Banks and Building Societies

All this talk of internet banking, multiple accounts etc. is all well & good but with the continuing trend of branch closures try thinking about the staff who lose their jobs.

Every time we visit our local branch we get encouraged to switch across to internet banking. Seems they want to put themselves out of work. Personally I just don't trust the security of internet banking & the recent debacle of TSB just convinces me even more to avoid it like the plague.

When we moved to the country around 14 years ago there was 5 banks within 6 miles of us, now all closed with the resultant loss of employment & inconvenience to customers. Nearest branch of any bank is now 15 miles away. Apart from the inconvenience of a 30 mile round trip there's the time & expence of the journey.

All so bankers can get their grossly overinflated, undeserved bonuses.

The fact that banks are closing is a natural consequence of online banking. Its the same in retailing. The number of staff in the High Street is shrinking as more and more people buy online. But then I expect the number of delivery drivers is increasing. 

I have forgotten how long I have been using online banking it must be at least 15 years? It is sometimes difficult to remember how long you have been doing something. The only thing I go into a branch for is to pay a cheque in and as people have said on here I could do that at the Post Office I might give that a try. Fraud happens everywhere not just online you just have to make sure you have best security on your computer but even that won't stop it completely. 

I have been with the same bank as long as I have had a bank account. Don't see any reason to change. As for swapping ISA's and other savings to get a slight increase in interest I just don't feel I have enough to warrant spending time doing that for minuscule extra returns as invariably you are often tied into a new investment.

David

I use my Tesco Credit card for the big bills that usually come in the winter such as car insurance. If you do this you can leave your savings intact and continue earning interest on them, Kj, provided you get interest free credit on your credit card. So you're better off this way. However, you need to make sure you pay off the balance of your credit card before the interest free period expires because once the interest kicks in, it can be an expensive way of borrowing money. If you can't pay it off, you can use balance transfer to transfer to another card with an interest free promotional period. However, it's not entirely free because you have to pay a balance transfer fee.

You can spread the payments by paying monthly by direct debit but this usually costs more. By paying the big bills through my Tesco Bank credit card, I get a huge amount of points and the facility of being able to spread the cost over the whole year by just paying off a little at a time, at no cost to me because it's interest free. Last time I paid a total of £1930 in seasonal pitch fees, for Worthing plus winter in Gatwick, using my Tesco Credit card,I gained 241 points for this spend at 1 point for every £8 spend.

Malcolm......I think you have told us all this before, and I think I commented that you need to be aware that interest free cards may not always be available, so it was good to hear that you have a plan to pay off  all your borrowing before the interest free period comes to an end.

We do actually have an interest free card that we can use, so can keep the money in the bank should we wish, but that money is always there and available for repayment, so no need for balance transfers or incurring any additional costs.

As brue said, some people do get into a lot of debt with credit cards and  stoozing can also be a dangerous game, hence my comment that it can be a bad idea to run up debt in this way if you do not have savings to cover it.

 Personally, other than our mortgage, long since paid off, we always preferred to save for what we wanted, and of course there were no interest free credit cards way back in the 70s and 80s.

I can see that you are doing things this way out of necessity, I just hope it works out the way you plan.

Like KjellNN very little borrowing. Borrowed to buy a double bed after 3 months of sleeping on mattress on the floor in our first bricks 'n mortar. Bought a TV and stereo on interest free 12 month HP. Other loans were for 3 year old cars for work for which I received a monthly allowance and mileage payments. One unintended overdraft for a couple of months which was gratis thanks to a good bank manager relationship.

Other major loans was to pay my way through 2 six month college sessions when we were running a mobile home and I had a bedsit.

Like K I can see why you use cards as you do Malc

Even with interest free cards there is in effect a charge, over and above a standard card that you pay off monthly and has rewards. Although they are nowhere near as good as they were. I have just swapped a load of points on my Barclay card (the one that replaced the CC version) for £100 of M&S vouchers. Not sure what I spent to get them, but I would have spent it anyway.

Cant understand someone buying a product because there are free vouchers ( M & S and such)> If its such a good idea why doesn't the provider just reduce their costs by the same amount. No such thing as a free lunch. Cash is king every time and the only way to get a proper discount.

I can't see why it won't work out, Kj because I get the benefit of paying yesterdays lower price on todays increased income. It's a win win! As long as things don't go wrong i.e. loss of job, illness etc.

Yes,that is the risk you take, and why doing things this way may not be ideal.  If anything does go wrong, you  could end up in a good deal of debt.

Your answer has always been to hope that that does not happen.  However life is not always kind to us and things can and do go wrong sometimes.

I hope that you will soon get your finances on a more even keel and be able to build up some savings as a reserve.

If you like to shop at M&S, or some of the other shops you can get vouchers for, sometimes, then getting vouchers to use there just for spending your money on your usual shopping elsewhere seems like a reasonable deal to me.

Tesco/Waitrose/Asda/Lidl Etc are not going to give you a discount for paying with cash, so why not use a Barclaycard Reward card, for example,and get a little back?

You are not "buying a product" , just using an alternative means of payment which happens to give a form of cashback.