Community

Will VISA give those of us who are non-believers an option to have a non-contactless card? I do not want one. Does this mean that I have to give back all of my VISA cards?

The last thing that I need in a busy life is an arguement with a faceless organisation to discuss whether I used a contactless card at a specific location on a specific date, when they say I did and I say I didn't.

Mel Haskins

Given that there are more than 250,000 charities in the UK I look forward to seeing how long it takes to scroll through the list before making a donation. Alternatively, who is going to choose which charities receive funds and which get nothing?

Mel Haskins

Having received identical wording from Green Flag, I am expecting to receive further texts telling me that the Pope is Catholic or that it is dangerous to climb ladders. Who, in Aviva, decided to spend the shareholders funds on such a wonderous 'elf & safety' text? Why do they still have a job? 

What is a check?

Here in the UK cheques (please note the spelling) have hardly been used for the last ten years or more. With the introduction of standing orders and direct debits more than 40 years ago and with the introduction of variable amount direct debits and debit cards in the last 20 years, most people write less than 10 cheques per year.

My cheque book is several years old and I doubt that I have written more than five cheques in that time.

Frankly, I do not need a cheque book in the 21st Century.

Regards

Mel Haskins

How does Javelin arrive at the 10% figure? The number of people with bank accounts in the world is at least one billion. This means that 100 million people are likely to have money fraudulently withdrawn from their bank account over the next year. Frankly, this is rubbish. Read the outstanding small paperback called How to Lie with Statistics, written by Darrell Huff in 1954, and still very relevant today.

Javelin are extrapolating a very small survey and trying to get headlines.

What an excellent article. As someone with relationships with four banks (and having closed accounts with two banks over the last two years through poor service) I can relate to this article very well.

In fact, the best 'bank' of the four that I deal with is Nationwide Building Society. Their internet and telephone services are excellent as are their branches.

The majority of the 'Big 4' have poor telephone services and several have poorly designed internet sites. It is easy to see why new entrants to the market are going to win market share.

Mel Haskins

I believe that a bank has four main assets. The fourth is quality IT Systems. Without good IT systems it does not matter how good the staff are, the service will remain below par. And a 14 year old will want to be able to use the service on the internet.

As a family we use of HSBC, Nationwide, Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of America, I can assure you that the quality of their IT systems varies significantly.

Mel Haskins

The Bank of England is only nominally independent. All appointments to the Bank's Court needs the approval of the Chancellor of the Exchequor. So, since it's independence, all new appointments to the Court have to have the nod of approval by a Labour Government. I do not see this as independent.

Nationwide use exactly the same readers. I could not agree more that for the first payment to a new payee it should be compulsory, but regular variable payments to the same person or organisation should not require the reader.

Whoever designed the system did not do a thorough analysis of the users needs. But tell me a bank that listens to it's customers - certainly not any that I have had dealings with over the last 30 years.

Grumpy of Barnet (Mel Haskins)

Private Bank & Trust, now rebranded as EFG Bank, was hailed as the first new bank to be established in the UK for 50 years in the 1980's.

Where does Tesco Bank fit into new banks opened in the last 100 years?

Shouldn't the Financial Times read it's own archives?

Mel Haskins

So how does