RBS Tries A New Line In Customer Service
I love this story, from the Edinburgh Evening News.
For RBS customers, it’s Christmas.
But obviously, only in Edinburgh!
They would never have tried such a stunt to get new customers in Glasgow!
London Shows Contactless Cards Work On Buses
This article on Finextra, shows that what the Dismal Jimmies predicted when you could use your contactless cards for bus travel didn’t happen. Here’s the two paragraphs.
Transport for London is celebrating a successful one-year anniversary of the use of contactless payments cards on the capital’s buses, as it prepares to extend the technology to the entire transit network in 2014.
Since it was launched on Thursday 13 December 2012 when 2,061 customers made 2,586 journeys, more than 6.5 million journeys have now been made using an American Express, MasterCard or Visa Europe contactless payment card.
So now we have another good thing, that the banks have done for us in addition to the cash machine.
I hope, I’m young enough to be able to use my contactkess bank card on public transport all over the world. It would certainly have helped in Bilbao and a lot of other places I’ve visited this year.
The Dumbest Bank Of The Year
This has just been awarded by Bloomberg to the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers.
Bloomberg reports it here.
It doesn’t say, if the bank turned up to receive their award. Or did they send Gordon Brown? After all he started this fiasco!
Giving A Bank A Cyber Kicking When Its Down
RBS and its subsidiary NatWorst are getting attacked by hackers according to this report in the Guardian. Here’s the bank’s description of the problems and their explanation of what happened.
The bank said its systems had been deliberately targeted: “Due to a surge in internet traffic deliberately directed at the NatWest website, customers experienced difficulties accessing some of our customer websites today.
But the outcome is the same as ever and customers couldn’t use the web sites.
I blame some hackers, who have a vested interest in RBS going bust.
Perhaps they’re another wunch of bankers, who have hedged the share price!
Will the last customer to leave RBS/Natworst please close their browser!
Will Peer-To-Peer Lending Be Allowed In ISAs?
According to this article in the Telegraph, it looks like it might happen. Here’s the first bit from the article.
Savers will be able to earn tax-free returns on peer-to-peer lending websites under plans to allow this type of investment within an Isa, The Telegraph understands.
Industry sources said a consultation on opening up Isas to peer-to-peer lending – sometimes referred to as “crowdfunding” – is expected to be unveiled by George Osborne in the Autumn Statement on Thursday.
At present my total losses from my Zopa lending is £708.93. That should be judged against total earnings of £16,009.32.
But if they allow losses to be set against tax in ISAs, then I suspect, we may see peer-to-peer losses to be set against your tax bill. So on that basis, I will be a couple of hundred pounds or so better off.
Zopa at present is lending a small amount less per day, than it was a month or so ago. So allowing losses to be set against tax, may well get more people to put their savings there.
The only losers in this case, will be the banks and building societies, who pay a derisory rate of interest.
A Quick Analysis Of Bank Phishing E-Mails
I have been collecting bank phishing e-mails since July.
I’ve received a hundred and six of them, with most banks being mentioned a couple of times. The scores were as follows.
Halifax – 2
Nationwide – 2
HSBC – 9
Santander – 2
Lloyds – 2
But this is dwarfed by twenty six aimed at customers of RBS and Natwest. Let’s face it, if you’re a phishing expert, you might target a bank with well-publices problems, as an e-mail about security issues might be expected. Incidentally, I’ve never had an e-mail of any sort from Nationwide, except for a monthly one, to say that my statement is ready. But that has no links in it.
So that is another reason to leave the bank, as because you are obviously not that savvy in staying with them, you might be the sort of person, who falls victim to the scam.
But I wouldn’t think of moving to Barclays, as they score a massive 53 in the period.
It would seem to me, that the time you are most vulnerable to scams is just after you’ve changed banks, so as there are still Barclays phishing e-mails flying around, I’d avoid them.
Would Any Sane Person Bank with RBS?
RBS had yet another computer failure last night, as reported here on the BBC.
This would appear to be the third time, after this failure in March and the one referred to here in 2012.
If you search this blog for Natworst, you’ll find a few more customer service failures.
Show me someone who banks with RBS or one of their sorry subsidiaries and I’ll show you an idiot! Why haven’t they moved their account away from this complete travesty of a company? The answer must be a five letter word beginning with I.
Peer-to-Peer Lending Sites Compared
I found this page, which compares peer-to-peer lending sites across the world.
It’s interesting reading and if nothing else it shows how peer-to-peer lending sites are starting up all over the world.
There’s a rumour that a forward-thinking person is opening a toilet paper shop in the City, with a branch in the new Canary Wharf station-cum shopping centre.
You don’t need laws to curb the excesses of bankers, you need to innovate them out of a job.
Is This The Best A Bank Or Building Society Can Do?
The Guardian reports that the Leeds Building Society is offering a ten-year bond, which locks your money away for just four percent interest. The Guardian says this.
Leeds Building Society has launched the account, a fixed-rate savings bond offering a rate of interest that is eight times the Bank of England base rate and almost double the current rate of inflation. But it is not an account for money you may need in a hurry; customers have to agree to tie their money up for 10 years, until 31 December 2023, with no withdrawals of capital allowed during the term. And the minimum amount that can be put into the account is £10,000.
It certainly is not for me, as I get more than that, with the ability to retrieve my interest from Zopa.
But it does seem that no bank or building society, offers a better deal!
The Scandal Of 084x And 087x Numbers
The BBC is reporting today about expensive calls to financial companies and other institutions like the Inland Revenue and the NHS. It’s here on their web site.
For the first time, since I moved to BT in 2010, to save myself some money compared to Virgin, I decided to check my bills.
I have a tariff that allows me to call any landline at any time, for a flat fee of seven pounds a month. As I have some long landline calls, I suspect, I’m quids in on this.
But what surprised me was a fairly long call to the Netherlands cost me just twenty-eight pence. Most of the call charges were calls to mobile numbers.
As to my bank, Nationwide and my two credit/charge cards, all are on 0845 numbers, which under my calling plan are free. Not that I ever call them, as most seem to respond well to queries sent on-line.
In fact the only higher rate number I have rung in the last few months was a short call to my doctor, to book an appointment, as it’s an 0844 number. But whether, I’m charged for it, I don’t know. You shouldn’t be charged for calls to your doctor. Booking an appointment, is something, that should be done on-line.
There is an interesting point here. How many of us have calling plans, on which some or all of our landline calls free. So as we realise what we get, if companies published their actual numbers, they might get a few less customers, angry at hanging on at high cost. After all, if you do call direct, you probably get in the same queue. So you will probably wait as long, but at no expense.
The real problem is calling these numbers on a mobile phone, as I’ve found several instances of people like benefit claimants being fleeced.
The Anonymous Widower 