Visa And Amex In Germany
When I arrived in Berlin, I needed to buy a ticket and as I’m a Nationwide customer, I have one of their Visa cards that converts local currencies immediately without charges to my statement.
But in many places in Germany the only card you can use in Mastercard. As I travel usually with just Amex and Visa, I would have been scuppered, if I didn’t have quite a few Euros.
Surely, if we are a united Europe economically, then all machines and web sites that accept credit and charge cards, should be m,mandated in EU law to accept all types.
A consequence of the German policy was at Berlin, the machine on the platform to buy tickets for the S-Bahn was blocked with Americans and Australians trying to buy tickets without a Visa card and no euros.
Obviously, because of the way things are going when in perhaps five years, many cities will allow contactless cards as tickets, as London buses now do, this is going to be an area, where the Germans will have to allow cards other than Mastercard.
Rats And Sinking Ships Come To Mind
This story on the BBC today, that the Labour party is cutting its links with the Co-op Bank made me think of the headline of this post.
On the other hand, perhaps the owners of the other 70% of the bank, that the Co-operative Group doesn’t own, aren’t those who wear red underwear?
On the other hsand moving to a bank controlled by the Trade Unions, might not bode well for those who want the Labour party to think pragmatically and outside the box.
Is The Banking Industry Stirring Or Dying?
A few days ago, I reported about a new approach to retail banking from TSB. Yesterday, The Times carried a big advert detailing everything.
If I was with a dinosaur bank, I’d certainly think about moving, as I meet their conditions for interest and because I could try before I moved everything.
Yesterday too, I heard a report at 05:30 in the morning from PwC, that a quarter of all bank branches will be closed. I actually think that is a low figure, if the amount of traffic you see in branches round here is anything to go by!
My friend, David, saw the writing on the wall decades ago.
Victoria Asks The Question
Victoria Derbyshire asked this morning how George Osborne’s pension changes will affect you.
They won’t effect me, but they will effect those companies that provide the dreaded annuities, as I won’t be buying one!
I will be putting money into a peer-to-peer lender like Zopa, to provide me with a flexible income.
Suppose you had £50,000 invested in Zopa and it was generally lent out at 5% for five years. This money would be safeguarded by Zopa.
Once it was fully lent out, you would get an interest payment of £2,500 each year and capital repayments of £10,000 a year.
So in other words, you could withdraw £12,500 a year with no trouble. But if you didn’t and left it to accumulate in Zopa you would be earning more money.
Obviously, you would have to pay tax on your earnings, but the idea of using Zopa or one of their ilk, as an annuity could turn out to be a good one.
There is a rumour doing the rounds, that peer-to-peer lenders will be starting to productise their offerings, by creating specialist ISAs and flexible on-demand deposit accounts.
Payments To Mobile Phone
They have just fully announced, that you’ll soon be able to send payments to a mobile phone number. The system is called Paym.
My bank, Nationwide, won’t be bringing it in until next year, but I’m not sure about if I would use the system.
For instance, will these points be covered.
1. At times, I use a simple mobile phone, like one of my Nokia 6310i.
Can you just send money using a simple text?
If you can it would enable those who don’t want a smart phone to use the system.
It would also mean that a stolen phone might lead secrets to fraudsters.
2. Can you send payments from an on-line account to a mobile number enabled account?
3. Could I send money to a charity and get Gift Aid added?
Knowing the two words banks and innovation rartely appear in the same senytence, I suspect the system will be designed like a colander.
Is This An Innovative Approach From TSB?
I picked up this article on Moneywise this morning. The headline is.
TSB launches current account paying 5% interest
The 5% is only available on your first £2,000. As a comparison, my year-to-date figure on Zopa for around £150,000 is 4.94% at the moment, after all bad debts and charges.
But it was this that caught my eye in the article.
TSB will also allow customers to ‘try before they buy’ in that it won’t insist customers transfer all direct debits and standing orders to the new Plus account immediately; indeed, there is currently no timeframe for when direct debits must be ported across.
One of the reasons, I’ve not moved to another bank, is that I’d like to test drive the on-line systems first. To me, ease-of-use and copious information are two of the most important things in any on-line account or system. So being able to check these without commitment is very important.
So as we seem to be seeing a features race in banking, you could say we live in interesting times.
A Must View Web Site For Savers And Investors
Out of curiosity, I wanted to find out, what was the rate you’d got on savings in 2008.
So I searched Google and found this page on a web site called Swanlowpark. This is the first statement on the home page.
This website centres on one theme: how well have your savings kept their value when compared to inflation.
Website is not-for-profit, there is no advertising.
Looking at the page for annual savings rates, there are some interesting figures. Draw your own conclusions or read the author’s comments here.
Institutional Bank Transfers Have Really Got Better
Today is a Monday and I was surprised to see my monthly pension payment had arrived in my bank account overnight.
A few months ago, the transfer would be in a pending pot, but I wouldn’t have been able to use it for probably three days.
I could blow it all today, on a wheel nut for a Lamborghini.
The only users in this process are the banks.
I always remember my friend, David, who rose to the top of a major clearing bank, telling me that they got a third of their profits from overnight money.
So they won’t be getting the interest payment, when they lend out my pension money for two days. Unless of course, they lent it out for Friday and Saturday nights!
Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph On Peer-To-Peer ISAs
Anybody interested in using an ISA with peer-to-peer lending should read this article in the Telegraph today. It is entitled, How an 8 pc peer-to-peer ISA could work. This is the first two paragraphs.
Peer-to-peer lending could be included in tax-free Isas within 12 months and savers may be able to hold this new type of asset through major fund shops such as Hargreaves Lansdown.
The Telegraph understand the other options under consideration include a new type of Isa account established to hold peer-to-peer lending, or the peer-to-peer platforms offering other types of investment.
The Telegraph has been very detailed in its discussion of this topic and when they publish anything about peer-to-peer lending and ISAs, it’s always worth reading.
Peer-To-Peer Lending To Be Allowed in ISAs
The blog on Zopa has just reported that peer-to-peer lending will be allowed in the new ISAs. These new ISAs were announced in the Budget. Here’s part of the blog post.
Fantastic news for savers today as peer-to-peer lending will soon be included in ISAs as announced by George Osborne in the Budget today. The peer-to-peer ISA is an extremely exciting saving option for UK savers – enabling them to grow their money much faster, with reliable and safe returns.
By lending through Zopa with an ISA, UK savers will be able to make at least 2.5 times more interest than the sub 1.6% cash ISAs from banks with the same tax free benefit. Unlike other riskier stocks and shares ISAs, a more reliable and predictable Zopa ISA would allow every saver to become a millionaire under 30 years at the current rate of 5% if they used their full ISA allowance and would double their savings to £2m by saving for a further 11 years. Meaning that by 2044 you could be aZopa millionaire with over £649,000 in interest alone!
So after annoying insurance fat cats earlier, he’s now produced a nasty little surprise for that wunch of bankers, who like to sell underperforming investments, or products that nobody needs or wants.
The Anonymous Widower 