04-01-2003 00:24									#1
	Banks & credit cards and their infernal damnation Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Why do banks harrass us so much?

I have a *substantial* savings account with one bank and they bombard me with literature wanting me to take out a loan. Why do I need a loan that charges more interest than the interest I recoup by not using my savings?

I have a credit card with the same bank and they send me cheques to pay off other credit cards - the bill transfered to their account. Now, with regular cheques I know that they exist beforehand and can cancel them if they don't arrive. If these credit card cheques get delivered to a wrong and irreputable address then I could be out of pocket for a month (or until my next statement arrives) without realising it!

....

When I ring up to validate new cards from another bank they always ask me if I want a balance transfer, or offer some other product that I don't need - such as card insurance in case of loss of income. I say "No, I don't want or need it" and they insist on telling you about it before they will validate the card.

The ultimate in annoyance was about 12 months ago when this other bank arranged a meeting to ensure I was getting the best account they had to offer. They spent half an hour trying to sell me health insurance, life insurance and injury insurance (for just £5/month I can be safe in the knowledge that if my legs are amputed I will be reimbursed £10,000 by my bank. Wow!). We then discussed whether or not I needed a personal loan or mortgage. I said "no". At the end of the meeting it was agreed that I already had the best account to suit my needs. When my bank phoned a couple of weeks ago to have another "account review meeting" I said I wasn't interested. Their reply was that it was essential to insure I got the most from my account with them - bollox was it.


All these problems with banks and none of it debt related!

Rant over.

Let me hear your stories of banks and how you deal with their crap. Or alternative discuss problems with credit card providers chasing their debt after convincing you you needed it.

	04-01-2003 00:30									#2
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Many sales pitches are disguised as customer service calls. The main reason for this is that then they don't have to follow the laws dealing with phone solicitations.

We're not selling anything, it's just a customer service call We don't care if you're on a nationwide do not solicite list. We don't care if it's Sunday at 8 in the morning. We don't care that you're eating dinner. It's a customer service call.

As long as they can prove that you're a current customer to any of their family of companies, they can get away with it.

	04-01-2003 00:34									#3
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I just tell them to f*ck off.... and I hang up...

	04-01-2003 00:35									#4
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I you have over $7500 in a savings account (or even $5k in certain cases) then you should transfer it to a CD. The rate of return is much higher plus you can consoldate your checking & savings into one CD and still have check righting privilages free of charge.

	04-01-2003 00:48									#5
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What is a CD?

	04-01-2003 00:51									#6
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Damn them and damn accountants too

	04-01-2003 00:53									#7
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Certificate of Diposit = CD They have set terms of length (6 months 12 months, etc.) and offer better % of interest than standard savings accounts.

	04-01-2003 00:55									#8
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CD=a certificate of deposit. A bank agrees to pay you a higher interest rate on your money and in exchange you agree to maintain a certain balance for a set amount of time. If you're balance is above the required minium balance then most banks will let you write checks(usually 10-25 checks per month depending on the contract) against the account and still pay you the higher interest rate.

The catch? Most banks want a minium of 5k-10k before they'll give you a CD.

	04-01-2003 00:55									#9
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Ho, ho, ho. I used to train them to do that.

	04-01-2003 00:59									#10
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quote: Originally posted by rah Many sales pitches are disguised as customer service calls. The main reason for this is that then they don't have to follow the laws dealing with phone solicitations. We're not selling anything, it's just a customer service call We don't care if you're on a nationwide do not solicite list. We don't care if it's Sunday at 8 in the morning. We don't care that you're eating dinner. It's a customer service call. As long as they can prove that you're a current customer to any of their family of companies, they can get away with it.

Not in Britain, they can't. Registration with the Telephone Preference Service means the banks can be fined if they try that trick.

They can do it if the customer contacts them, but they can't cold-call.

	04-01-2003 01:08									#11
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That's your just punishment for having money!

When I get to power all and everyone that is found using a creditcard for anything below about €200 will be shot in the head on location.

	04-01-2003 01:14									#12
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quote: Originally posted by paiktis22 Damn them and damn accountants too

Whats wrong with accountants?

quote: I you have over $7500 in a savings account (or even $5k in certain cases) then you should transfer it to a CD.

ISAs (Interest Savings Accounts) which earn interest tax free, although limited to a maximum of £7,000 capital input per tax year, are far better bets.

Different countries, different choices.

	04-01-2003 03:20									#13
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I don't have enough money to warrant solicitations. And if I did have mucho money, I'd not bother with a phone at all.

But Bankers are ranked just slightly below Lawyers and Politicians on Hell's roster.

	04-01-2003 03:23									#14
	Re: Banks & credit cards and their infernal damnation Tired of ads?

quote: Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin Why do banks harrass us so much?

Because we want to make money from you.

quote: Let me hear your stories of banks and how you deal with their crap.

I find 'No thank you' and hanging up works well.

	04-01-2003 03:49									#15
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I agree SG. I thought banks were supposed to be the bastion of quality service but they are some of the worst offenders of stuffing their paper statements full of advertising, and also of repeated telemarketing.

rah I didn't know that loophole. I do get tired of those damn calls.

The best response to the telemarketers is to say, "take me off your list."

	04-01-2003 04:00									#16
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Banks are bastards, I get a credit card offer every day of the week (seriously).

I suppose this is society pressuring me for not having one and being in massive debt

funny thing is though, when I got cornered and forced to fill out an application form in the street --needed the free pen-- I got rejected!!

Best thing was I called myself the 'Reverend David Emery'... Its been popping up alot recently, which shows how much attention they pay to those little boxes you tick at the bottom of forms

	04-01-2003 04:05									#17
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

quote: Originally posted by Ted Striker I agree SG. I thought banks were supposed to be the bastion of quality service but they are some of the worst offenders of stuffing their paper statements full of advertising, and also of repeated telemarketing.

I find that their quality of service is appalling too. Bank "Audit letters" - letters detailing all accounts, securities, loans, mortgages etc a company has- are required for most company audit and accounts to be signed off. We normally sent off the request for such details six weeks before the accounting year end and a reminder six weeks before an audit (normally a few months after the accounting year end). I'd say that a good 20% of requests got no response, and of those that did, half of them were inaccurate, missing information, or were otherwise unusable as audit evidence (such as the date of the letter being out by a year). Chasing up correct letters would lead you to about 6 call centres and after about an hour you may get what you were after. And when the letter does come in they charge the client £15/letter for the half-assed job. Its a joke.

	04-01-2003 04:23									#18
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quote: Originally posted by Evil Knevil funny thing is though, when I got cornered and forced to fill out an application form in the street --needed the free pen-- I got rejected!!

Not surprised, if you can't even afford a pen.

	04-01-2003 04:29									#19
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Hrumph. I just didn't have a pen. I always loose pens.

	04-01-2003 04:33									#20
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I'm so rich, I've got lots of spare pens. I even re-mortgaged one of them to buy a stapler.

	04-01-2003 04:37									#21
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quote: Originally posted by Seneca I'm so rich, I've got lots of spare pens. I even re-mortgaged one of them to buy a stapler.

And was that because your bank foistered the policy on you?

	06-01-2003 17:02									#22
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I set up on 27th December a payment from my current account to my credit card. The money went out of my account straight away and seems to have gone missing...

I went to the bank about it on Friday morning, and they said it would be there by Monday, if not Friday evening. Just checked online and it's not reached the credit card, so i'll have to go toddling off to the bank again while they trace the money.

	06-01-2003 17:15									#23
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quote: Originally posted by Evil Knevil Hrumph. I just didn't have a pen. I always loose pens.

I always "find" pens, are you missing a dark gren with 0.5? Or a four-colored white and blue one?

	06-01-2003 23:02									#24
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Damn those weenies who leave science and go into finance...

	07-01-2003 00:18									#25
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What Bank SD? I'm thinking of opening a new bank account and close my Barclay's one (They've been decent to me but haven't been spectacular). I wanna know who to avoid....

	07-01-2003 00:24									#26
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A tip for not losing a pen ever after:
Buy a pen which costs over € 10. It's so expensive that you simply won't lose it.
Yes, I've got experience on this.

	07-01-2003 01:08									#27
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quote: Originally posted by Starchild What Bank SD? I'm thinking of opening a new bank account and close my Barclay's one (They've been decent to me but haven't been spectacular). I wanna know who to avoid....

All banks have shown themselves to be poor.

My main personal banking problems have been with Lloyds, but I have had trouble with most of the big four when trying to get information from them on a business level.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2160448.stm

	07-01-2003 13:10									#28
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The big problem here is we get harassed by credit card issuers. Just got this mailing about a platinum card - no kidding, the annual fee is way up there.

	07-01-2003 14:31									#29
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I do curse banks for sending so many credit applications.

Identity theft is a major, major problem in the U.S. Damn them all the hell!!!

And we have to fix it ourselves. Sometimes I think of just buying a shack in Montana, and I would not have to worry about financial security ever again.

	07-01-2003 16:53									#30
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quote: Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin Whats wrong with accountants?

Oh Im sure some of them have a rich inner world and are loving to their families... but they're accountans, you know.