£££s and getting access to one's own money...
How complicated it has all become! Cheques are being phased out in the none too distant future. Okay so they are used only infrequently and may in some cases take five, yes 5, working days to clear. But those who have grown up with them still appreciate their usage don't we? Take OH for instance; he'd rather write a cheque than go via "Mumbai calling"..
Try paying money into your own account and if it's over £500 you are expected to give 'chapter n verse'.
Talking to Customer Services and it's like needing Orwellian 'double-think'. Yes, it is your own money and yes there is no limit on withdrawals using a debit card...but..even when you've done the Bank the courtesy of informing them in person...the automated system shall kick in...
Hence the double think - two contradictory ideas simultaneously acceptable!
After a long drawn out wrangle with another bank...instead of paying online; I go to that particular bank to pay off my credit card in person... The other year online payments lost themselves in cyberspace! Try paying in an amount in excess of that on the statement and see how it perplexes the droid behind the counter.
I deal with two different banks one from back home that I've been with for as long as I can remember and another bank which I did not join. How come you may ask? The company that issued that credit card was taken over and subsumed by the larger bank (sigh).
Another thing I've noticed, 'my bank' is part of an Australian banking group with UK HQ in the Scottish lowlands. Phone them and a pleasant person with a lowland Scots accent answers and we have a polite conversation and get things done.
Phone the larger bank and get through to 'Mumbai calling' and conversation gets more knots and tangles in it than macrame!
3 comments:
I prefer using checks for certain things - buying clothes, groceries, and anytime I go to Wal-Mart. It's a good way to keep track of what is being spent and where. Credit/debit cards are too easy to use without thinking and soon you have no money!
True, but over here large companies no longer take cheques. It's impossible to use them in Asda (Wal-Mart) as they refuse to take them.
I agree, checks are becoming a thing of the past. We use our credit/debit card for most of our purchases. Our bills are paid online!
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