That’s fine, you just use the app to generate a code and continue in the other device,
Who still uses cash?
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ALFAitalia
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Around here we get a Bank Bus... which rock's up at the leisure centre once in a while (no idea how often to be honest)....so well out of town so the oldies still have to drive there. It's shared by several different banks at the same time. Needless to say you won't see anyone under about 70 using it!
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Interesting question.
Banks make money from their customers, otherwise they wouldn’t exist at all. Most businesses have elements of their activity which, if considered in isolation, are a cost rather than a revenue generator but they keep those elements in operation because they are part of the customer experience that encourages the customer to either come to them in the first instance or be loyal to them. The simplest example of this is the provision of a warranty for goods purchased, which can only ever be a cost.
Banks have taken the view that they can operate without face-to-face interaction with their customers. They may be right, but I suspect that a good proportion of their customer base isn’t convinced and is just going along with it because all the banks are doing it.
This is true, there is a customer segment emerging which could be regarded as underserved. They tend to be older or less sophisticated customers, many of which rely on benefits and may use cash exclusively.
These people tend to migrate to smaller institutions such as building societies or the good old Post Office who are happy to accept their business.
Part of the reason that building societies want all customers is because net receipts are king to them because they tend to not raise funds for mortgage lending via the markets but, instead, lend against their own book which is funded by receipts.
Petrol Pete
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Lots of country pubs round our way have become either very nice big houses or small estates with a few 'executive' homes on them.
One in particular had the owner landlord simply closed the pub because villagers opposed planning permission when he wanted to build a few nice homes on part of the existing car park. These were the 'locals' who rarely visited the pub.
It stood empty for years and became a real eyesore until he got change of use on it , knocked it down and now there are about 7 homes on the site.
And the village has no pub.
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While I agree that there is a customer segment that is underserved by the banks, I disagree that it's "emerging": it's always been there, but banks chose to ignore it - or pretend it didn't exist - in their pursuit of retail banking profits.
A good example is my 95 year-old father who until earlier this year lived alone a two-and-a-half hour drive from me. Like many older people he has banked with the same bank for decades and still has the quaint notion that he needs to keep a significant sum of money in his accounts with them "so they'll look after me".
His bank - I will name them because they deserve it: HSBC - closed his local branch which was less than half a mile from his house in a greater London suburb and moved his accounts to a branch some 8-10 miles away which, in practical terms for him, was little different to moving it to the moon. He had an iPhone, but it was too old to run their app so he had one of their PIN pad devices in order to access his accounts online. The battery went flat, so he requested a replacement. That arrived by post and a few days later so did the activation key. He managed to mis-key the activation code and that's when the whole process went into a tailspin.
Unable to get his new PIN pad to work and unable to get to his "new" branch, he phoned HSBC's help number. He's a bit deaf and struggles with understanding anyone with a strong accent so I can imagine how difficult the conversation was over a less-than-perfect phone line with the Indian call centre operator. Eventually he understood that they wanted his telephone banking passcode. Trouble is, he'd never had one so couldn't provide it. They then refused to assist further because he couldn't provide a code, instead advising him to go online and request a replacement PIN pad which was clearly impossible as he couldn't sign in to his account without a working PIN pad. Kafkaesque? You bet.
Eventually, after further failed attempts to deal with the issue over the phone over a couple of weeks, I persuaded him that he had to get a taxi to take him to his new branch which he reluctantly did. Fortunately, a human being there helped him and resolved his issue.
If I took a cynical view, from HSBC's position, all things being equal at his age he will cease to be a problem for them in the fairly short term, but this is not customer service. It's an utter disgrace.
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Sadly I think that your final paragraph sums up the scenario for the bank.
There have always been underserved customers but the numbers have increased due to banks closing branches, building societies tend not to close branches and in many cases are expanding.
I wonder how it would look if the big banks started charging a significant fee for day-to-day banking which was refundable if the client took on more profitable products alongside? My guess would be that the underserved would migrate to the building societies and the financially savvy would stay with the banks, both institutions would be happy.
The irony is, that on my banking app, certain transactions require face recognition.
With my glasses on, it doesn't work and if I take them off, I can't see a fecking thing.
You need to wear glasses when setting up face recognition.The irony is, that on my banking app, certain transactions require face recognition.
With my glasses on, it doesn't work and if I take them off, I can't see a fecking thing.
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I think you're right.
As an aside, many years ago I too banked with HSBC but after a particularly egregious example of their poor customer service I moved my accounts elsewhere.
Well, that's not quite true. I moved my funds elsewhere, but kept three accounts with them open. Two with a penny in each and one with around 30p in it. This was in the days before paperless statements, so meant they had to bear the cost of sending me periodic statements in the post, monthly for the current account and quarterly for the other two. Every time they wrote to me saying that the accounts would be considered dormant and closed I they weren't used, I'd move 5p around them. This went on for at least 10 years before they finally threw in the towel.
Petty minded of me? You bet. But deeply satisfying
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Banking is fundamentally free to the customer. Paying in cash (or cheques), taking out (cash), transferring money between accounts, paying someone electronically, direct debits, standing orders, debit card, credit card, and in some cases even minor short-term borrowing.
But it’s described as a disgrace if the bank cannot justify a branch in every location which it previously had one when every person and every business had to rely on their branch for most banking.
It’s unfortunate for the very small minority of people who struggle with online or telephone banking if there is no longer a branch nearby, however there are still branches, just not so many.
But it’s described as a disgrace if the bank cannot justify a branch in every location which it previously had one when every person and every business had to rely on their branch for most banking.
It’s unfortunate for the very small minority of people who struggle with online or telephone banking if there is no longer a branch nearby, however there are still branches, just not so many.
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Perhaps there’s an opening in the market for one of the big banks maintaining existing branches and opening branches very close to where they had branches in the past, and then charge all of their customers a monthly fee to part fund it, let’s say £100 per month.
I wonder how many customers they would keep, and how many would move to them from other banks. Not many.
I wonder how many customers they would keep, and how many would move to them from other banks. Not many.
We used to have a bank in the village but it's long gone which is a shame. The nearest branch in town is still only 4 miles away so I can't complain. Last time I went though, customers were queuing out the door so there is certainly a demand to keep that branch open, I gave it miss that day.
Our old bank in the village before it shut.
Our old bank in the village before it shut.
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ALFAitalia
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At work we bank with Natwest....there were 3 banks in Emsworth...a mile from work...Lloyds, Barclays and Natwest. At the time Natwest had a policy that they would never close a branch if they were the only bank in town. Anyway Lloyds and Barclays closed down.....and about 6 months later so did Natwest. I asked them about their branch closure policy and that they promise to stay open if they were the last bank. There excuse was that they had decided to close that branch before the other two announced their closures!!!!......yeah, right.
Now we have to drive into Chichester to bank cash as the next nearest one in Havant closed shortly after the Emsworth one. This is one of the main reasons we encourage card, transfer use rather than cash. Also it's always got my back up that we get charged to bank cash on a business account. We have to PAY to put money in OUR OWN account. Cheeky f##kers!
Now we have to drive into Chichester to bank cash as the next nearest one in Havant closed shortly after the Emsworth one. This is one of the main reasons we encourage card, transfer use rather than cash. Also it's always got my back up that we get charged to bank cash on a business account. We have to PAY to put money in OUR OWN account. Cheeky f##kers!
ChipChop
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I was in a physical branch today and the customers were a mix of ages. Young and old. Nonsense to say only elderly customers have the desire to visit a branch.
Why were you there?
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Please don't apologise; debate is good.
Employee?
