The banksters – a tale of our times
Isn’t our super duper banking system wonderful!
My Bank sent me a letter last week.
Here is what it said:-
Our records indicate that you have not used your card ending with **** for a while now, and that your card is due for renewal in June 2013. [the bank] is committed to protecting its customers and therefore if you no longer have a need for this card we would prefer not to send a new one.
It is true that I do not use the card at the ATM machine.
Many years ago, when these hole in the wall machines were first introduced, I used them for convenience (and for the novelty of it) But then I suspected they were double-dipping my account with the withdrawals.
Perhaps I was mistaken, perhaps not. When I queried this with them the automatic response was that the Bank (Lloyds in this case) never makes mistakes and I was a liar and a crook (bankers are not liars and crooks as we all know)
Nor do I use it as a Debit card for purchases because I like to pay cash for everything. It is much easier to control spending if I can see the money disappearing from my pockets. Using debit or credit cards, it is very easy to end up in financial trouble as many people in this country have discovered recently.
But, and the but is very important; I do need the card to withdraw cash over the counter at the bank’s branches. This is a recently introduced system which requires me to press lots of buttons and, from my converstaion with the counter staff, it would appear that the bank does not trust its own staff!
So the bank knows full well that I need a new card but obviously they do not understand their own banking systems and precedures. Idiots.
Life was so much simpler when this bank used to be a Building Society. Present my pass book, sign my name and the very charming young ladies behind the counter gave me my money. So much easier than the new, improved, hi-tech, push-button wizardry.
Not least because if perchance they gave me too much money[1] I could point out their error to them in person without any further problems about ringing premium rate help(?)-lines and having the (non English speaking) clone at the other end tell me I am a liar and a crook.
The easy way round this, of course, is to use the card once and once only to buy something trivial and low cost. Their ‘records’ will then show that I ‘need’ a new card and they will send me one. Idiots.
Just for good measure the bank sent me exactly the same letter three days later.
Do they know what they are doing?
The blind-drunk leading the blind-drunk would make a better job of running our financial institutions.
[1] for the accountants reading this, that was a joke. You remember jokes?
No, probably not. 
Filed under: JD, Society & human issues, Technology & ideas
There’s a post by JD at 06:00 and one by Wiggia at 11:00. They address two of the most annoying things from these times, enough to make me do things to stop them [in my case].
I don’t want to be told I can’t have this money in here but it must go in here or get caught up in the whole electronic detail storage. I want my money in the passbook, I want her to write the deposit or withdrawal and the new balance and that’s an end on’t.
Well maybe a cheerful smile and a bit of banter. I don’t want to buy a “product” because it is not a product because nothing has been produced by anyone – it’s all people’s own money they’re playing about with.
I don’t want a bank account because the law of the land says I must. Why must I? I’d rather keep it in a shoebox than that.
James Higham recently posted…The banksters – a tale of our times
“Product?” I’m about to produce something financial, hopefully a minor hailstorm. My lender sent me a statement, plus two statements for two other customers in the same envelope! Heh, I will be writing to these people as they are now in a strong position to tell the company to eff off, unless it says in their contract that their details can be sent to strangers.
I will be declining to make any further payments until they can prove that they haven’t done the same thing with my details.
- richard