Disappearing Banks

Another bank is closing in our town. I rarely visit it now but students and older people frequent it quite a lot. I had a telephone call suggesting I should try telephone banking but that is something I don't fancy at all and the person backed down and agreed I could arrange to see an appropriate manager should I request one. I think we're becoming too reliant on technology and are being encouraged to 'trust' non face to face methods. Having had problems with my phone today there are times when I could scream - holding on for goodness knows how long to speak to a human is not how I wish to spend my time!!!
Banks are closing because they're forcing us to change and that's not necessarily a good thing but we accept it as we do other changes. [Not had a good morning so far ]

Everything is getting worse because no one really wants to provide services any more. What they want to do is make profit for their shareholders. Endless cost cutting is all aimed at maximising profit. Presumably the marketing departments are tasked with persuading us everything is getting better, but it clearly isnt. The village I lived in when my kids were small had a post office, bank, three pubs, a newsagent, DIY store which sold just about everything, two supermarkets and a thriving community. Now it only has one pub and that is struggling. Everyone zooms through in their cars en route to somewhere else.

It's blithely assumed that everyone but everyone is automatically "online" - but they're not and nor does everyone WANT to be!

Furthermore, just look at the horror stories of those who do their banking via computer and then one day find out that their bank account is registering £0.00p due to having been hacked......

NW are closing everything locally and tell me to go to one of two branches at least 20 miles away. They say no one uses the branches, which is nonsense because there is always a queue. They will send a mobile van for a couple of hours each week. I have seen these, the systems used are back to needing paper again to pay in, not cards, and the steep steps are no use to people with mobility problems. They have to stand outside in the rain and call for someone to come out.

Our other banks are under threat, too. Even the ATMs are closing. The Post Office has queues out of the door (thanks not a little, to ebay parcels). It is very busy and there is nowhere to sit for people in the queue. If people use the mobility aids with built in seats they gum up the whole system.

We have had a thousand new houses built lately and more Industrial Estates, and there is more development planned. How do the Councils allow this when there is no banking infrastructure?

My nearest bus stop is 4 miles away. If I have to stop driving, I shall be in a serious mess. No Bank, no Post Office, unreliable mobile phone signal. Living in the countryside is not for wimps!

Post Offices can now take in cheques for the banks and cash can also be paid in there.

Sorry 'money' and virgin staff ?Must check spelling.

I've been with Natwest 35 years and still bank with them. However vie git another account with virgin and use that for isa's and as a current account I pay mines in at the local post office that I pass from work so that really helps. I find the Virginia staff so friendly and if you ring up they really are great.

In the last year we have lost TSB Clydesdale and royal bank of Scotland. If I need to go into the branch I need to go to another town. We still have bank of Scotland and Santander but there are rumours about them too.

I really don't think I miss our NatWest bank. Fortunately we have a post office which is staffed by much better people that NW ever was. The counter staff in NW were nice but couldn't do anything more than day to day paying in and paying out, and when I wanted to speak to someone more senior she was useless and my issue only got sorted when I told her I was going to Tweet and Facebook about it!

If I wanted foreign currency my bank wouldn't be the cheapest place to go, I would order it online and have it delivered.

All in all I think I would rather lose my bank branch than pay for their service but I think it might be different if I were running a small business which needed to pay in cash.

All I can say is we have had First Direct since they started I don't know how many years ago with absolute non problems and nothing but help and instant answers to queries. If you phone them they answer in two rings and are always extra extra helpful.
The only problem for me is having stared a Croquet Club I had to have an account with a High Street bank (Barclays)as FD only do personal banking. This is a small market town which has all the main banks and building societies but of course it does serve a large numbers of villages and businesses.

Astonishingly, the tiny town which I live on the outskirts of has a TSB and a Barclays. And the larger town, about 5 miles away has the full range of High Street banks, and a Halifax. This is in the depressed NE, too. I have absolutely no explanation for why this should be so.

I'm still suspicious of the security of internet banking.

Our RBS branch in the nearest town closed a couple of years ago and the B of S Branch is closing next month leaving no banks in the town. Now the next nearest RBS branch in a bigger town (which always has large queues) is set to close later this year. The main PO in that town closed last year - there is now only a counter in a small corner shop. The nearest RBS branch in the opposite direction is also due to close this year, leaving just the 1 Branch in the city within a 10 mile radius. That Branch is in the city centre with no parking available nearby - so important if paying in large amounts of cash and for those with mobility issues.

I am especially angry with the RBS as we, the tax payers actually own it. They say that they are 'rationalising' and that there is no need for small local branches, now that everyone uses internet banking, but the Branches I have detailed are/were always busy. Obviously there are many things from depositing the day's takings in the night safe, exchanging foreign currency, to acquiring a 'float' for a fete or bring and buy. Not to mention people who cannot access the internet, or live in areas without good signal.

The reality is that they are asset stripping, selling off the posh bank buildings (usually turned into pubs or restaurants) and paying off staff. The 2 ladies in the B of S branch which is closing who are both nearing retirement age told me that they are not being made redundant (they would both have been due a small fortune as they have worked for the bank since they left school). Instead, they have been offered part time hours in a Branch far away, which will result in their Bank pensions being based on the part time hours i.e. 50% of the pension they were expecting.

The last bank in our little town is now only open for three days a week, and if we wanted to do business in an actual branch of NatWest, we'd have to travel 20 miles. Fortunately we still have a full time post office. On line banking might be okay, but if you need to deal with an actual person you're scuppered.