guarantees in that respect
c. I don't believe I have ever actually experienced a DD error. Whereas I have forgotten to pay a bill manually before.

You cannot claim back under the direct debit guarantee if the energy supplier randomly hikes up your monthly payment by 100% – the guarantee is if the payment is taken in error. If they give you enough notice of the change in payment you have to lump it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You cannot claim back under the direct debit guarantee if the energy supplier randomly hikes up your monthly payment by 100% – the guarantee is if the payment is taken in error. If they give you enough notice of the change in payment you have to lump it.

You also can't just not pay it if paying manually, as it would be referred to a credit reference agency as debt. You're highlighting the wrong issue, I'd say.

 

[jfollows]

You cannot claim back under the direct debit guarantee if the energy supplier randomly hikes up your monthly payment by 100% – the guarantee is if the payment is taken in error. If they give you enough notice of the change in payment you have to lump it.

True, but you could cancel the direct debit if so - I believe sometimes payees make out that you can't but in reality you can. You might be in contravention of some other agreement if you did, however it ought at least to get their attention so I probably would if I felt I had to.

 

[Bletchleyite]

True, but you could cancel the direct debit if so - I believe sometimes payees make out that you can't but in reality you can. You might be in contravention of some other agreement if you did, however it ought at least to get their attention so I probably would if I felt I had to.

It is probably equivalent to failing to pay the incorrect bill.

 

[Bald Rick]

I find it astonishing that anyone pays electricity and gas bills by direct debit. In my 15 years of paying such things I have used an assortment of methods including cash, cheque, bank transfer, and credit card. Why would you choose to give a utility company the right to decide on and take an arbitrary amount from your bank account? Paying when the bill comes means you can check its accuracy and only pay for what you actually use. And when there are service issues or errors, withholding payment catches their attention very quickly and ensures prompt resolution.

I only pay for what I use. There’s never been an error. It’s not arbitrary - it’s a monthly sum based on my typical usage. I set the DD up, I know exactly how much is due each month (so no surprises) and promptly forget about it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I only pay for what I use. There’s never been an error. It’s not arbitrary - it’s a monthly sum based on my typical usage. I set the DD up, I know exactly how much is due each month (so no surprises) and promptly forget about it.

Many suppliers will allow, if you have a smart meter or will provide readings for them, a monthly actual usage DD if you prefer.