So many bank branches closing !

[Jennalong]

I live in Cumbria and my local Barclays closed 2 years ago so I had to go to my next town ( 20 miles round trip ) but now that one is also closing alongside another branch which would have been a 50 mile round trip.
So which online banks do you use and did the switch over ( direct debits , regular bank transfers etc ) swap over go seamlessness as they promise to do for you ?
Or any to avoid ? Thanks.

Oh and those people saying "What about the elderly?", well my dad is knocking 80 and can manage his money perfectly well online.

Oh and those people saying "What about the elderly?", well my dad is knocking 80 and can manage his money perfectly well online.

Well, my mum is 90 and has no way of accessing the internet. On this exchange of anecdotes, the score is 1-1. Neither of us is proving anything.

@LittleBearPad yes of course cash machines are great for small quantities. Sometimes I can go over several days and withdraw £300 a time but I withdraw quite large sums so sometimes go further and combine it with a trip to a larger supermarket or something.

You do realise that not everyone is like your dad, right?

We use Monzo. Specifically built for online, great customer service, embraces all the "new" features like savings pots, instant alerts of spending.

Only potential downside for older folk is its app online, no website banking, but that's personal preference.

Haven't set foot in a physical bank branch in years. I use Nationwide and Monzo. As people have said Monzo is great for the digitally savvy. Money transfers are really easy (Monzo me is great for sending and receiving payments), you get alerts every time you spend money or money is paid in, you can put money in to pots to help organise your spending. But there are zero physical branches and the assumption is digital first (although I think they do have a limited call centre)

I use Nationwide for my main current accoun, some savings and my mortgage. Their app is less flashy and a bit clunky, but the interface is probably better for an online banking newbie as it looks like a bank statement IYSWIM.

I am concerned about the wider erosion of social contact that is being perpetuated by the decrease in face to face contact with others due to digitalisation. Just because a job can be done by a machine, I am not convinced that it should be. I was very pleased that the rail ticket offices remained open. I am perfectly capable of using the machine to buy tickets, but I enjoy speaking to people, building up a little rapport over time, that sort of thing, so I always go to the ticket office where I see the same person every time I travel and we have a little chat.

Loneliness is a terrible silent (ha) contributor of morbidity and mortality. I value little interactions that allow us to communicate even just a little with each other. So, for that reason I hate to see the full automation we seem to be heading towards while accepting that there are some fabulous advantages to much of it too. We need balance though. So I like real in person banking for that reasons too.

@willowstar

Totally agree.

One day I envisage we will all be sat indoors wfh , shopping , banking , dating online , zoom friends , getting deliveroo , Amazon etc and never leaving home .
Hang on , it's happening now 😂😂

I think Nationwide have a pledge to not close their branch if it's the last bank in town. And they now have more branches than any other bank. I think they offer a cash incentive to switch to them too.

Problem is in person banking is always shit and not customer focussed at all.

It relies on people having time in the working week to stand in a queue in a bank branch. Why would I give up my lunch hour to do that when I can sort it in a few minutes in my phone?

I am a big one for getting out and socialising but banking isn't social interaction, it is a boring admin task I need to get done.

This morning whilsr I was waiting for my breakfast egg to boil, I have paid my service charge, set up a new DD, made a couple of transfers to my savings accounts and checked that I got paid yesterday. I am not sure my life would be any better if I had had to spend 30 mins of my lunch hour doing that yesterday.

My mother was 65 twenty years ago

Now she is not in good enough health to correctly perceive what numbers are showing on a screen, never mind enter them. Yours is a very short sighted view. She is past the age of life expectancy. Even without suffering two strokes, you think someone that age is guaranteed to cope with still doing things online? Of course some do, but not all.

and yes, finance can be complicated. At the very least, it can seem complicated if your health isn't great.

What do you go into your branch for? If you are looking for an online bank chances are you don’t need to leave Barclays as you can still do it all.

Chase accounts are very easy to open, have savings accounts with good rates and you get cash back on your debit card spends. I have never had to talk to a person so have no idea what their customer service is like

The problem is despite all the noise when bank branches close, very few people use them. There was an article in the news a few weeks ago about the last bank in a town closing and it was full of hand wringing about how awful it was and how so many people would be left without access to banking services. The bank ran the figures and at its busiest 6 people a week used it, some weeks there was barely a visit.

You cannot expect private company to keep branches open with that sort of very low usage. What there needs to be is a publically funded service of last resort for people who cannot use online or telephone banking.

I bank online with PTSB and AIB. Both of my local branches are a two minute walk from my home.

I'm in Ireland if that makes a difference

With the London branches that closed, that's not the case at all. They were always busy. I've left London now but my neighbours were bussing to the nearest branches. Particularly a problem for businesses using cash.

banks are determined to do this so I wonder what will happen to those with disabilities and health problems that make online banking problematic for them. A hub doesn't need to publicly funded, the banks can join to make a proper hub. The Post Office hub here only allows you to get cash and pay cheques in.

The Nationwide in our town is often busy, it looks like more than six people a week using it

Bluntly (and this is not great) the sort of people and business left using bank branches are probably not making the banks any money and may even be costing them money. So branches may be busy but still the figures do not stack up to keep the branch open, especially in London where high street rents are high.

As I said that is not nice but there it is, that is the market in action. If we want that to change that, then there needs to be a push to create some kind of required access to banking provision or a govenrment bank or last resort. What has happened in reality is government relies on the Post Office to pick up that slack but that is not without its issues.

Why do you need a new bank account?

Ime all bank current accounts are much of a muchness, you haven't mentioned any specific requirements, why change?

Ok , so my imagination has gone a bit off the edge , remember when , was it black rock ? , went tits up and there was a run on the banks ? Well if there are no banks , then no run . Just a computer glitch that stops you accessing your accounts 🤷‍♀️ I’m off to freeze in the garden before I knit myself a tinfoil hat .

Not everywhere in the UK has good internet provision or even a decent mobile phone reception.

True, but the broadband speeds you need for online banking are pretty low and there aren't many places left in the UK that have sub 10 mbps.

It was Northern Rock.

I think I know what you mean. Important to keep cash.

Ummm. What the hell are you wibbling on about? Physical bank branches and cash won't prevent a run on the bank.

As for not trusting the "system", cash is just as much part of the system as digital money. Those bits of metal and paper are worth fuck all if people lose trust in the system.

I recently moved to Nationwide £200 to switch current account offer was on, they have a local branch and seem good.

The problem isn't the broadband it's often the lack of mobile signal for all the verification you have to do nowadays because of the idiots that are scammed