I Hate Banks

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Halifax and the BoS are the same now. So I cant go to them unfortunately.

 

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Soz Fergal, I wasn't aware of that

 

oh wait you didn't start this thread my bad

grim

 

HAHA. Success.

My appointment with Abbey went very well I must say. I asked for two accounts and they said "No Problem". They offered £300 overdrafts on both, I accepted it on one. They only offered me a Cardcash card on both (from machines only, no online stuff, etc), but since Im switching, they are willing to upgrade one of them to a Visa Electron.

Both accounts are benefitting from the 8% APR for the first 12 months, so long as they receive over £1000 a month into the account (So only one will actually get the benefit).

 

Glad for you Fergal and to see that your working things out with your finances. Cheerio as that's the way to go

 

Congrats!

When you go to withdraw your money from the soon-to-be-former bank, be sure to make the withdrawal request to the girl or manager with whom you spoke before.

 

Ah well the whole process should be done by the bank, as I've authorised them to do a switch.

 

congrats, you out celebrating tonight ?

grim

 

Hell no. im trying to get OUT of debt. not back into it.

 

what no bottle of bubble ?

grim

 

I am shocked and reading this in horror. Here in the Netherlands it is normal that, when a payment bounces, you get notified by the bank the payment was not made and you'll have to take care of it yourself. No costs or punishments what so ever.

 

dammit who called the typo police ?

grim

 

Can I move there then?

Banks are shocking over here. As I recall, if you guys make a transfer to another bank, its done by 5pm that day right? Here it can take up to four days. Same with cheques.

 

it normally takes 3 working days from bank to bank for cheques and bank transfers to clear, im sure in europe it clears the same day. the reason the banks do it is they gain interest while the moneys in their posession. there was talk of us doing it over here but nothings happened yet.

grim

 

The Netherlands is a free country, so moving to here is no problem. It might be a good idea to learn the language. Most Dutch are so polite they start trying to speak English when they have the impression there oponent is English. Most of the time we call those tries Nenglish. To be described as the exact word for word translation of Dutch expressions and proverbs. I recently bought a book on some of those mistakes. Great humor. Example: How do you do and how do you do your wife?
About the times for transfer, that could be different from bank to bank. I know there are banks hooked up in a network and a transfer is done instandly. Some banks indeed process the transactions batch wise. Not sure howlong cheques take to process. When speed is needed you could even make the transfer by telephone, or by the internet. processed within minutes.

 

Tinus,

There was a time not so many years ago, when it was common for the banks in the smaller communities here to behave much like those you're describing. These days, the banks here are not as forgiving. A lot of the personalization in banking has disappeared. I'm sure much of that has to do with the smaller, privately owned banks, being bought up by much larger institutions. And the way that government tries to regulate the banking industry probably doesn't help either. Overall, if the system is used properly, it's not so bad.

Fergal,

The bank fees that you encounter and the delays that you experience are going to vary from bank to bank. They could stem from a number of reasons, ranging from on one end, the lack of technology, to the other, additional security measures. Who knows?

Sorry to hear of your situation. It's no fun living from paycheck to paycheck. But almost everyone has at some point and most still manage to live a happy productive life. You're still young enough to recover quite nicely from the troubles you're having. Keep your spirits up.

I like the response you had to the inquiry of going out to celebrate. That shows me that you realize you have an issue that needs to be dealt with. Great first step. A very prominent and successful financial advisor in the states suggests to create a written budget at the beginning of each month. As he puts it, "spend every dollar, on paper, on purpose". It helps you keep a close eye on your finances. If you haven't yet, you might give it a try.

Someday, you'll look back and be able to smile and wonder how you managed to get by. If you would like to know more about the financial advisor I mentioned above, his name is Dave Ramsey. Check out the link below.

http://www.daveramsey.com/

Good Luck,
Bill

 

Dave is The Man, and better yet, he's local to me. VERY highly recommended!