Taking responsibility for your own actions

[banker_rhymes_with]

I just had to respond to this one...

 

But when i see people who over six years have racked up thousands and thousands of pounds in charges just through poor account management i think it undermines the arguments of the group i spoke of first. Poor bank administration can not be the case in every single instance of bank charges. I used to see people who would have a late payment free on their credit card every single month, where is the logic in doing that. The bank i worked for would send a letter each month with the statement advising to pay by direct debit in order to avoid this charge but people would still ignore it. Some people have just paid no attention to their accounts and now jump on the bandwagon slagging off the banks. It is these people who I do not sympathise with.

 

I am Self-Employed. I created my business from scratch. I have built it up. I have taught myself many things from Book-Keeping, to Accounts and basic Law. Sometimes this required working 18-24 hours a day (absolutely no kidding).

 

I now have some help, but I still do 1001 Jobs within the business, from handling the Admin, the Books, the VAT, the Tax, the Red Tape, making Tea, Cleaning, running several Web Sites, writing the HTML for the Web Sites, Graphic Design, IT Manager, Network Manager, Health and Safety Manager, Teacher and acting as the qualified Transport Manager for our Commercial Vehicles where I also have to keep track of ever more onerous Road and Vehicle Legislation.

 

Then I run the side that makes the money: dealing with Clients, Marketing, Buying, Stocking, Web Listing, Selling, Invoicing, Picking, Packing, handling any problems, Driving, plus Client Design and Services.

 

Clients pay us. Sometimes a few Days late, but we do not levy any silly £30-£35 Penalty Fines. I use our Accounting Package to keep track, and chase the odd one who is late via Statement and Letter. It is not Rocket Science and it is not hard to handle.

 

If I can do all of this, then why the hell can't a bank or Credit Card Company cope with good Clients who just happen to Pay a few Days late every Month? If they sat back and did nothing all Month but checked the Accounts at the end of the Month, they would see all the Good ones would've Paid. No need for sending any Letters, and no need for Penalty Fines.

 

By all means Chase the ones who miss any Payments completely, but still do so with due care and understanding. There remains no need to levy Fines.

 

After all, banking is all they do. It's their sole purpose. It's their Job! They have far more powerful Networks and Accounting Systems than I do. They have thousands of people working for them whose sole job is also banking. And yet these people can't seem to cope with being able to tell good Clients from Bad without hitting all with Penalty Charges, Fees and snotty Letters and Phone Calls threatening financial ruin.

 

In the past we used to have proper Bank Managers and Banks. People you could go and speak to, who took time to understand your affairs and Business. They had Local Authority, and ran their Branch with acceptable skill and fairness. Lending was both timely, appropriate and well considered. I could walk in, and walk out with a 100k temporary Overdraft.

 

That is now gone.

 

Now we have huge, bloated and inefficient Corporate money-lenders, who are obsessed only by Profit and the maximisation of that using any means they can. Their Powerful Networks and Systems are not used to manage Accounts for the benefit of their Customers (who, let us not forget, Pay through the nose for banking services), but to spot weakness and exploit it for their own benefit. Privileged Financial Information is often used by the banks for their financial advantage to lever even greater Profits from Loan Fees and wholly obscene added "Insurance" costing them 5% of what they charge Customers for this "protection" and "peace of mind".

 

To add insult to injury, when these bankers then use our money to make investments, they often end up writing off millions, sometime billions, when their hair-brained investments flounder. A drunken monkey could do no worse selecting their Investments via Blindfold Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

 

I cannot get a 5k Overdraft now without employing an Accountant to assist with Cash Flow Projections for the next 30 Years.

 

Local Branches are now just vacant shells, staffed by Drones with no Authority. Managers are now managers, with silly Titles like Local Business Manager, or Manager in Charge of Squat, with no local authority. They just shuffle around as data hunter-gatherers, tasked to sniff around local clients in order to check on physical security and then fill out numbers on Spreadsheets. That's if you even see them these days!

 

Call Centres are mostly no longer in this Country, adding Language Barriers, Cultural issues and Data-Risk aspects to an already absurd situation. The Call Centres that are in this Country seem to be staffed mostly by aggressive and ignorant YTS students on a Commission to extract instant Payments by any means they can.

 

Hit a financial problem, and these bankers are all over you like a rash, heaping extra fines and penalty interest that just adds fuel to a minor fire. In many cases, it all then becomes a self-licking lollipop that causes severe financial problems where none really existed from the outset.

 

I have absolutely no sympathy for banks until they start to behave in a more ethical and appropriate manner with their Clients interests at heart.

 

Have a good one.

 

Cheers,

BRW

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello michee!

 

If you have not already done so, I would suggest starting a New Thread in the Banking Sections applicable to the nasty bank you are with.

 

Outline all key events and dates, without saying who you are that is, and I'm sure you'll get plenty of help from many people here to try and resolve this for you.

 

You are quite right to Write to them only, there is never anything to be gained by Telephoning a bank to discuss anything complex or important that relates to your own Financial Well-Being.

 

All it does is give them the upper hand, by allowing them to use their greater level of word twisting experience, or just plain narrow minded arrogance, to try and outwit you or just extract Payment and/or lecture you about the "banks position".

 

I'd love to know what a bank's "position" actually is, but all the ones I can imagine are exceptionally rude and very funny!

 

Just keep in mind that the word "banker" is a term of howling derision these days. When I am very annoyed at someone, that's what I call them. I cannot think of anything less disrespectful than being called a right "banker".

 

Don't give in to these people. Don't get mad, get even.

 

Cheers,

BRW

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello kennythecelt!

 

Thanks for advice given to Michee, Banker!!

 

banker?

 

How velly ruuuuuuuud!

 

Cheers,

BRW