It is not only commercial banks that are creating problems (Communities count cost as high street banks vanish, 22 August). I act as treasurer to a small sports club and have, at the end of the summer, hundreds of pounds in match fees to bank in small change. Having changed to the Co-op Bank so that I could use the local post office, I found that my newly “modernised” post office no longer accepts Transcash, only paperless transactions. This affects not just me but also three churches with collections to bank, three schools with dinner money to bank, two clubs and two pubs with takings to bank and similarly a number of small shops. Fortunately, we have another, very friendly, helpful and “unmodernised” post office a mile and a half away.
I am not an older person unwilling to embrace technology, but simply struggling to know how I feed all those 50p pieces into my computer. I appreciate that banks have their shareholders to consider, but I really thought that the Post Office was there to provide a public service.
Ann Hindley
Crowle, North Lincolnshire
To get to the nearest branch of my bank I must travel by bus. The bus runs every two hours and the journey takes 35 minutes. A trip to the bank takes four hours. “Older people facing longer journeys to nearest branch” says a subheading on your report, which itself goes on to say that “Along with Santander, the big four [banks] have closed an estimated 1,700 branches in the past five years” and that “About 1,500 communities have already been left without a bank on their high street”. This is a very great inconvenience to the public.
In the days when there were bank managers, the banks provided a social function. Since bank managers have been removed, we have seen the banks move more and more into online banking. Online banking is not for everyone, nor is it 100% safe. Many people are not able or willing to use this service. It is time that the banks realised and accepted that they have social responsibility as well as being factories making money for shareholders. My suggestion is that the banks should fund a joint communal enterprise – all the banks should be in one building, under one roof, and so in every community. The advantage for the banks is that they could close their individual – and expensive – bank buildings and become closer to their customers.
David Hurry
Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex