Have a bitch Banks

[Lee337]

I sold some Triumph panniers yesterday, so armed with a wad of cash, went to my local HSBC branch as I bank with M&S & that's part of HSBC.

They won't accept cash deposits for other banks & recognise M&S Bank as 'another bank'. It gets worse, the teller told me that you now need prior authorisation to make cash deposits if you're an HSBC customer & suggested I go to the post office. (I also saw a notice in the bank saying they will be closing in December & the nearest branch will be Peterborough. Lloyds will then be the only bank left.)

So off to the Post Office I go, which luckily is only 500 yards away, but they don't recognise M&S bank, so couldn't help either.

The nearest M&S bank branch is 70 miles away in Milton Keynes& I'm I'm not going all that way to deposit my cash. It's not a huge amount, I just want it in my account, not my wallet where moths are likely to feast on it.

Looks like I'll have to launder it through Mrs L's account, assuming her bank accepts cash deposits.

Is there some kind of conspiracy to get rid of cash using Covid-19 as an excuse, especially as most of the shops in my local town only accept card payment now?

 

[andyBeaker]

I sold some Triumph panniers yesterday, so armed with a wad of cash, went to my local HSBC branch as I bank with M&S & that's part of HSBC.

They won't accept cash deposits for other banks & recognise M&S Bank as 'another bank'. It gets worse, the teller told me that you now need prior authorisation to make cash deposits if you're an HSBC customer & suggested I go to the post office. (I also saw a notice in the bank saying they will be closing in December & the nearest branch will be Peterborough. Lloyds will then be the only bank left.)

So off to the Post Office I go, which luckily is only 500 yards away, but they don't recognise M&S bank, so couldn't help either.

The nearest M&S bank branch is 70 miles away in Milton Keynes& I'm I'm not going all that way to deposit my cash. It's not a huge amount, I just want it in my account, not my wallet where moths are likely to feast on it.

Looks like I'll have to launder it through Mrs L's account, assuming her bank accepts cash deposits.

Is there some kind of conspiracy to get rid of cash using Covid-19 as an excuse, especially as most of the shops in my local town only accept card payment now?

It's only a matter of time before 'cash' disappears.

It'll be a dark day for all those people that don't pay income tax

 

[Cougar377]

Banks seem to be less and less helpful all the time, never mind the excuse of Covid.

I bank with Santander and the local branch was closed last year. Nearest branch is 6 miles away, which isn't far, but parking is a bitch to find and usually involves a long walk once you find somewhere. I got an email before the local branch closed saying that I could use the Post Office for most banking transactions.
I went in one day recently to pay in an HMRC tax rebate cheque, only to be told that they couldn't accept it and it would have to be paid in at a Santander branch. "Don't blame us, it's the banks fault".

A few days later I had received some cash from a mate in Scotland. Rather than trundle over to the nearest Santander and finding the queue at the Post Office to be long, I tried some of the local banks to see if they would exchange the Scottish notes for English ones.

"Do you bank with us..?"
Nope
"Then you'll have to do that at your own branch".

One of those branches was Barclays so I met the wife outside the branch (she banks with them) and we went in together. I asked the question again and got the same response (same cashier as it turned out). I gave the money to the wife, she asked to exchange the cash, they asked her if she banked there (yes) and they exchanged the cash. She gave me the cash and I said to the cashier "That wasn't so hard, was it..?".

 

[andyBeaker]

It's easy to knock the banks for lack of branches but the hard fact is that a) they won't survive with them and b) there is a tiny demand for 'counter' services compared to even five years ago.

Annoyingly I currently have to pay myself from my business account by cheque but it is a simple matter to pop it in the post to get it into my private account. I would rather do that than go to a local branch or the Post Office, much more convenient.

As for banks not accepting cash, the answer is simply to not accept it in the first place. Oh, hang on a minute, that would leave an electronic paper trail behind.....not in the interests of some. Many. Loads.

The cheque system was due to be disbanded three or four years ago...it is only the needs of the 'older generation' that stayed the execution. Blackbird owners were mentioned in parliament at the time

 

[Malone]

I pay in cheques simply by photographing them onto my banking system online. Easy.

 

[johnboy]

My Mum is one of the Luddites who still uses cheques, in her defense she is 93. When I ask her to let me pay her bills via the medium of the interweb she refuses and states that "it's only us old folk keeping the village post office alive", which is true I guess.

I had a cheque sent to me the other day, it is rather inconvenient going into town to pay it in, not as inconvenient as the bloke at the next counter trying to pay in a cheque from January!

 

[Dangerous Brian]

Jez, you think you have problems.
Have you tried to rob a bank lately, even when you find one they don’t hold cash anymore. I had to make do with 56 small pens

 

[Cougar377]

Jez, you think you have problems.
Have you tried to rob a bank lately, even when you find one they don’t hold cash anymore. I had to make do with 56 small pens

It's the queueing I hate. Just cos you've got a mask on they assume that you're there to pay in.
Should have a fast track queue for bank robbers.

 

[andyBeaker]

I pay in cheques simply by photographing them onto my banking system online. Easy.

Yup, really good technology that, wish they all had it.

Most won't invest - not surprising as the cheque system is already on borrowed time.