Supreme court case not the end of the world

[yourbank]

Go to RBS and ask for a Key a/c or NatWest for a Step a/c. Neither will ever pay you into overdraft. The problem for most people is that they want a debit card which you don't get with these a/cs.

 

Every bank has by law to provide a no fees, no frills a/c but its not in their interests to promote them. Think of all those juicy fees they'd lose!

 

Ricky, I gotta pick you up on this point cos I know very well what happens. The Step account will go into negative balance if the Direct Debit is returned unpaid and therefore creating an overdraft not permitted on the account, so to speak.

Every bank has to provide a basic account but not exactly one without fees whatsoever.

[indebtstudent]

Which links into the other point I've been making recently about the whole meaning of authorized and unauthorized, yes I authrize the (unpaid) transaction then they authorize the overdraft but charge me again for it.

 

I need a basic bank account though as part of sorting out my own financial woes so I'll check those ones out.

 

BTW yourbank have you ever heard of the managers daily report or similar? Just wondering what use it would be at branch level given that managers don't manage anymore.

Edited November 29, 2009 by indebtstudent
Question

[rickyd]

"

 

"Go into the bank again and ask them about the Managers Daily Report, this details every account about to become overdrawn, or still overdrawn on each banking day, for each individual branch. That's the report they check - its a major sales prospecting tool."

 

Who are THEY? Do you mean to say that someone in the branch checks these? If so I can only assume the worlds largest buidling society does not have such a report as I never heard one mentioned whilst working there. I am CERTAIN the sales people would've wanted this info to look for loan opportunities...

 

The report may be kept on some computer at head office, available if someone wants to look at it, but this is very different from work at branch level. In any event this is beside the point even if someone in each branch looks at the list what do they actually do???? Any letter relating to charges or statements are actually sent from head office.

 

I don't get the point you are making here, branches do very little these days you know. Case in point Nationwide had a computer problem where some DD's were taken early. In the briefing it said the charges would be reversed but they would STILL shoe on the affected customers statements because the process is AUTOMATED.

 

Ps I bank with A & L for my sins. There is no nearby branch I amange the account entirely online or over the phone. I asked them what happens in deciding whether to pay an item for which they charge £25 paid item fee. They sent back a templated response which did not address this. Fortunately as the DD guarantee had been broken they refunded the charges (8 weeks after the event).

 

 

Yes, the branch networks certainly do receive access to the Managers Daily report each and every day. It used to be a computer print-out, but is now delivered electronically.

 

There's two main reasons for this - firstly it shows which accounts are going over limit or are getting deeper into debt so that problems can be detected early on so that action can be taken; second - it can be used as a sales tool.

 

Both reasons are enough to ensure it is used every day. My RBS colleagues tell me it's use is being even more rigidly enforced since the crisis. I can't speak for A&L though.

 

If the DD guarantee was broken, the paying bank absolutely must repay you immediately, taking 8 weeks breaks every rule in the book and you should chase them for compensation ASAP.

[rickyd]

Ricky, I gotta pick you up on this point cos I know very well what happens. The Step account will go into negative balance if the Direct Debit is returned unpaid and therefore creating an overdraft not permitted on the account, so to speak.

Every bank has to provide a basic account but not exactly one without fees whatsoever.

 

I stand corrected, you are quite right in that scenario they would incur charges. With the Key account its £5 per unpaid item with a maximum of £50 per month.

 

But it is the closest thing to a free account they offer.

[nevos]

Yes, the branch networks certainly do receive access to the Managers Daily report each and every day. It used to be a computer print-out, but is now delivered electronically.

I don't know if anyone can remember this, many years ago the banks made quite a few managers redundant probably due to small branch closures, some of them set up on thier own going around to business and offering to check your bank statements.

 

To cut a long story short, we did our own and found NatWest had been lifting our overdraft rates on a regular basis resulting in them owing us 4K which, they paid straight in to the account without any argument.

 

Later I heard that it was a regular thing the banks did to increase profit as most companies couldnt calculate the charges on fluctuating overdraft balances.

Edited December 3, 2009 by nevos
spelling

[indebtstudent]

"firstly it shows which accounts are going over limit or are getting deeper into debt so that problems can be detected early on so that action can be taken"

 

This is not the case at Nationwide (which is the largest Mutual), bank managers are just sales managers these days. What actio would be taken at branch level?

 

"If the DD guarantee was broken, the paying bank absolutely must repay you immediately, taking 8 weeks breaks every rule in the book and you should chase them for compensation ASAP."

 

I got a refund, and the company concerned gave me £25 goodwill so I did alright on the deal. I see the DD guarantee as virtually worthless as I believe if other DD's had also been returned because of this I would have had a very hard time getting those charges cancelled IMO.

 

Also in my current job in the event of an error many customer report that thier bank takes a certain no of days to credit the money. Very much not the immediate refund which is promised.

 

"But it is the closest thing to a free account they offer."

 

Which is entirely my point. There is a distinct lack of accounts geared to people on meagre incomes who simply cannot afford a charge. These people lose twice if they get a charge the spiral starts, but if they choose not to have an account or to not use DD's then they can't get the cheapest deal on many things.

 

I've had a re-think of this as a sales tool. I think if someone rang me out of the blue to point out the account was over the limit and tried to flog me a loan I'd be insulted and concerned that they were using the info in this way.

 

Sorry to be so pedantic, but I feel very strongly about this, and feel it is important to give out accurate information. The Daily Mail (fairly) recently made reference to not having proper bank managers, which is entirly the case. Heck in HSBC they don't even have a counter staff on a Sat morning, so no card=no withdrawls.

 

Branches do very little, and at least at Nationwide stuff turnover if huge. I believe these observations can be generalized to the rest of the industry given Nationwide's desire to be like the banks.