Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Is this normal behaviour for a bank?
My 18-year-old son went to open his first proper bank account at Nationwide in Crouch End today. They had insisted that he must come at 2 p.m and when he got there, he was ushered into a back room and interviewed via webcam by a woman in America, for almost an hour. No-one explained to him what was going to happen, and he was completely confused and really put off by not being dealt with by a human being. They kept telling him to speak clearly to camera, so that they could film his replies. It's positively 'Big Brother.'
His bank account has been set up, but it sounds a pretty awful experience and no way to treat what might be a lifelong customer - I feel bad for recommending he go there as I thought they were a decent organisation, and he's had a savings account there since childhood.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Thomas Hawkins on
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Its a curious one. I tend to bite my tongue when going through any type of bank security however bizarre or pointless because the flip side is you turn up one day to make a withdraw and they tell you your bank account has been emptied by someone who looked just like you. I was trying to close my account with Ulster bank recently and was told it could only be transferred over a number days and numerous payments as part of security. Then later they rang me to confirm the transaction, I wasn't aware they did this, they got no response as I had changed my mobile phone number and so they froze my account and didn't close it. It can be a pain but I would rather they be too careful than not careful enough!
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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It wasn't the interview itself he objected to, but the impersonality of the webcam and the fact that he is new to having a bank account and would have liked someone to introduce him to it in person. He is a young man of the Skype and Facetime generation, so if he found it difficult, I'm sure many older people will struggle.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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It might help him to go through the experience of voting with his feet. He's going to come across this hubris time and time again - it's presumably part of the reason why people say that the UK is one of the most regulated countries in the world. We do what we are told and never complain.
I took mine into Santander when they were 14 and showed them my attitudes and values towards the bank - they picked up the cues from the body language, tone of voice etc. You might have done the same with Nationwide when he first opened the account.
Why not ask him if you can do the same for him now? If he can accept that you're not treating him like a child by accompanying him, you can help him unlearn the lesson Nationwide is trying to teach their customers about power and obedience. Call Santander in Crouch End to see into their process and go with him (at a non-busy time - kids often don't realise when that is) with whatever they require and be a sort of 'Mackenzie Friend' whilst they deal with him. Don't bother to tell Nationwide anything - let them rot and pay the costs of servicing an unused account. At some convenient point in the future, if he can be bothered he can write to the most senior Nationwide person he can identify, instructing them to close the account and telling them why. Adding a line about charging them an hourly rate for further admin.
Santander have a deposit facility outside the bank, so he'll almost never need to go in to the branch. Some of their accounts demand a regular deposit. He can set up to-and-from direct debits between his Santander and Nationwide accounts to escape the fees. If, every time he is unhappy with a bank he moves banks, he'll do himself and us a big favour. Or he lies down and lets them walk all over him for the rest of his life.
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Why thank you! I feel the same about your reply
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Chris I largely agree with you.
I am not convinced that the paper on banking reform, the Vickers Report [PDF], went far enough. Apart from the recommended (minimal) separation of retail & merchant banking, one of the thrusts of the report was to make it easier for customers to change banks. Banks resist these reforms. There is a lot more progress to be made on both counts.
The reluctance to switch banks is often put down to inertia. However, many of us shudder at the time, complexity and potential for mistakes with such a move.
Banks pretend they are doing their customers a favour. However Banks intend to make profits from customers, some who will be with them for a lifetime.
On the wider scale, it was the Great British Public who, via the government bailout in late 2008, who did the banks a favour, to the tune of at least £100 billion and possibly as much as £850 billion.
Attitudes need to change on both sides, IMO.
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