Do you care that local bank branches are closing?
Discussion
I'm with Barclays (premier) customer and they love to tell me about premier banking and how we have a separate counter etc, apart from the fact my local branch closed about 4 years ago and is now a Specsavers.
I only really ever went in there to pay cheques in or cash. I also have a Metro and Sterling account for using in Europe. Metro have a local branch with free parking and open 7 days a week so I use that instead now. Barclays do allow you to pay cheques in via the app these days as well which is handy.
I only really ever went in there to pay cheques in or cash. I also have a Metro and Sterling account for using in Europe. Metro have a local branch with free parking and open 7 days a week so I use that instead now. Barclays do allow you to pay cheques in via the app these days as well which is handy.
When we moved house and area to another part of the country we asked the bank that had a branch in our old town, account held 20 years, if we needed to move the account to the branch in our new nearest town, no was the answer, we can handle everything from here as usual. Fair enough.
Then they closed the local branch, but you still have our branches in x 5 miles away. No sweat.
Then they closed branch in x, nearest branch in y, 8 miles away, and z, 12 miles. OK sort of though z is a bit awkward to get to.
Then they closed branches in y and z, but we still have a businesses only office in Birmingham, which now is an utter pita.
However still carried on because indeed they were still dealing with the business from 150 miles away, the original branch was still open and still is, albeit in a new location.
Then we had a problem, too long a story. Suffice to say it was impossible to contact the branch by telephone directly. Only speak to a central customer service, who could see the problem but couldn't fix it. Another central customer department could have fixed it, but refused to do so, only recourse was to go to the branch in person and get them to fix the problem, was their comment, yet a 300 mile round trip was not possible. Central customer service could not contact the branch, they had to resort to sending an internal email to the branch asking them to contact them and me by phone. It was after close of business at 4:45pm when first contact was made for an issue involving tens of thousands that had to be resolved that day and by 5pm. Fortunately the other party to me was flexible and stayed open after hours and it was eventually resolved, but no amount of apologies from the bank and various parties admitting "well we've learnt something new about how our system works (aka doesn't work) stopped from kicking them into touch.
OK, internet banking has come on a long way, and there are now much smarter operators out and about than that shower, but there are times when it does feel a retrograde step.
Post Office, OK, supermarket in our nearest town is closing, the Post Office is in that store. Nobody knows what's going to happen. Mrs Miggins in the local village tiny one counter sub office is in for a shock.
Then they closed the local branch, but you still have our branches in x 5 miles away. No sweat.
Then they closed branch in x, nearest branch in y, 8 miles away, and z, 12 miles. OK sort of though z is a bit awkward to get to.
Then they closed branches in y and z, but we still have a businesses only office in Birmingham, which now is an utter pita.
However still carried on because indeed they were still dealing with the business from 150 miles away, the original branch was still open and still is, albeit in a new location.
Then we had a problem, too long a story. Suffice to say it was impossible to contact the branch by telephone directly. Only speak to a central customer service, who could see the problem but couldn't fix it. Another central customer department could have fixed it, but refused to do so, only recourse was to go to the branch in person and get them to fix the problem, was their comment, yet a 300 mile round trip was not possible. Central customer service could not contact the branch, they had to resort to sending an internal email to the branch asking them to contact them and me by phone. It was after close of business at 4:45pm when first contact was made for an issue involving tens of thousands that had to be resolved that day and by 5pm. Fortunately the other party to me was flexible and stayed open after hours and it was eventually resolved, but no amount of apologies from the bank and various parties admitting "well we've learnt something new about how our system works (aka doesn't work) stopped from kicking them into touch.
OK, internet banking has come on a long way, and there are now much smarter operators out and about than that shower, but there are times when it does feel a retrograde step.
Post Office, OK, supermarket in our nearest town is closing, the Post Office is in that store. Nobody knows what's going to happen. Mrs Miggins in the local village tiny one counter sub office is in for a shock.
steve2 said:
I regularly get cash and cheques to pay in for my shop and am 3 miles from the local main town where last week HSBC have just closed the branch,
All I do now is walk across the road to the post office, give them the cash which goes into my account straight away and any cheques get put into an envelope and then a few days later the money is paid into our account, cheques under £500 I scan on my phone.
It is so much simpler and quicker and no paying a parking fee.
I always time it for just before the schools kick out so all the parents are busy
Cheques? The Lloyds banking app on.my smart phone allows me to take an.image on.the camera to deposit cheques. This is the sole reason, I haven't visited a branch in the last 2 years. All I do now is walk across the road to the post office, give them the cash which goes into my account straight away and any cheques get put into an envelope and then a few days later the money is paid into our account, cheques under £500 I scan on my phone.
It is so much simpler and quicker and no paying a parking fee.
I always time it for just before the schools kick out so all the parents are busy
Pit Pony said:
steve2 said:
I regularly get cash and cheques to pay in for my shop and am 3 miles from the local main town where last week HSBC have just closed the branch,
All I do now is walk across the road to the post office, give them the cash which goes into my account straight away and any cheques get put into an envelope and then a few days later the money is paid into our account, cheques under £500 I scan on my phone.
It is so much simpler and quicker and no paying a parking fee.
I always time it for just before the schools kick out so all the parents are busy
Cheques? The Lloyds banking app on.my smart phone allows me to take an.image on.the camera to deposit cheques. This is the sole reason, I haven't visited a branch in the last 2 years. All I do now is walk across the road to the post office, give them the cash which goes into my account straight away and any cheques get put into an envelope and then a few days later the money is paid into our account, cheques under £500 I scan on my phone.
It is so much simpler and quicker and no paying a parking fee.
I always time it for just before the schools kick out so all the parents are busy
Anyway paying it in at the branch, normally a matter of seconds, all the counters were closed, presumably Covid. Each customer was helped by a masked employee to use the ATM machines, took for ever, even just our transaction. You had to manually count out 50 maximum number of notes, anymore got rejected, the machine counted the number of notes, 50 or fewer? Ok, then checks the notes again to see they are valid and not counterfeit etc, all ok, completes transaction, prints receipt; do you want another transaction? Yes, insert 50 more notes.... 6 times.
Although must say, paying in cheques, the ATM appeared to take a photo of each cheque, that was quicker than normal. So might investigate an app, not Lloyds btw. What do you do with the physical cheques? I always thought the system was that the cheque was returned to the issuing bank for clearance. Do they now clear the photo?
marcosgt said:
I would say, though, that (so far) First Direct have remained true to their telephone banking ethos of having a person answer the phone and able to deal directly with the vast majority of issues you may have.
Yep, they're refreshing and every single time I've spoken with them has been uneventful and rarely have to sit and wait or sit on hold with people. Other banks have a lot to catch up on but I don't think the appetite is there with them to do so! Also, I think these days FD allow you to take a photo of your cheque on the app and they cash it from that. Technology that's been around for a while but is still highly impressive
p4cks said:
marcosgt said:
I would say, though, that (so far) First Direct have remained true to their telephone banking ethos of having a person answer the phone and able to deal directly with the vast majority of issues you may have.
Yep, they're refreshing and every single time I've spoken with them has been uneventful and rarely have to sit and wait or sit on hold with people. Other banks have a lot to catch up on but I don't think the appetite is there with them to do so! Also, I think these days FD allow you to take a photo of your cheque on the app and they cash it from that. Technology that's been around for a while but is still highly impressive
FiF said:
When we moved house and area to another part of the country we asked the bank that had a branch in our old town, account held 20 years, if we needed to move the account to the branch in our new nearest town, no was the answer, we can handle everything from here as usual. Fair enough.
(Forgive me if I’m wrong here, and you did have a direct line to your specific bank branch, I don’t know the ins and outs of your situation) But this is kind of a representation of how banks have evolved and some expectations haven’t. The idea of having to ‘move your account’ in this day and age is outdated.
Everything is handled centrally, doesn’t matter if you opened your account in Lands End and bank in John o’ Groats, it’s not like your individual account and money is only held in one place.
It’s like when people say ‘I’ll have to speak to the bank manager and see if I can extend my overdraft/ apply for a loan’ etc. That’s not what a bank manager does anymore. But a computer or call centre worker can do that. Unaffiliated to your local branch.
Of course call centre workers with no prior experience of you can be frustrating. They’re often paid peanuts, you’re not dealing with anyone with a gram of banking expertise.
But then if you want a more personalised experience, it’s available... you just have to have at least £1m liquid assets, £200k income and you can have a private banker sir. Retail banking in the UK is still technically free... a lot of countries aren’t.
Even the private bankers usually have 400+ clients. Even if they caught up with one client a day for a checkup there’s still not enough time in a year for them to speak to all of the once a year.
It doesn't make a difference to me especially since I found out on the very rare occasion I need to pay cash in to my account I can now use a Post Office Counter instead.
I think I've visited a physical bank once in the last two years and that was before I realised I could use the Post Office.
I have one account with Starling now who have no physical branches at all and it's no issue.
I think I've visited a physical bank once in the last two years and that was before I realised I could use the Post Office.
I have one account with Starling now who have no physical branches at all and it's no issue.
FiF said:
Although must say, paying in cheques, the ATM appeared to take a photo of each cheque, that was quicker than normal. So might investigate an app, not Lloyds btw. What do you do with the physical cheques? I always thought the system was that the cheque was returned to the issuing bank for clearance. Do they now clear the photo?
You just mark the back of the cheque as deposited and then file it. The days of sending the cheque back to the issuing bank are long gone.Had two dealings with banks in the past week that made me wonder what is the point
The first, I got married last year and have been wanting to get set up with a joint account with the wife. Halifax refused to do so over the phone/online, can only be set up in branch, and I need to go to speak to the branch to make an appointment. Found myself in the area last week and popped in to the branch to make an appointment:
"is your wife with you? We can only make an appointment if both of you are together, as we need to check both sets of I'D"
Obviously I asked why they couldn't check the ID at the appointment, and got the catch all response of "Due To COVID, our appointments are on the phone and we can't see you". Zoom etc clearly haven't made it into the retail banking world.
She very kindly offered to make me an appointment for the two of us to come in, have our IDs checked then make an appointment for a phone call. I think she got annoyed when I asked if she thought it was ridiculous that she was offering to make me an appointment so I can make an appointment for a phone call.
Other bank interaction not as annoying, but Metro are apparently charging an exchange fee on cash for business customers. I don't use cash so doesn't affect me much, but sounds ridiculous to me!
The first, I got married last year and have been wanting to get set up with a joint account with the wife. Halifax refused to do so over the phone/online, can only be set up in branch, and I need to go to speak to the branch to make an appointment. Found myself in the area last week and popped in to the branch to make an appointment:
"is your wife with you? We can only make an appointment if both of you are together, as we need to check both sets of I'D"
Obviously I asked why they couldn't check the ID at the appointment, and got the catch all response of "Due To COVID, our appointments are on the phone and we can't see you". Zoom etc clearly haven't made it into the retail banking world.
She very kindly offered to make me an appointment for the two of us to come in, have our IDs checked then make an appointment for a phone call. I think she got annoyed when I asked if she thought it was ridiculous that she was offering to make me an appointment so I can make an appointment for a phone call.
Other bank interaction not as annoying, but Metro are apparently charging an exchange fee on cash for business customers. I don't use cash so doesn't affect me much, but sounds ridiculous to me!
Bam89 said:
Other bank interaction not as annoying, but Metro are apparently charging an exchange fee on cash for business customers. I don't use cash so doesn't affect me much, but sounds ridiculous to me!
As in a charge for you to bank physical cash? I think that’s reasonably common now, cash is inconvenient for all involved 
,Several times each year I get a USA $ denominated cheque to pay into my UK account. These need to be countersigned on the back by me before presentation to the bank and they can only be deposited with a special foreign currency form completed in triplicate. Last time I went to the bank to deal with the latest cheque I asked the obvious question and was told "No, you have to come to the branch for us to start the processing, you cannot do this via an app." So I cannot avoid going to the bank who are closing all branches near me.
And the payor does not offer a bank transfer service for international transactions.
I think I am stuck with visiting a branch, wherever they may be, of my bank for some time to come!
R.
And the payor does not offer a bank transfer service for international transactions.
I think I am stuck with visiting a branch, wherever they may be, of my bank for some time to come!
R.
Greshamst said:
FiF said:
When we moved house and area to another part of the country we asked the bank that had a branch in our old town, account held 20 years, if we needed to move the account to the branch in our new nearest town, no was the answer, we can handle everything from here as usual. Fair enough.
(Forgive me if I’m wrong here, and you did have a direct line to your specific bank branch, I don’t know the ins and outs of your situation) But this is kind of a representation of how banks have evolved and some expectations haven’t. The idea of having to ‘move your account’ in this day and age is outdated.
Everything is handled centrally, doesn’t matter if you opened your account in Lands End and bank in John o’ Groats, it’s not like your individual account and money is only held in one place.
It’s like when people say ‘I’ll have to speak to the bank manager and see if I can extend my overdraft/ apply for a loan’ etc. That’s not what a bank manager does anymore. But a computer or call centre worker can do that. Unaffiliated to your local branch.
Of course call centre workers with no prior experience of you can be frustrating. They’re often paid peanuts, you’re not dealing with anyone with a gram of banking expertise.
But then if you want a more personalised experience, it’s available... you just have to have at least £1m liquid assets, £200k income and you can have a private banker sir. Retail banking in the UK is still technically free... a lot of countries aren’t.
Even the private bankers usually have 400+ clients. Even if they caught up with one client a day for a checkup there’s still not enough time in a year for them to speak to all of the once a year.
Was trying to describe a process that happened over a number of years.
The move and question about changing branches was made at a time when the banking industry was different and changing, internet banking in its very infancy, smartphones were still a few years away to give you an idea.
Thus I tried to describe a process where in only a few years an organisation went from one where it had a good local presence around the country, to one where local presence became non existent outside a small region, yet its systems in extremis could not cope with a situation which demanded an urgent response that could have been solved and was ultimately so by direct customer / branch contact.
Just to reiterate, did not have the means to contact the branch direct, did not have their direct phone number despite seeking it, customer service could / would not give me it, they could not raise the branch on internal phone or email, their only suggestion was to make a personal visit. This was to a customer who lived 150 miles away from branch and on the day in question was another 120 miles further away with no car having travelled that day by train. The bank security department had made a decision to freeze an account, as proven later a totally wrong and inappropriate decision, but the bank insisted that the only person who could overrule that was the branch manager after consultation with the customer. Very different from the situation today, where as others have said, often the first person you speak to can handle almost everything.
Since then diversified our banking, it's all online apart from one bank still with a local branch. The rest, never stepped foot in any premises, that diversity stood up well when the big IT crashes occurred, e.g. TSB et al.
So really just saying, closing branches and direct personal access is all very well as long as systems and procedures keep up. Yet any read of various financial help columns in the paper shows plenty of people at the wits and financial end with organisations who cannot handle issues in any decent way. There's a running thread in my paper of one bank in particular with a terrible record on freezing accounts for spurious reasons and then being uncommunicative.
So, be careful what you wish for.
Others opinions may vary.
No. Used Monzo now for the last year or so for 99% of things.
Moved house a year ago and have been into a bank twice in that time. Once to get a load of cash to pay a builder. The other time to pay in a cheque because the machine isn't good at accepting them.
Essentially if tradespeople didn't exist and still dodge tax (with me knowingly helping of course) and there was another way of doing the odd cheque I get (maybe there is already?) I would never need a bank again.
To be honest if I was able to draw more from the wall, say upto 1k per day vs whatever it is now, I think that would be fine even for the builder jobs etc.
Moved house a year ago and have been into a bank twice in that time. Once to get a load of cash to pay a builder. The other time to pay in a cheque because the machine isn't good at accepting them.
Essentially if tradespeople didn't exist and still dodge tax (with me knowingly helping of course) and there was another way of doing the odd cheque I get (maybe there is already?) I would never need a bank again.
To be honest if I was able to draw more from the wall, say upto 1k per day vs whatever it is now, I think that would be fine even for the builder jobs etc.
Yes, my mum is 90 and while she has limited access to the internet, she won't do online banking. Getting her to use cards is bad enough, but I've been doing her shopping thanks to covid so that's helped.
We used to have 3 banks in our village, now the TSB closed in Feb they're all gone, Royal Bank I believe have a mobile bank. If' when the Post Office closes it's not easy for the older folks, nearest branch is about 15miles away and she doesn't drive now either.
We used to have 3 banks in our village, now the TSB closed in Feb they're all gone, Royal Bank I believe have a mobile bank. If' when the Post Office closes it's not easy for the older folks, nearest branch is about 15miles away and she doesn't drive now either.
Have rarely needed to venture into a branch in the past few years and less likely too now that banking apps have more functions such as the cheque scan / paying in facility.
Perhaps would only be to pay cash in if need be, but only once in 2 years I’ve done so
Only other situation I can think of is my brother recently had to go to draw out cash by arrangement through his banking app. His debit card stopped working so pending receiving the replacement card this was his only option to be able to pay for purchases.
Would be rare I would guess and it only really leaves situations you need to be there in person such as security issues so I can see why branch closure is advancing.
Perhaps would only be to pay cash in if need be, but only once in 2 years I’ve done so
Only other situation I can think of is my brother recently had to go to draw out cash by arrangement through his banking app. His debit card stopped working so pending receiving the replacement card this was his only option to be able to pay for purchases.
Would be rare I would guess and it only really leaves situations you need to be there in person such as security issues so I can see why branch closure is advancing.
Captain Raymond Holt said:
As in a charge for you to bank physical cash? I think that’s reasonably common now, cash is inconvenient for all involved ,
No, as in if I went in with a £20 note and asked for 4 x £5 notes (or vice versa) they'd charge me 0.7%! Not sure if that's normal, but that's the example they gave,Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff