Barclays going at it again. Account on credit, and returned cheques

I don’t normally insult or use swear words, but I think Barclays deserve to be called Bastayrds out loud.
The reason is no other than the fact that the Bastayrds did it again. A while ago I had a go for their twisted ways of playing the hours in a day and poor product knowledge at [...]

On Spain looking down the tunnel, is that the exit or just a train coming?

I am sorry, I know I am a voluntary expat, but Spain is just the land of the joke. Yesterday three things happened that made me corroborate as a right idea leaving the Peninsula.
1. The financial health The FT informs us that “Spain acts to help lenders”. Is this the same [...]

On the British People’s Bank of Halifax hiking credit card rates

I have a mortgage and a credit card I pay religiously every month to the British People’s Bank of Halifax and to my surprise I received today an ugly piece of marketing literature. It didn’t even come in an envelope, so I almost discarded it, but close inspection made me realise that the content of [...]

On how not to run a bank, don’t trust Barclays online banking to work every day

There was a time when if your competition made a fool of themselves, you would storm in and get their customers. Market mistakes translated into a drop in market share.
But that was in the old days, my friend. We have reached such a level of mediocrity, that not only businesses don’t learn from their own [...]

On banks paying interest to people with mortgages or how NOT to run a banking operation: The answer

So it finally happened. This morning I received the letter from Birmingham Midshires answering the million dollar question: What happens when the Bank of England takes the base interest rate down to 0.5% or below and you are paying them 0.5% or higher below BoE base rate?
Well, since the bank’s decision back in March 5, [...]

On saying NO to paperless banking, don’t fall in the guilt trap

As a principle, I refuse to change to paper-free statements, not only because the banks themselves don’t accept online statement print-outs as proof of address (ironic!) but because again, I don’t get anything out of it other than feeling less guilty for saving a piece of a tree. But let’s remember, it is the banks [...]

On HSBC fighting ferociously against online banking convenience

Hobbes, I guess by now you must know I try to keep my paws away from the planned incompetence and limitations of nowadays branch banking.
In a number of occasions I have denounced how by planned sheer incompetence banks are pushing us towards online and telephone banking while making online and telephone more and more difficult [...]

On how not to run a bank, don’t trust HSBC online banking to work every day

Hobbes, I think I have already mention it before, but it beggars believe the sub-standard online service that HSBC offers.
I cannot handle banking staff at any branch of any bank (someone told once that Barclays trains their staff not to make decisions, not to think, I cannot say it is true, but surely is very [...]

On bonuses, RBS, and how to improve going forward

So the UK government decided to scrap the bonuses at RBS (FT.com).
UK gov, or its tax payers, owns 68% of the bank, so they say they are going to honour the contractual bonuses and scrap those directed to anyone related to the credit debacle (and slap wrist to the executive directors, they’ve been naughty, naughty, [...]

On banks paying interest to people with mortgages or how NOT to run a banking operation (II)

And the rate is now down to 1%.
0.44% to go before I start asking my bank “where is my money!!“