dsr wrote: ↑19 Feb 2022, 01:31
I've never seen the attraaction of internet banking. For one thing I don't think it's very secure because you only need to be hacked once and it's all gone, and for another, the idea that if something goes wrong I have literally no-one to turn to bar a chatline, possibly in a foreign country ... I want to be able to go to a branch.
Most online banking is in addition to, not instead of, an actual physical bank. I have had a bank account with my bank for a long time, since before internet banking was a thing. I then added internet banking to my accounts.
I cant imagine having to go into a bank to do all the things I can do online. It's about a thirty minute walk to the nearest branch of my bank, though if I went to the hassle of moving bank there's one 20 minutes away. Either way I'd have to make a special trip just to go there, and I'd have to go during their opening hours of course. And maybe wait in a queue.
All to do something that I can do in ten seconds on my phone? No thanks.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
I think it's fine to have online banking as an additional service, but sadly many branches of banks and building societies have closed in recent years. Some smaller towns now don't have access to any local bank.
There must be lots of smaller trades people who still need access to a bank, what about mobile hairdressers? Surely they are still paid in cash or cheques? I can't imagine all pensioners who have someone in to do their hair have the ability to do an on-line transfer.
I'm lucky, I have a great local post office, literally a few minutes walk from my house where I can withdraw cash as and when I need it. I only need to visit my building society about once a month if I've got money to pay in, and sometimes I might do 2 months' worth of savings at once. I would normally need to go into town about once a month to stock up on various bits and pieces anyway, and the banks/buildings societies normally have similar opening times to the shops, so it's not a problem. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any transaction I would want/need to do outside of shop opening times. In fact, apart from withdrawing cash or paying a cheque in, I can't think of any other transactions I use banks for anyway. So for me, online banking isn't really something that would make my life that much different/save me me time etc.
Katharine wrote: ↑20 Feb 2022, 13:08
There must be lots of smaller trades people who still need access to a bank, what about mobile hairdressers? Surely they are still paid in cash or cheques? I can't imagine all pensioners who have someone in to do their hair have the ability to do an on-line transfer.
When Enid had a mobile hairdresser, until about a year ago, she used to pay her by cheque for many years and those cheques probably accounted for over 90% of the cheques we used. Some time after I retired, ten years ago, I suggested to the hairdresser that I could pay her by bank transfer and she was happy to do that. Quite often it would be a couple of weeks before she managed to get to the bank to pay the cheque in. I don't know how her other customers used to pay her and I don't know when we last used a cheque to pay anyone.
Unfortunately that hairdresser stopped hairdressing last year and so I now have to take Enid to a salon about a mile away. She pays by card but has to give any tip in cash, for which I have to go to the ATM in advance to withdraw some money (we didn't know that the first time she went to the salon) then split the money in a shop by buying something like a bar of chocolate. That's probably one of the few reasons I need to use cash. I have just checked back to last year and the first time I used the ATM in 2021 was in August and I used it twice more in November and December. On each occasion I withdrew just £20.
"You can't change history as that won't change the future"
Katharine wrote: ↑20 Feb 2022, 13:08
Off the top of my head, I can't think of any transaction I would want/need to do outside of shop opening times. In fact, apart from withdrawing cash or paying a cheque in, I can't think of any other transactions I use banks for anyway. So for me, online banking isn't really something that would make my life that much different/save me me time etc.
Out of interest what do you do if you want to check if your wages have gone in or if they are correct? Or if a payment/refund has been processed, or if you just want to know your account balance? It has been a long time since I haven't had online banking, so I assume you have to visit a branch or at least an ATM for a mini statement?
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
I just wait for my monthly statement and check that. I have on-line access to my pay slips, so can check how much I'm being paid each month (although as I have to submit a timesheet, I know how much I should be getting, and on what day it is to be paid). I usually keep a running total of my transactions, so if I wanted to query if something had gone through then I could get a balance check at my local post office.
I rarely have anything that would require a refund, and I try and avoid using my debit card and use cash instead, so there aren't that many transactions to check. I suppose the only unpredictable transaction I might need to keep an eye on would be a cheque as the recipient could take up to 6 months I think to cash one in.
More or less the only time I use cash now is to pay the window cleaner. Which inevitably involves handing over a £20 one week, and getting £16.50 in change which then does to pay them the next three weeks until we need to withdraw another £20
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
I've just been to the chippy to treat my wife to chips 'n gravy (who said romance is dead!) anyway, there was a big sign up in the shop saying 'CASH ONLY'...
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane - Society Member
Another example of needing cash happened today. I went shopping with my daughter, and I paid for some items on her behalf. She now needs to pay me back for them. She does have a bank account, but as far as I know, she's too young to be granted internet banking, so will need to go to a bank, withdraw cash, and pay me back.
How do people with young children manage to teach them about money? My grandmother often used to give us a 'few pennies' as children, which we would pop into our piggy banks when we got home, and then we'd empty it out and count it up from time to time until we'd saved up enough to buy whatever it was we'd got our eye on.
Do grandparents not give their grandchildren money any more, or is it all done with the ping of an app? How would a small child understand that they do or don't have enough money to buy something in a shop?
Katharine wrote: ↑23 Feb 2022, 21:38
How do people with young children manage to teach them about money? My grandmother often used to give us a 'few pennies' as children, which we would pop into our piggy banks when we got home, and then we'd empty it out and count it up from time to time until we'd saved up enough to buy whatever it was we'd got our eye on.
Do grandparents not give their grandchildren money any more, or is it all done with the ping of an app? How would a small child understand that they do or don't have enough money to buy something in a shop?
Back in the mid-1990s my son, who was 4 or 5 years old at that time, wanted me to buy something (I can't remember exactly what it was) and I told him I could not afford it as I had no money, at which he looked at me in amazement and said "but all you have to do is put your card into the bank machine and it will give you plenty of money!" He had understood that one could withdraw money from the ATM, but not that one had to have money in one's account in order to do so!
Reminds me of a similar story when we'd just returned from a family holiday and one of my children said they wished we could have stayed another week. I replied that we didn't have enough money to stay any longer, to which they replied "but you've lots of money in your purse". Oh if only the weekly housekeeping was enough to pay for a week's stay somewhere.
Katharine wrote: ↑23 Feb 2022, 21:38
Another example of needing cash happened today. I went shopping with my daughter, and I paid for some items on her behalf. She now needs to pay me back for them. She does have a bank account, but as far as I know, she's too young to be granted internet banking, so will need to go to a bank, withdraw cash, and pay me back.
Katharine, I don't know how old your daughter is but this is what Barclays say:
How old do I have to be to do my banking online?
To manage your finances online, you have to be 16 or over and hold a Young Person’s Account, a Barclays Bank Account or other qualifying current account.
If you’ve recently turned 16 and have a BarclayPlus Account, you’ll need to visit your local branch so we can upgrade your account to a Young Person’s Account and register you for Online Banking. If you have the right account, you can register online today.
However, other banks have different ideas, like this one from Santander which gives online banking to younger persons:
I'm not sure of all the details of my daughter's bank account, but I think she can check her balance on-line, but doesn't have the option of transferring money to other accounts, which is why she'll need to go into town to the nearest branch of her bank to withdraw the cash. I'm fairly sure we checked when she opened the account, and were told she couldn't withdraw money from the post office, and I've always discouraged her from using an ATM as there have been so many cases where people have had their card cloned, or someone stands too close and by using distraction techniques, steals the card. The only ATM I would ever use would be one actually inside a bank, and even then only as a last resort, as I'd rather be served by a human being and hopefully help keep them in a job.
As for younger children, I'd be really interested to know how people with say a 5 or 6 year old child/niece or nephew/grandchild etc teaches them about money. A good number of Enid Blyton's stories involve children emptying out their money boxes and counting up their odd shillings and pennies to see if they have enough money to buy someone a present. If everyone is going cashless, how will children in the future do that?
