Is the bank ripping you off!

Halfhidden

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
I'm going to revive an old post here. Why, well my visit to HSBC Penzance branch shocked me just a little.
Arrive at branch at 10:58am and queued up and was invited to the cashier desk. The cashier (who will remain anonymous) greeted us with "how may I help you"? We promptly slipped a credit payment slip and a £10 note under the counter to her.
She immediately asked do we bank with HSBC, we said no and she then refused to accept the money unless we pay her £5. She then delighted to point out a new HSBC policy that customers (it wasn't made clear whether it applied to customers who held a bank account with HSBC or not) who pay money in over the counter between the hours of 11am and 2pm will be charged £5.
No we were already at the counter before 11am but since she stalled the conversation we were told that we would now need to pay £10 to the bank in order to pay £10 credit in to an account.
Apart from the obvious rip off! the cashier was clearly not the sort of person who should be doing a customer facing job. Her attitude was very bad and it seems as if she delighted in trying to draw me in to a confrontation. It was clear that I was a nuisance in her busy day!
To be fair I've never experienced problems with HSBC and found them to be very professional.
We left the branch and started to walk down to our own bank (Barclays) but Sparky read the back of the paying in slip and it clearly stated that "NO charge would be made for paying in money with this paying slip an any HSBC".
So I went straight back to the branch and asked one of the other cashiers and explained what was said on the back of the slip. With this the cashier who previously served us started to tap on the security glass in a hostile manner and kept pointing to a sign stating that a charge would be made during the hours of 11am and 2pm.
Luckily the cashier I was dealing with had an ounce of decency in her and could see that local policy conflicted with national policy and accepted the payment and thanked us for our custom.
So this sounds a little bad... but I'm afraid this is becoming all too common in the banking world.
I'm guessing that banks have some strange idea that all their customers are so in debt with them that they can treat them very badly.
 
ibrowze

ibrowze

Senior Member
Public relations in banks

I think I can picture the woman you're referring to who clearly gives the impression that she's employed well below her abilities, public relations not being one of them. Anyhow it's not just banks that will take your money unnecessarily. It's always worth asking for a ten percent discount if your paying cash for an expensive item, however I digress. It seems that starting a business involves the mandatory ownership of a business bank account that just happens to incur unreasonable bank charges. Here's a nice little starter link to give a potted history of banking and what it gets up to:
BBC5.tv eyePlayer - Money as Debt
 
Halfhidden

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
As it happens I had a phone call from the branch manager who was very apologetic indeed. It was agreed that I was actually allowed to bank money in to the account without incurring any charges after all.
To be fair I've had very good service from HSBC even though I'm not a customer of theirs.
Let's hope that the bank has really learned and that normal service is indeed restored.
I'll let you know as soon as I pay more money in to the account. ::1:
 
46traveller

46traveller

Member
Bank Charges. A Letter You Should Read


--- On Wed, 26/5/10, Mary MacIntyre wrote:

.ExternalClass #ecxAOLMsgPart_2_105f2db4-c766-4c9b-ab06-634bdf642711 td {color:black;} This is sheer genius and should go round the work place,
it is no mock up, it was printed in the THE TIMES - -
LONDON TIMES Letter of the Year!
A SENIOR MOMENT - (I PRAY TO GOD THAT I HAVE THEM LIKE THIS......) An elderly lady actually wrote this letter to her bank. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in The Times and this newspaper thanks him most sincerely..


Dear Sir,

I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three 'nanoseconds' must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my Pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account £30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.

I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become. From now on I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate..

Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.

Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof..

In due course, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:

1-- To make an appointment to see me.
2-- To query a missing payment.
3-- To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4-- To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5-- To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6-- To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7-- To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required. A password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.)
8-- To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 8
9-- To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous, New Year.

Your Humble Client


Addendum from The Editor:

IMPORTANT to REMEMBER that this letter was written by a 98 year old woman;


DOESN'T SHE MAKE YOU PROUD!!!?






​
 
Halfhidden

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
Well it seems my congratulations was a little to quick.
It turns out that HSBC branch manager in Penzance has told me that non HSBC customers will afterall be charged £5 a time for paying back overpayments of Tax credits.... also, if you try to pay that money to them between 11am and 2pm they will charge £5 more!
So if you really want to be ripped of then is the place to lighten your wallet.
 
46traveller

46traveller

Member
British banks borrowed more than $1 trillion (£640bn) from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis, led by Barclays following its swoop on the US business of Lehman Brothers.

Dees Illustration
Richard Blackden and Harry Wilson
Telegraph

The disclosures came because the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act forced the Fed to reveal which banks and companies it lent money to in an effort to shore up the financial system from the end of December 2007 onwards.

It released the details of more than 21,000 individual transactions on its website on Wednesday, which showed that British banks represented more than a third - about $1.5 trillion - of the $3,300bn lent by the US authorities to prop up the financial sector.

Barclays borrowed $863bn from the Fed, with almost half coming in overnight loans through the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, a programme established by the central bank to help those banks that deal in US Treasuries.


Barclays has since repaid all its loans and said that much of its then borrowing was down to its purchase of Lehman’s US business.

Royal Bank of Scotland borrowed $446bn, Bank of Scotland $181bn, Abbey National $19bn and HSBC borrowed less than $10bn.

The figures for the banks represent the total amount they borrowed and not the total outstanding borrowing at any one point.

RBS said it no longer used any of the Fed scheme and had “significantly reduced” its borrowing from central banks.

The Fed said on Wednesday that the fact banks from across the world has tapped its emergency lending “reflected the severe market disruptions during the financial crisis and generally did not reflect participants’ financial weakness”

Note that Barclays paid back $863 billion within three years. They wish to thank all their loyal customers for helping by paying their bank charges so quickly.
 
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ratster

ratster

Member
excuse me but when did private enterprise have to justify pay awards to thier employees. did they take our money (no) do they pay tax(yes) so what gives us joe blogs the right to tell them how to run thier buisiness.
 
46traveller

46traveller

Member
From One Joe To Another.

Well joe, if you look into it thoroughly you will find that the person concerned does not pay tax, not to our government anyway. He is an American citizen and their main office is based in Canada. Their main offices in this country are based within the square mile of London, which is a seperate State within England, much the same as Vatican City, and the Columbia district of Washington. It has its own rules, it's own coat of arms, and its own police force. There are many more pluses to having an office there which are worth looking up if you're into it.
Now I'm not trying to tell anyone anything, but having massive bonus payouts rubbed in your face when quite a few folk are charged extortionate bank charges for minor hiccups, like your wages arriving by electronic transfer slightly later the same day than a direct debit payment is due, does get up mine, and a few other folks noses. If you feel the job he does is worth that amount great, but then ask yourself, what wages or yearly bonuses would you like to see nurses or teachers awarded?? These people have to take industrial action before the government gives them a meagre amount, barely sufficient to make up for inflation, and you can guarantee that Barclays, or any other bank for that matter, will still charge them should they dare to go into the red, even for two hours. Maybe if a few of the recipients of these payouts were to give to charity without claiming the tax allowance back on it, then I may change my outlook. I'm not holding my breath.

Barclays bosses'
 
46traveller

46traveller

Member
We did however bail out The Bank Of Scotland in 2008 quite heavily, 45.5 billion, they lost over a Billion pounds last year, and still the payouts (be it mostly only in shares) are enormous. I'm unsure but I don't think shares are taxable unless/until sold. I'm pretty sure the recipients will find a way round avoiding it, after all, they are, (for the most) investment bankers.

The windfall for RBS bankers was unveiled in more than 20 pages of disclosures to the stock market. The payments will be made in shares because RBS has been banned from handing out big cash bonuses.


​


Royal Bank of Scotland:
 
Halfhidden

Halfhidden

Untouchable
Administrator
No, once again you never posted a message here. Messages cannot be deleted by anyone other than me! All other admins can only soft delete and in that case you will see a message saying that an admin has removed the comment.
 
tabtab13

tabtab13

Active Member
Makes perfect sense to me. I think anyone who has a skill, talent, opportunity or whatever else to earn vast amounts of money has a moral responsibility to share their good fortune with those less fortunate. And if they won't do it voluntarily, then tax them. Who really needs a personal fortune of millions, yet alone billions? The desire for wealth, power and status is one of the more unpleasant attributes of Mankind. Personally, I don't understand why the top top bankers don't seem to get why the public has turned against them so much. It all comes across a bit like the pigs in Animal Farm - and I always identified with the horse.
 
treeve

treeve

Major Contributor
Having reached the age of 69 ; I have NEVER had ANY experince as written here ;I can only assume that theirs is a VASTLY different world. Either that or I bank with a better bank, and have done for the previous 60 years.
 
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46traveller

46traveller

Member
Would you care to comment on the Robin Hood Tax, bearing in mind that if imposed it could be used to help the poorer folk both in this country and abroad?? This system would NOT affect the general populus, and NO extra bank charges would be levied on their accounts.

Robin Hood Tax | Robin Hood Tax
 
46traveller

46traveller

Member
City Banks

I think this is the only way forward regarding the investment bankers, firmly ensconsed within a system that even the Queen, let alone her loyal subjects have no say over. The politicians are unable to impose any taxes owing to the fact that the City Of London is a Corporation, seperate from the rest of England. Wiki has quite a large amount of information on this subject which along with other articles makes for interesting reading.
Source >>>>
City of London - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nicholas Shaxson identifies many shortcomings of the City of London, especially with regard to its lack of accountability and ability to operate as a tax haven.[46] These are summarised below.
The City of London has been granted special privileges for at least a thousand years due to the power of its financial capital. This has made it a de-facto state within a state with considerable influence over monarchs and democratically elected governments down the ages. Multiple attempts to reform the City have also been thwarted. Voting rights for the City of London’s municipal authority are granted to its 32,000 business in addition to residents which now number less than 9000. This unique patronage system ensures that the business interests of the financial industry usually take priority.
The City generally discourages regulatory barriers and encourages free markets. Many of the recent financial catastrophes have been blamed on a lack of accountability and can be traced to companies who work in the City or London based offices. It also hosts the headquarters of the International Accounting Standards Board that governs how companies publish offshore financial information. However, since it is financed and comprised by many representatives of the biggest multinationals, it has been accused of writing its own accounting rules.
English secretive trust and strong libel laws make the City an attractive offshore haven for the assets of foreign business and rich private clients. This environment allows substantial potential for money laundering and assets to be sheltered from tax, free from examination by law enforcement agencies by maintaining plausible deniability.

I think it's only fair to say that, "We bailed YOU out of the mire that YOU got yourselves into, now it's time for some reciprocal treatment"
 
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