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Original poster

To think that banks should be open longer hours?

75 replies

SemperIdem · 17/04/2018 17:22

I find it really irritating that banks still close at 5pm mon-sat and are completely shut over sundays.

Should they not be moving with the times, as have other industries?

OP posts:
FrangipaniBlue · 17/04/2018 18:13

Why? You can pretty much do everything online.

What like paying in cash from PTA events?

Don't even get me started on the fact our bank advertises as being open Saturdays but what they mean is that the building is open, but there are no actual people there so unless you have a card for the machines (which as a charity account we don't) and are paying in notes and cheques only anyway (any PTA Treasurers on here will feel my pain regarding the mountainous bags of coins that have to be paid in) then you can do basically sweet FA Angry

Yes I agree OP, why do banks open after most people have gone to work and close before people finish?!

FrangipaniBlue · 17/04/2018 18:16

Footfall is going down massively as everything goes online.

Lloyd's recently did a survey asking customers whether they use branches, the result was resoundingly yes especially for things like taking out new products.

They've recently invested in more staff and it's one of the biggest reasons they're seeing customers moving to them, because they can go in and discuss products with an actual person.

I was told this by my local Lloyd's branch Manager......

babypossum · 17/04/2018 18:16

If you own a business, you have absolutely no other way of paying cash or cheques in so you have to go to a bank. As these are large sums, you can't pay them in through an ATM. Businesses seem to be forgotten when people ask who goes into a bank nowadays.

Ragwort · 17/04/2018 18:17

I work in a charity shop and we need to pay in our cash takings, the Bank is only open 10-3, Mon to Friday - and is closing soon anyway. Hmm. Yes,I know we can use the Post Office but the queues are incredibly long - so people must want a PO service. Confused.

Not everything can be done on line and for small shops it would be totally uneconomic to have a courier type system to collect cash.

vickibee · 17/04/2018 18:17

All the banks in our small town have shut within a year, Co-op, Natwest and hsbc, now we have to travel 10 miles to get to a bank which is really inconvenient for all local small businesses that need to bank their takings. It is parking that is the main problem in the big town centre.

LakieLady · 17/04/2018 18:17

I'm more concerned about branch closures than opening hours, tbh. A town near me (population in excess of 20,0000) now has no bank or building society at all, the nearest one is about 4 miles away. In the last few years, my town has lost 3 banks and a Santander branch. If Nationwide closes, which is rumoured to be happening, the nearest branch to me will be 10 or 12 miles away.

And this is in the densely populated south-east, I dread to think what it's like in more rural parts of the country.

ForalltheSaints · 17/04/2018 18:20

Open six days a week yes, but not on Sundays. When some banks were bailed out by government about ten years ago, a trick was missed, as this could have been made one of the conditions of the bailout.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 17/04/2018 18:21

I had to arrange a CHAPS payment recently so I had to go into branch. Luckily I had a day off anyway as I couldn’t have done it otherwise. I’d much rather have done it over the phone but it wasn’t possible.

DoneAdulting · 17/04/2018 18:22

You can pay cheques in on mobile apps now.

Elebathtim3 · 17/04/2018 18:27

The bank branch local to my work place closed. More branches are closing. With new products like peer to peer online banking which are available 24x7 I think old style banks need to move with the new technology. However, not everyone has a mobile phone, not everyone has the intern

ny20005 · 17/04/2018 18:30

Footfall in branches is reducing roughly 12-14% year on year

@FrangipaniBlue Lloyd's aren't investing in branch staff, they are closing branches that simply aren't being used.

They are a business & majority of customers bank online & by phone now so they are not going to open branches in Sunday's which would increase staff & utilities costs.

If you can't do something you want without visiting a branch, move to an online only bank where you can apply for accounts, mortgages etc all online with face to face online interviews & scanned documents

Glumglowworm · 17/04/2018 18:31

Bank branches don’t need to open longer. They just need to get better at doing stuff over the phone or online (bank call centres generally have longer opening hours than branches).

Where I used to live (city centre location) the post office was part of the corner shop which was open 7am-10pm which was brilliant, wish more had that set up!

BecksBlue2 · 17/04/2018 18:39

I use Metro Bank for my business and personal and it is open 7 days a week, 8am - 8pm, only day it shuts is Xmas Day.

Also you can open an account in less than an hour and get your card printed there and then.

Saves so much frustration having to pay in cheques around office hours, or catch up on the weekend. Don't know why the other banks haven't followed suit.

ny20005 · 17/04/2018 18:51

I agree. The only reason I visit a branch is to pay in coins to a club charity account. Luckily I work in a city & branch is convenient to do this

Personal banking, can't remember last time I needed to visit a branch & speak to a real person. Use machine to deposit cash & cheques

DailyMailReadersAreThick · 17/04/2018 19:09

I opened a Lifetime ISA with Skipton (the only place to offer it AFAIK) online. It was easy and quick.

And then I had to go into one of their branches with ID before I was allowed to actually use the account. I'm out of the house from 7am-6:30pm, like a lot of people, with no branch close enough for me to get to and back in my lunch hour.

So I went on a Saturday with all the other people in the same position, and waited 40 minutes to be seen.

Banks have to either offer EVERYTHING online or have branches working people can get to.

FrangipaniBlue · 17/04/2018 19:12

Lloyd's aren't investing in branch staff, they are closing branches that simply aren't being used.

@ny20005 This may be true in some areas of the UK but not where I live.....

Either that or my branch manager is a great big fibber.

RavenLG · 17/04/2018 20:17

Most people work mon-fri therefore they have the full day on Saturday to visit their branch.

Which is fine if you just need to pop in, but if you need an appointment and need a weekend you're looking at about a month wait at my branch.

I don't think longer hours but alternative hours would be very beneficial. It would be a nightmare to implement though.

Original poster
SemperIdem · 17/04/2018 22:06

Should law firms not work over weekends to provide their service, after all clients pay their salary too

OP posts:
Glumglowworm · 17/04/2018 22:10

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43802021

Lloyd’s have just announced huge branch closures.

Branch managers lie. Who knew.

Emma198 · 17/04/2018 22:16

Natwest have branches open weekends and bank hols but only where the demand is. Literally the only time I visit branch is to pay in a cheque but I could do that in post office. Online and telephone banking is 24 hours.

SecretIsland · 17/04/2018 22:18

Should they not be moving with the times, as have other industries?

They have...they've responded to their customers. Customers are nowadays mainly using telephone and online banking meaning most banks are closing branches and investing in telephone and internet services.

I work for a bank and every few months another service/process gets shifted from needing to be done in branch to being completed solely or mostly remotely.

Within the next 20 years having staff in branches will be a thing completely in the past imo. There will be entirely automated banks with deposit/withdrawal machines and scanning/voice id stations providing completely automatic services for everything.

NeverRed · 17/04/2018 22:18

Your local post office can do basic banking ( paying in and withdrawing cash and paying in cheques)

ny20005 · 17/04/2018 22:23

@Glumglowworm

I was just about to post that link

@FrangipaniBlue unless you live in London, branch network isn't increasing staff

Branch manager probably says what you wanted to hear & thought they'd never see you again

Wonkydonky1 · 17/04/2018 22:31

Online banking can only go so far, it can't accept high volume of cash and change or complex enquiries, so reduced hours and fewer staff mean longer queues.
I like the idea of the machines you can use to pay in cash, however, with used notes, the higher the quantity the more chances of the machine not accepting the crumpled ones, three attempts later they cancel the transaction and your at the back of the queue.
I do as much as I can on line up being a business owner that deals with high volumes of cash and not many ways to pay that cash out, it frustrates me that the state and hours are reduced along with the fact that the most local branch has closed, the next has dropped two days, the next again has ditched the Saturdays, due to being a business we pay for banking to and the charges are increasing, anyway, rant over!

Rapunzelrella · 17/04/2018 22:35

Another vote here for metro bank. I recently opened an account with them. ... super helpful and open 7 days a week.

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