The Tyranny Of The Cards
I don’t carry any loyalty cards, as I have tried to cut the useless junk out of my wallet.
But every time I buy something in Boots or Sainsburys, they ask me for the loyalty card and I just say that I don’t carry one.
How many seconds a year, do I waste, whilst we discuss my non-existent loyalty cards?
Marks And Spencer Give Out Fivers
I sometimes get cash out of the machine in the side of Marks and Spencer at The Angel.
The last twice, it has given me a large number of fivers.
So that’s where they all are!
The machine was still at it on the 15th January.
Marks And Spencer Give Out Fivers
Note the warning notice!
The notes were as tatty and old as the cash machine, but no-one has rejected any so far.
Do People Pay Off Loans At The End Of The Year?
Looking at my Zopa figures it seems to show that more loans are paid up early around the turn of the year.
I can’t get any decent figures from my database, but it could be that at that time, people take a hard look at their finances and other factors might come in, such as parents paying off their children’s loans as a Christmas present.
Or it could be a one off effect this year as the Bank of England has said that mortgage lending has increased.
On the other hand, Zopa still seems to be lending money at the same rate, so perhaps the losers in this pincer movement are those providing traditional loans and overdrafts.
Verified By Visa Just Lost Nationwide A Customer
I shall be changing my bank from Nationwide, as I just tried to book a ticket using my debit card and the dreaded Verified by Visa screen came up.
I don’t use any card on-line with this facility, so I phoned them to ask them to remove it.
They wouldn’t, so I’ll remove myself from the bank and find one that doesn’t use such an annoying system.
In the end I paid £4 to use my American Express card.
Do We Need Retail Banks?
There was another cash machine fiasco last night, when Lloyds and Halifax had a big computer system failure. Read about it here in the Daily Mail.
This problem hit so many people, as they didn’t really plan their day out properly.
I’ve never been hit by one of these periodic cash point failures, as probably more by luck than judgement, Nationwide haven’t had a problem.
But one thing I do, is make sure when I’m down to my last twenty or so in my wallet, is get a cash injection. But then in places where I spend money, there are lots of cash machines. Take yesterday on my trip to Notting Hill. I passed machines in Kings Cross station, just outside Notting Hill station and close to Otto. But then I didn’t need any money.
So although yesterday’s failure was disastrous for some, with a bit of planning, it could have been avoided.
On the other hand, I’ve heard of people queuing on pay day by cash machines, so they can draw their money out to get some cigarettes.
These failures will do one good thing and that is get customers to look at how they keep and use money.
More and more we’ll question, whether we need to have a retail bank at all.
What is really needed for most of us, is a simple bank account to hold our working capital, accept our salary or pension, pay our standing orders and other bills, and tell cashpoint machines that we have money to withdraw.
Does A Country, Company Or Organisation Need A Woman At The Top?
There has been a lot of news today about the release under the thirty-year-rule of secret documents concerning Margaret Thatcher and various subjects like the Falklands War, Jimmy Savile and her son, Mark.
Nothing is particularly contentious, except perhaps the fact that someone misjudged what was happening in Argentina and gave Mrs. Thatcher bad information. But then the Secret Intelligence Service, didn’t give Tony Blair the best information either.
On the other hand, when dealing with Mark lost in the desert, she seems to have acted to make sure that the state didn’t pay for her son’s folly.
If we go through the history of the United Kingdom, you’ll find that at various dark hours, women have been to the fore. You could start a list with Boudicca, Elizabeth the First, Victoria and Margaret Thatcher. You could argue that our current Queen has been a safe pair of hands for most of her life. She was also part of that vast army of women, who stepped in to fill the gaps in the factories, in transport and as support staff during the Second World War. Hitler didn’t mobilise the German women and he of course lost. Some historians say the mobilisation of women in the UK, was a major factor.
I would argue that you don’t need to have a woman at the top,but once you have, it changes a lot of the culture, even if it’s just other talented women believe they can get there. And competition is always healthy, as it promotes the best!
Look at Margaret Thatcher’s effect on British politics. Before her stint as Prime Minister, there were few women at the top in British politics and there have been a lot more since she resigned.
Look at the basket cases of the Eurozone! How many of them have had a woman Prime Minister or President. Only Ireland and that is the one country in trouble, that is making progress towards sorting its finances.
Spanish Bank Of Snow White And The Six Dwarfs Is Worthless
This headline on this article in today’s Times, gets my vote as one of the best headlines of the year.
It refers to the Spanish bank called Bankia. The BBC has the story here, but the headline isn’t as good.
And we reckon our banks were bad enough.
After reading the two articles, I will make sure, I don’t go anywhere near a branch of Santander, as I might be kidnapped to help sort out the Spanish banks. After all, I’m worth more than Bankia, which according to the BBC article has a negative value of over ten billion euros.
I suspect that everybody in the UK, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Australia and many other countries is actually worth more than Bankia. Even if they have unfortunately been declared bankrupt.
The Zopans Worked Hard Yesterday
If I look at the two loans, I chalked up on Christmas Day, both are now in my portfolio of loans. Five loans that were applied for yesterday have also been added.
It looks to me, that the Zopans worked hard yesterday.
My bank, Nationwide, is fully open today, but it won’t be again until the 3rd of January.
The Zopans Are At Work
There has been activity on my Zopa account this morning, with £150 credited from repayments and a couple of outstanding loan offers have been approved.
I suspect that a lot of these actions are just clever software, but some might have needed an OK from someone with a face and a brain!
Four loan offers have also appeared on my account with today’s date. So there are definitely people out there, who need a loan on most days in the year. My two loan offers on Christmas Day are still being processed.
Incidentally, looking at my loan book, I have a loan that was started on Christmas Day 2010.
The Anonymous Widower 