Paying for your shopping

Watermead I had that problem for a while and I bought a pre-paid debit card. Pocket is the cheapest although more than it was when I bought it. 99p for each transaction including putting money on. I still use it occasionally although I now have a bank account with a debit card.
There are easy to open bank accounts if that is a problem. There are 3 which are listed on Moneysaver website. One is a Co-op Cashminder account.

If you can work out how to join GN then you can learn on-line banking. They will send you a card and small reader gadget and it is so easy! If I can do it so can you. Honestly.

Two of my neighbours' homes do not have a computer, don't use the internet at all, and so don't have an email address. One house copes because her son does all that on her behalf. Goodness knows how the other one manages.
Aren't some banks doing limited opening hours? My bank set up online banking, but I'm lucky because I have a lovely small bank where you know their names. The bit I find hard is setting up who I'm paying money to. They text you a 4 digit code to verify it's you. And I've mucked this bit up many times. Now I sit with the laptop, with DD on my phone calling out the digits. And she laughs at me!

I use online banking & don’t even have to remember my password and PIN - I use touch ID (your fingerprint) for signing in to the app and for verification. I’m 73, by the way.

PS I use a desktop computer for banking

I'm 76 and find internet banking very safe and very useful. Can even pay the window cleaner by doing a bank transfer! And all my bills. There are strict security checks . I have a little card reader, so along with password and other security information each time I log on, I use that as well to ensure that no one else gets into my account. ( Don't know if all banks offer card readers but Barclays and RBS do)

I have to go through a right palaver every time I get my dads shopping. He won’t let me hang in to his card so I have to do a pick up and drop off every time I shop which restricts me to going to one supermarket reasonably close to where he lives .

Most banks provide a mobile app. You can download your bank's app either from the Apple app store if you are using an iPad or iPhone or the Google playstore for Android.

Some of the instructions in the posts above are for desktop apps, but mobile apps are simpler and it is not so easy to pay anyone large sums from them, this in itself is a sort of protection.

To open my banking app on my iPad, I just have to use a 6 digit code (although my iPad is password protected, my Android mobile is fingerprint protected). On my mobile I can pay someone if I have their phone number in my contacts (there is a daily limit).

It wouldn't hurt to try to download your bank's mobile app. As long as you
1 take your time,
2 make sure you write down your 'customer number' which you will get when you Register
3 have your card by you
4 read the instructions on the screen carefully.

You may be surprised how easy it is for you.

If you send cash make sure you enclose it in the card and put the fold part of the card at the top. A colleague was once shown how easy it is to roll up cash on a pencil and slip it out of the envelope. I used to sellotape the flap right down securely but nowadays send online vouchers or OH does a bank transfer. He keeps showing me what to do but it’s like mathematics and numbers that freeze my brain.

Ps. also very easy to check balance, credits or debits daily or weekly .

I don't use internet banking.

HSBC does telephone banking.
Very easy to use .

As well as the usual (bill and credit card payments etc)
I use telephone banking to transfer money over to my adult children's banks (can be to any bank or building society).

I have also in the past used telephone banking to pay an electrician for completed work

Watermeadow would it be worth a call to check if your bank provides a telephone
banking service.

As 'kittylester' Sainsbury are setting up this card so I should enquire there.

However I cannot recommend on-line banking enough its quick and easy and if you check daily as I do you will spot anything odd straight away and the bank will correct it.

correction:
When I add....

For birthday presents, Amazon is very easy to use. Just pay with your credit card, and put the giftee's address on for delivery, saves postage too.

Some supermarkets have a card that you can pre load so someone can shop for you. I think Sainsbury's do but I'm not sure.

Could you write down your card numbers and expiry date and then you will not have to wait to get your card back before you can pay for something else on line or over the phone.
For birthday presents, you can send them a cheque which the grandchildren can surely take to a bank when things are a bit more normal. You could even risk sending them cash, if it is not a very large amount.

If you can manage gransnet op then once set up you can definitely manage online banking.

Could it be your anxiety around it is causing you a block that isn’t really there? Is there any family that can talk you through it over the phone so you know you have back up in case you get stuck?

I add a new payee to my on-line account, I usually have to use a card reader and was a bit scared of that at first, but really it's a breeze. My neighbours get my shopping for me and I pay them by bank transfer. A company that I use for fish and fresh vegs accepts Paypal which is useful too.

Perhaps I should have said that you can make a card payment over the phone. As long as you have a credit or debit card, that’s all you need.

If you trust your family members with your card, why not get them to get cash for you?

You could always buy presents from Amazon and pay by card - not at all complicated.
I certainly might be wary of sending cash in an envelope if that was what you had in mind. How about gift vouchers?

I have posted on another thread that our village Chamber of Commerce is helping with this problem. Where I live, you can make a payment to them over the phone and they will arrange to pay volunteers on your behalf, so minimising contact and the need for cash.

Blasted keyboard! That should have been "(first, third and seventh letter, or whatever)"

There are no other ways of paying for things than the ones you have listed, watermeadow, except barter (and what if you can't do anything for them.)

If you give people a cheque, they could keep it until they can take it to the bank. You would feel better if you paid up, and presumably they are paying by card so they have no immediate problems.

You say you are terrified of the technology of online banking, but you are coping fine with the technology of joining Gransnet and posting - there is honestly no more technology involved in online banking!

You have a username (as on GN) a password (as on GN) plus a further security check number or word. Signing in usually involves quoting the username and the password and then giving the bits of the security check that you are asked for (first, third a

There is a lot of anxiety about anyone finding out these details and cheating you, but unless you hand them over in a reply to a phone call from a stranger, they are pretty safe. You could keep your password and security check written down and kept somewhere out of sight if you are likely to forget them - just don't choose one of the places that burglars always look first. Actually, a burglar is more likely to take your TV and your laptop or I-pad to the pub and sell them than waste time rifling through your underwear drawer looking for passwords!

What about telephone banking? Would you prefer that? Maybe phone your bank and ask what your options are.

People can still pay cheques into banks. Banks are open with limited hours, or some banks have a scanning system where you can scan the cheque at home. You can also post a cheque to the bank.

Oddly enough, my elderly mum has the opposite problem. Her local supermarket can’t take remote card payments or cheques so she has to pay in cash and has been running low. Luckily I managed to sort her out last week and fingers crossed the supermarket will soon take card payments.

If you don't want to do online banking, which is really easy and safe, what about telephone banking then you can transfer money into family members' accounts.

Also, if those who've been doing your shopping use banking Apps they can easily send any cheque via a photo.

I don't think age should be a barrier to keeping up with at least basic technology. If you can post on Gransnet then you you can master internet banking!