BS: Bank Branch Closures

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 May 21 - 06:23 AM

It's dead easy to change account BobL - They do it all for you.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: The Sandman
Date: 06 May 21 - 02:41 AM

its a bloody disgrace

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: BobL
Date: 06 May 21 - 02:36 AM

Awkward.
My own local bank branch is about to close, which I haven't needed to visit but twice in the last ten years, once to pay in a real hardcopy cheque (remember them?) and once to surrender my expired Secure Key (the gadget for generating one-time PINs) for secure disposal. Nearest surviving branches are both an hour away by bus: at least I'm still mobile, and as a gentleman of leisure, time is the one thing I have in abundance.

The last resort will be to take my custom to another bank. I imagine though that this would be a bit of a hassle, as several bodies individual or corporate will need to be told, and I'm bound to forget someone.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: JHW
Date: 05 May 21 - 06:38 AM

I don't do net banking, but don't need a bank Branch often. Barclays at Yarm is still open but last go there was a long covid queue outside, as one queuer said 'because all the branches have closed'. Two small Barclays have gone in Darlington and the main one is only an arcade. Screens, no counters. Bank excuse is everyone prefers the internet but really it saves staffing, like Hole in the Wall money.
Now no-one wants money, just the magic waving card. So I have no change for machines!
I have got money out of Post Offices, they are to do more banking they say.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 May 21 - 04:40 AM

Incidentally, we also signed up for the health and welfare POA which made life much easier when dealing with the care home and her multiple medical issues.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 May 21 - 04:38 AM

It is a rip-off for sure. All I can say is that for the final two years of my mum's life, when. I was her only relative who lived anywhere near her, it made my life miles easier when it came to dealing with her finances. She was never used to handling anything other than small sums for shopping. I had to deal with the money my dad left and the sale of their house as well as monthly care home fees of about three grand, as well as keeping a eye on her savings account and making sure there was enough in her bank to pay the fees. My mum, who kept all her marbles right to the end, was happy to let me do it all for her and just keep her posted. What could have been a nightmare was a breeze with the POA. Sometimes it's ten times easier to bite the bullet...

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Rain Dog
Date: 05 May 21 - 02:59 AM

Sorry to hear that news about your mum from.

Anyone can apply for POA themselves and then you just have to pay the government fee.

Banks and other organisations have got stricter about dealing with representatives of their customers. This has largely been driven by government insisting that they should do more to minimise fraud. I agree that too many organisations can 'hide' behind data protection legislation rather than try to help. Of course due nowadays to less and less face to face dealings with their customers, and more dealing with telephone centres, the problem has got worse. With further branch closures it is not going to improve.

I was going down the route of adding myself as a signatory to my mother's account, rather than applying for POA. That would have necessitated my mother going to the bank to sign the forms. She was unable to do that due to disability. If she had been able, no doubt the bank would have asked a lot of questions to make sure she was not being coerced to do so. I would have expected them to act that way.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 04 May 21 - 10:08 PM

Power of attorney...???

When mum was diagnosed with dementia 8 or 9 years ago,
the clinic outreach worker automatically suggested we apply for power of attorney..

I didn't feel too comfortable with doing that because mum had been so fiercely independent up until then.
We briefly discussed it, but she refused to agree with it anyway.

At that time our perhaps naive outlook was that we are a traditional old fashioned council estate working class family:
we've never had to do it before,
why would we ever need it at all...???

We've never owned property and investments,
or had any savings that family can fall out about.
None of us have ever even written wills..
Never needed them..

.. and we were naturally resistant to wasting money being ripped off by the legal parasites administrating POA..

So for a few years I just acted informally,
gradually taking over Mum's financial and administrative affairs..

Things ticked along reasonably ok dealing with occasional essential phone calls and form filling..

Things worked out ok, we got results.

But there came a point only a few years ago,
when suddenly just about every phone call to banks and utilities, etc,
started becoming blocked through demands that I submit evidence of POA.
Petty jobsworths on the phone refusing to discuss anything with me..

This seemed to have happened over night, like there'd been a legalistic culture shift behind the scenes.
What it effectively meant was that indifferent lazy telephone operatives now had a good excuse to avoid doing any work to help us..

Something the unhelpful buggers could add to "sorry can't do it, data protection.."...!!!

Whether family's genuinely needed POA or not,
it seems the unavoidable fees for setting it up
are a nice little earner for for some folks in the bureaucracy business...

Handy for their professional class that they could benefit from a tory government for so long...!!!???

Anyway regardless of our disdain for middle-class legalistic parasites,
Mum's too far gone now to agree to POA now anyway..

So, since social services have recently moved mum into a care home,
we've just got to sort things out as best we can as we stumble along from any new problems to the next....

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 May 21 - 11:54 AM

Here in the Land of Oz we have been losing bank branches for years, both suburban & rural branches. It's relatively easy in a big city where a branch might be in the next suburb, but in the regions the nearest bank can be 100km away, so if folks have to travel to the bank in a larger town, they are likely to do all their shopping there, contributing to the decline of their nearby small town/village.

Banks say branch closures no longer a sign of a town in decline as online shift accelerates, but locals still worried ... Bank closures are not a new issue — branch and ATM networks have been shrinking for years. Figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority show the number of branches nationwide has shrunk from 5,816 in mid-2017, to 5,173 last June. However, the Finance Sector Union is concerned about an acceleration of closures, with around 300 announced since January 2020, with some branches temporarily closed during the pandemic not reopening ... (read on)

And not everyone across this wide brown land wants to do on-line banking, some areas don't even have decent internet or phone connections.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 May 21 - 09:17 AM

Incidentally, once we'd arranged the POA for my mum it became a lot easier to do things such as pay her care home fees and expenses. With her agreement, I kept her debit card and cheque book at my house, so there was never any danger of her becoming a victim of theft or fraud (and she was so deaf that no-one could ever ring her up!). She kept a few quid in her purse and that was it. TSB even gave me a debit card for her account with my name on it.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 May 21 - 09:12 AM

I did that with my mum after my dad died, but after the aforementioned incident. I haven't researched as to whether it would have made a difference. Good advice though. You can't do it if the old person is, say, suffering from dementia.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: DaveRo
Date: 04 May 21 - 07:59 AM

Yes, plan ahead by arranging a Lasting Power of Attorney (this is in the UK). And - just as important - register it before your parent, or whoever, becomes mentally incapable - which can be tricky IME if the he or she isn't agreeable.

Even then, IME, banks can be bloody awkward.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Rain Dog
Date: 04 May 21 - 07:42 AM

Had the same experience with my mother and the bank. I did ask if it was possible for a member of staff to visit her at home but that seemed to throw them. I imagine that a number of customers would be unable to visit a branch due to illness, accident or disability but would like the chance to change something.

Of course it is a reminder to try and plan ahead when possible.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 04 May 21 - 07:40 AM

Steve - I did ask if they had staff who could make home visits
as an exception for elderly customers with poor mobility,
dementia confusion and incontinence..

Nope..

Not even the staff transferred from the closed down branch,
who still live in the same town as my mum...

They demand vulnerable customers and their family attend at the bank
just to be treated as criminals...

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Jos
Date: 04 May 21 - 07:40 AM

My nearest bank branch is now a bus-ride away. The Post Office will let me put money into or take money out of a current account, but they won't let me pay my credit card. I have been forced to use on-line banking until the credit card balance is cleared.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 May 21 - 07:10 AM

That business of a bank wanting to see my mum in person happened to me at Santander in Bury, where the branch is in a pedestrian area behind The Rock, a long way from any available car park. My mum was completely disabled and the whole thing was a severe tribulation. They would not be persuaded. We closed the bloody account.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Rain Dog
Date: 04 May 21 - 05:55 AM

Bloody hell Raggytash, how far away are the nearest branches?

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Rain Dog
Date: 04 May 21 - 05:53 AM

I know that a lot of people use internet banking these days but I don't. I still pay bills at my local branch of NatWest and make a point of going in a couple of times a month. Of course nowadays I use the ATMS to pay bills rather than go to one of the tellers. Whenever I do go in there are normally some people waiting to see a teller.

I have been using a card during the covid period to pay in shops. Ordinarily I prefer to use cash. Still use cash in the pub.

When branches close they always say that you can use the post office. Our main post office went years ago, replaced by a much smaller one within a shop. They are always busy even nowadays. Bank closures will only make them more so, at least while the older stick in the muds like myself are still alive.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Raggytash
Date: 04 May 21 - 05:52 AM

In Whitby Lloyds and Nat West have already gone, TSB telephoned me before Christmas to tell me my branch was closing.

Word on the grapevine is that HSBC will close shortly.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 May 21 - 04:58 AM

I must add that the closed Barclays near us is about to open as a bar and restaurant - a much better use for the building :-D

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 May 21 - 03:25 AM

yes,in rural ireland it started happening 20 years ago we have to rely on post offices now so i try to pay some of my bills at PO. to help keep it open
THE BANK IN BALLYDEHOB ,THE BUILDING WAS BOUGHT BY THE VILLAGE COMMUNITY COUNCIL AND IS NOW USED AS A TOURIST OFFICE RELYING ON VOLUNTEERS SUCH AS MYSELF TO KEEP IT OPEN. the nearest banks are ten miles awa but certain days of the wekk there is a mobile van bank

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 May 21 - 02:50 AM

Barclays in our village closed and the branch in the nearby town are being absolute arseholes with the organisation my wife is involved in. I ditched them for Starling in December.

Subject: RE: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 03 May 21 - 03:40 PM

Yes, that's impacted my family directly.
Barclays closed down their branch in the small West country town where my mum lives.

The next nearest branch is in the bigger town where I am.
A bus or train ride away for families who don't drive, like mine.

Coinciding, the long-standing bus route from virtual my mum's front door to mine
was axed.

Do Barclays give a s*** how inconvenient they make it for their elderly customers.

We needed to sort out a transaction on my mum's behalf, and they insisted she attend in person at the branch.
For the usual bollocks security and data protection excuses.
Despite her advancing dementia.

I asked if we could arrange alternative telephone phone transactions.
But Barclays put every barrier in front of us to prevent that happening within a reasonable time scale.

This meant having to find a car owning friend who was kind enough to collect my mum and put towels and polythene sheets down on the back seat,
Because of my mum's explosive double incontinence and leaky pads.

I explained all this to Barclays.
Yet they still insisted we had to drag her into the branch.
Refusing in advance to let her use the in-branch toilet in an emergency.

Then in branch they turned a simple transaction into a lengthy interrogation, treating us as though we were criminal fraudsters..
Authoritarian bastards..

After all that time and duress,
Mum pissed herself on the way out;
and we had to beg the nearest cafe to let her use their facilities.
So she clean up, before getting back in our friends car..

That was approximately a year before covid closed all surviving branches to normal business...

What about the elderly customers who don't have have younger family or friends to help them out in these dire situations...!!!???

Subject: BS: Bank Branch Closures
From: Rain Dog
Date: 03 May 21 - 03:20 PM

Here in Dover, Barclays are the first of the big four banks to decide to close their Dover branch. They plan to close in June this year.

In neighbouring Deal, HSBC are the first to go. They plan to close in August this year.

Have any other mudcatters had bank closures in their area?

I know that banking is a bit different in the US but see that banks have been closing branches there too.

USA Bank Branch Closures - NCRC Report