Comments on: What Century Is This?

By: Elaine

Elaine — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:31:47 +0000

I remember when I changed banks …what a nightmare…from Lloyds to NatWest.

My direct debits were not paid on time in the first month of transfer and I received lots of letters re my none payment – none of which was my fault. My worst problem was my cat Insurer’s at the time who threatened to cancel my cat’s insurance and my cat was under the vet at that time…I got it sorted but it was all unneccessary hassle. Natwest I seem to remember were quite helpful, after I complained to the Manager!

Also, earlier this year Natwest failed to advise me to change my ISA to a new account with higher interest – they waste my time every time I go in the bank asking would I like to see a financial advisor re my mortgage, insurance etc but when this would have helped me get more interest from them they never mentioned it….seeing the Manager this time was a waste of time and energy!

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:46:34 +0000

@Nik_Doof – Here here

By: Nik_Doof

Nik_Doof — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:17:55 +0000

LLoyds are the worse bank i’ve ever delt with. Got to pay that $0.14 Amazon S3 bill? Sure, you can do it with a LloydsTSB debit card but you’ll get charged £1 for the privilege. My S3 account charges were a regular £1.04.

Banks are just a bunch of con-artists without much regulation.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:18:39 +0000

Good point. As a great cartoon character once said “you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t”

By: Dave Harding

Dave Harding — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:03:40 +0000

If you use your credit card for cash transfers/payments with Paypal, the credit card company takes 2% of the transaction amount. The credit card is owned by…urrrmm…oh yeah a bank! So the leaching gits still get their pound of flesh (or £ of flesh) without even doing anything.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:44:11 +0000

@Sam – That’s a good point, you get charged at both ends for the transfer. It seems unfair. I had a bank account in France for a while so I’m familiar with being charged for cards and just having an account. In some ways though I would prefer to be charged up front and know what’s going on, rather than have my money taken by hidden charges and penalties. Neither was it perfect I suppose

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:19:19 +0000

Not to mention the bank charges when you RECEIVE money through an international transfer – Lloyds TSB take £8 for every international bank transfer. “Yes Grandma, the 20 Euros you transferred for my birthday have arrived…sort of.”

Apart from that, I’m still happy to have a bank account here in the UK, where I don’t have to pay for giving them my money. In Germany, it’s nearly impossible to get a free standard bank account (charges start at 5 Euros per month), cancelling bank cards and applying for new ones costs around 15-20 Euros and the service mainly consists of speaking to computers.

Oh and did I mention that you get charged 3-5 Euros every time you use an ATM that’s not one of your bank’s? Everyone I know in Germany has cards from at least 2 different bank accounts to cover the major banks and not get charged every time they take out cash (which can happen several times a day). Unbelievable.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:47:19 +0000

@Carlos – That sounds a hell of a lot better than the banks we have here yes. I don’t know why this is. Seems our government just lets them do what they want instead of actually making them stick to the rules. We follow the American model. As long as the rich people get richer who cares right? Maybe I’m cynical, but that’s honestly how it seems. If I were to steal something from a shop or wherever I’d got to jail, but if you steal millions while working for a corporation you get a slap on the wrist, a knighthood and a massive pension. Maybe even a seat in the House Of Lords. What a joke!!

By: Carlos Martín Nieto

Carlos Martín Nieto — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:34:02 +0000

From what I hear, British banks seem to be the worst of them all. I have a bank account in Spain and another one in Germany and I’m quite happy with both. I can do an international transfer over the web (and the interface works with all the open browsers I’ve tried) with just an IBAN and a SWIFT.
It does take a couple of days for them to process the transfer, which is annoying, but I don’t pay anything for transfers (but that’s because I’m a student). My father has a flatrate of 1EUR per month and then transfers are free.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:19:20 +0000

@digi – Well my Paypal is linked to my bank account and has been for a long time. Maybe the other person paid with a credit card who knows. Either way it’s a lot cheaper than bank transfers and you can do it anytime of the day or night on the website. There’s no comparison in service at all. Maybe you’re right that the market is too small for banks and they don’t care