Banks and your money

[V8mate]

(Hopefully this is more of a general 'Lounge' topic than a high-brow thread for the 'specialist' threads)


How trusting are you in the banks (and similar financial institutions)?

If offered the opportunty, for example, would you take up your employer's offer to return to being paid weekly in cash?

[CypherP]

I'd prefer to be paid in cash as interest rates are worth nothing at the moment.

The issue I and many people would have by doing so would be bill paying as trying to pay bills would mean paying money into the bank account so that it could be debited.

[Tiggsy]

Cash? seriously? Maybe if you're a window cleaner.

What's a normal person suppose to do with thousands of pounds of cash in the house? Just pay the mortgage with it via a big envelope?

I trust the banks 100% - Northern Rock proved there is no issue and the governments "guarantee" is pointless - they wont let a high st bank go under.

[NerveAgent]

Bank account. I find the very few things I have to pay for in cash a bit of a nuisance.

[YOF626]

Bank account.

I rarely pay anything with cash these days.

[Shuvi Tupya]

I would happily take cash, and use pre paid credit cards to pay for stuff where cash was no good.

No bank charges, no credit, excellent.

[Tiggsy]

Shuvi Tupya said:

I would happily take cash, and use pre paid credit cards to pay for stuff where cash was no good.

No bank charges, no credit, excellent.

What bank charges? What credit? or do you need cash to save you from yourself?

[llewop]

YOF626 said:

Bank account.

I rarely pay anything with cash these days.

in the UK at least

However; in Ukraine - a foreign card (credit or otherwise) is sniffed at so it is cash for everything.

[P-Jay]

Being paid in cash is too much of a faf, fine if your talking a couple of notes for bar-work or the like but a 'proper' job and you're talking about having wedges of cash in your pocket or stuck in a safe / under the bed at home.

Saying all that direct debits aside (of which I have 3 I think - my partner pays all the bills I just give send her the money by SO every month) I pay for most things by cash. I just prefer it that way.

I don't need to 'save myself from myself' but I do find myself being a bit a bit more frivolous when I buy things with my debit card.

I recently left RBS after the best part of decade of working there, do I trust banks? About as far as I could throw one.

[okgo]

bank account.

Apart from take aways (tax dodging bds) I don't think I use cash at all anymore.

[onomatopoeia]

Bank account. Like others, I hardly use cash at all and paying bills by direct debit / standing order / BACS is so much easier. I pay no bank charges, pay no card charges and get ~£18/month interest on my current account balance, plus I don't have to worry about having it stolen from under the mattress.

[V8mate]

onomatopoeia said:

Bank account. Like others, I hardly use cash at all and paying bills by direct debit / standing order / BACS is so much easier. I pay no bank charges, pay no card charges and get ~£18/month interest on my current account balance, plus I don't have to worry about having it stolen from under the mattress.

I understand that that's your current behaviour. I'm sure it's pretty much all of ours. But do you ever wonder about all of the assets of yours which financial institutions are in possession of... current accounts, savings acounts, pension pots etc., and what would happen if the public lost faith in them?

Our whole financial system only works because we trust/have faith in these organisations (including the government and our currency itself). What would happen if that faith was lost?

[Marf]

Don't care as long as I am paid.

Money is money.

[DonkeyApple]

You only need cash if you like having pikies tarmacing your drive.

[Shuvi Tupya]

Tiggsy said:

What bank charges? What credit? or do you need cash to save you from yourself?

No, it was not myself that was charging me £35 a letter, illegally.

Now of course it is legal to do such things so you have to be prepared for it i guess.

Banks are great if you are financially secure, but when you get into trouble they will help make it much worse.

[DonkeyApple]

Shuvi Tupya said:

No, it was not myself that was charging me £35 a letter, illegally.

Now of course it is legal to do such things so you have to be prepared for it i guess.

Banks are great if you are financially secure, but when you get into trouble they will help make it much worse.

That isn't true. Banks will be extremely helpful if you go to them and admit you are in trouble.

The actual problem is that people do not go soon enough and try and hide the situation, thus when it comes to light the lender rarely has many options available to it.

[Dr_Gonzo]

CypherP said:

I'd prefer to be paid in cash as interest rates are worth nothing at the moment.

The issue I and many people would have by doing so would be bill paying as trying to pay bills would mean paying money into the bank account so that it could be debited.

What interest rate do you get on cash these days? You can get 4% on some current accounts (obviously up to a certain balance).

[Tiggsy]

Shuvi Tupya said:

No, it was not myself that was charging me £35 a letter, illegally.

Now of course it is legal to do such things so you have to be prepared for it i guess.

Banks are great if you are financially secure, but when you get into trouble they will help make it much worse.

Ahhhh...you are confused. This is a thread called "banks and YOUR money" - what you are talking about is when you take THEIR money, otherwise they wouldnt need to write to you.

[Fittster]

Anyone who trusts cash doesn't understand inflation and fiat currencies.

I want to be paid in gold!

[V8mate]

Fittster said:

Anyone who trusts cash doesn't understand inflation and fiat currencies.

I want to be paid in gold!

Indeed.

And now this thread has been shunted out of the Lounge and into the black hole of the Finance section, I guess we can discuss this in such terms