banks, don't they just drive you nuts!

Warning, this is a bit of a rant.

Geez what is it with banks, got a letter on Tuesday, with "there has been unusual activity on your account" hum ya like I might be buying stuff for xmas, geez never! So they stopped my card, well that was bl00dy helpful, so 1/2 my ebay purchaes will fail, so no doubt I'll be getting bad feedback, as well as other bill I couldn't pay so they'll be red bill coming in soon no doubt.

I've rung the bank and sent them off with a flee in their ear and they tell me they've enabled the card again, maybe I should Bill my bank for the extra expense and hassle they've caused me (and charge them £25 for the letter!).

I check my account almost evry night I'd know if there was unusual activity and I'd be phoning them! Geez this really is a nany state, evern the banbks are telling you what you can spend your money on. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!

Banks don't you just luv them??

 

Erm this happened to me a month ago. I get a message from my bank on the answering phone they have stopped my card for the same reason. I checked my statement and discovered about £500 had been spent on it which was not me. Their security software noticed iregular paterns of usage and put the block on it.

Luckily because my card had been stolen in the post and the theif used my card with a fake signitures the bank made the retailers liable and blocked the payment to them, so I got my money back just a few days later.

This kind of thing me be inconvienient but when it works freud dectection software is a god send.

 

I see your point there AT, and I stuned at how card can get "stolen" in the post, the finger must point at the Royal Mail for this, but I digress.

Ya but what my bank where quibiling over was £35, yep a whopping £35 in small payments made to paypal, yes if £500 had gone walkies I would not have minded, but I think this is a little petty.

Bring on Chip & Pin, I've been waiting for this for a long time, a signature is such a insecure measure, personally I'd go further and had a photo on the card as well.

 

dont even start me on banks

 

My mum is sometimes charged for things when its the banks fault, she usualy finds a subtle letter does to trick to get the charges reversed.

Chip and Pin is great, its still not perfect as theifs can watch you enter the number in but its much better than the pahtetic signiture method. I agree that bank cards should have photos on them as well.

 

i had my cc fraudulated a month or so ago. someone was trying to rack up massive bets at an internet casino. i got as phonecall on a sunday afternoon asking whether i was the one doing the betting. i wasn;t and all the bogus transactions were removed and a new card issued in a matter of days. so thumbs up for that.
my bank however is totally schitzophrenic. when i was made redundant the first things they asked me were 'do you want a switch card' and 'can we increase your overdraft facility for you'. then when my loan insurance stopped paying out they get all arsey and refuse to help one little bit forcing me to scrabble around to find the money to pay off the loan when all i wanted was a week or so to sort out something more permanent.
still they are much better than my previous bank who messed me around to a ridiculous amount when i was working abroad. eventually i just closed my account there and went where i am now.
cheers


julian

 

I keep getting 'take out a mortgage with us' letters from my bank. The thing is, I already have a mortgage with them :banghead:

 

I recently closed a bank account due to bad service, and when I opened one at another bank I was told I had defaults against my name, when I said the inevitible "what", the good lady said "oh, your blacklisted". When I told her that that was impossible as I have never yet bought any thing on finance and always paid cash, she said that was why.

No credit history equals bad credit history equals blacklisted, she then asked me if I wanted an overdraft and what type of credit card I wanted.

Confused ? yes I was.

 

Two words: First Direct

Been with them for 13 years, always excellent service, never had a single problem. Can't recommend them highly enough.

Michael.

 

In terms of internet banking, I found Cahoot to offer a very good, efficient service (and a reasonable level of interest rather than the usual 0.1%). Ok, so they don't have high street branches, but 99% of all my banking is now done over the phone/internet so it's not a problem.

 

So what happens if you have a cheque?

 

The Royal Bank of Scotland for me. I have a local branch in St Andrews with nice friendly staff. If i need to phone the bank for any reason during working hours, then i get through to my own local branch , not a remote call centre in downtown Mumbai. Their online banking service allows me to 'do stuff' during the weird waking hours that i often keep too.

 

You send it in via post (free) or pay it in at a post office.

Got a letter from one of the big 4 high street banks this week telling me I haven't used my account for 2 years (I only have a small balance in there - it was a student account) and if I don't use it in the next 60 days then they will freeze my account and funds - what gives them the right to be able to freeze my money that way ? (if they were to check their records, they would see I have changed the address every 6 months for the past 2 years - each time I moved house, so I'm obviously still alive!)

 

seconded.