BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Tizer]

Tripps, that sort of thing gets increasingly devious and obscure. When we placed an order with Wickes recently to have our bathroom converted to a shower room we expected that they would want a deposit in advance. They gave us a choice - pay a deposit or take out a zero interest loan. We said we don't like taking loans and we've got cash to pay; they said `You can pay it off immediately when the job is complete if you prefer and it saves you having to move your cash about'. This is similar to buying a car now. We took the loan and paid it off immediately. The loan was provided by Hitachi via Wickes and they were very easy to deal with.

Of course it's all really a strategy to get people locked into loans (you're then more likely to come back to the same place for your next bathroom or car) and to get your personal details (Hitachi will have our details and can sell them on for a good price). And what is a manufacturing company like Hitachi doing offering loans. Well, as Philip Aldrick pointed out in one of his Times articles, big companies now make more money out of using their cash in the financial world than they do out of there original products or services. This, of course, messes up all our statisticians' calculations about the economy.

[Tripps]

Having slept on it - I like this situation even less. I haven't yet read the small print to see what rescue cover they've 'sold' me. There are several levels and it might not match what I already have with Britannia Rescue. I'll check it out.

It's Good Friday so I can't amuse myself by phoning their HQ in Sunderland - which is probably a blessing. No use speaking to the dealer again - he's just working to a script.

I thought about the GDPR - can they just give my full details to a third party without my express consent? I wouldn't have thought so. I had a quick look, and find that to every regulation there seems to be an unbelievably complex 'get out'. On this and several other recent situations - I've discovered that you don't actually need to have a law degree just to get through it all, but it would certainly help.

Watch this space. . . .

[chinatyke]

Are you sure it is the kosher bank China?

Yes. No problem there.

[Stanley]

Good China, I was pretty sure that would have occurred to you but thought it was worth mentioning.
David, I share your mistrust. I passed the point long ago when I used to waste time considering these things. Then it was no more complicated than people trying to sell you a maintenance contract with everything. I simply refuse all offers. I suspect the bottom line is that data is the new oil.

[chinatyke]

Good China, I was pretty sure that would have occurred to you but thought it was worth mentioning.

Dead right, I'll keep scammers in mind when I call them. Thanks for reminding me.

[Stanley]

See THIS. TSB promise to repay victims of scammers. Confusion reigns even though it comes into effect today as some are questioning the small print in the guarantee.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on latest developments in the collapse of London Capital and Finance. It gets complicated and murky. Not a bad example of much financial management. Too many side tracks and loopholes in these Cunning Plans.....

[Tizer]

The government is looking for a new governor to replace Carney at the BoE - but they're finding it difficult because the best candidates are crying off due to Brexit.

Meanwhile, `TSB has revealed most of its Scottish branches will only open for two or three days a week from July. The changes will apply to 71 sites in Scotland and 22 in England. In addition, four Scottish branches are being closed - in Edinburgh, at Haymarket and Fountainbridge, Aberdeen's Holburn Street branch, and another in Keith, Moray.' LINK

[Stanley]

Banking for the clients is dead. We only have one in Barlick now. They try to force us into Internet Banking but many are being left behind.....
Later, news that the Competition Authority has blocked the Sainsbury/Asda merger. Good! Walmart, owner of Asda, is too big already and has a bad reputation in the States.

[Tizer]

It's great news about the merger being blocked. Now let's see more mergers being looked at in the same way...

[Stanley]

I agree. The big corporations are so powerful that they are ruling the world and it will get worse. I remember Janet alerting me to the situation in high end IT programming ten years ago.
Another example of the power and at times, brutality, of the 'market'. It has got to the stage where we are no longer users but assets to be mined for data.

[Tripps]

It has got to the stage where we are no longer users but assets to be mined for data.

You can fight them all the way though. Google hasn't quite decided whether I live in Aylesbury or Bolton le Sands at the moment, and on my tablet I live in Indonesia, and get the temperature in Fahrenheit. Childishly satisfying. Keep 'em guessing.

[Stanley]

Exactly my attitude David but I approach it in different ways.....

[plaques]

Report that Philip Hammond may withdraw the 1p and 2p pieces. Mrs May says there are are no proposals to withdraw them. The BofE suggests there would be little affect on inflation. Its true that if you see a 1p coin on the ground you're unlikely to bend down and pick it up. Also, making a ticket price £1 instead of 99p is obviously only 1% inflation but equally 9p to 10p is a 10% inflation. We have already seen many of the prepackaged items shrink in size with no change in price. One example is our favorite hair shampoo. It started life at 400ml then down to 360ml and now at 300ml. Nibbling away at the edges doesn't make big waves but all adds to the cost of living.

[Tizer]

You don't get much for 1p or 2p these days. When holidaying in Cornwall you find that most of the public loos require insertion of a 20p piece in the machine. Then 20p pieces become hard to find because we hoard them for when needed. Shopkeepers don't have any left. In some places the locals have taken over responsibility for the loos because they don't want to deter the tourists.

[Stanley]

I always pick up the copper coins! Every time I do I repeat the mantra, 'Corn in Egypt!'. I get that from my dad....
I'm watching the gavotte that is being danced as the role of the Big Four accountants is debated. A politician proposes some form of cap or control and a smooth operator from the accountants turns up at a studio and assures us that all is well and the accountants are doing a good job. I cant remember a time when this wasn't happening. I don't think there is any more prospect of change and improvement than 50 years ago. The glaring cases of bad practice we have seen are glossed over as minor blips in the process and to be expected.
I thought the national emergency of the Credit Crunch might lead to improvements in the banks but it made no difference. I fear the same inertia exists in the accounting sector of financial management.

[Stanley]

Actually this is the reverse of the usual woes we chronicle in this topic. See THS Guardian report on a study sponsored by the Labour party which addresses the concept of a Universal Basic Income paid to every man woman and child. There are some quite amazing figures about the amount of money foregone by the Treasury in tax relief which it is claimed have no national economic benefit. It not only addresses the present poverty levels but what we can expect in the future as robotics and AI become the new 'automation scare'.
This is an important new initiative and if pursued could be a game changer not only in addressing the effects of austerity but replacing Universal Credit which is described in the report as a shambles and unfit for purpose.

[Tizer]

UBI has been discussed many times on Radio 4: LINK

[Stanley]

I seem to remember the Liberals advocating 'Negative Income Tax' many years ago, the same thing actually. Below a certain income level the government paid you..... The basic factor behind all these schemes is an equitable share in the National Wealth and as an advocate of anything that addresses the growing income gap between the rich and the poor I am in favour of policies like this. The present situation is a national scandal and most unfair.

[Tripps]

Whilst raking gravel the other day I found myself next to the green bin and at eye level with it. There was the County coat of arms half way down, and the motto "Niet zonder arbeyt" . I could guess what it meant, but googled to make sure - It's Dutch of course and was the motto of the guy that drained the fens.

"Nothing without work" - except if you're a Liberal Democrat.

[Tizer]

`KPMG fined £5m over Co-operative Bank audit' LINK
`...The fine is the latest in a series for KPMG, which is one of the "big four", the four largest auditors in the UK which as well as KPMG, include PwC, EY and Deloitte. Last month, it was fined £6m, received another severe reprimand and told to undertake an internal review over the way it audited insurance company Syndicate 218 in 2008 and 2009. The FRC is also investigating the accountancy giant's audit of the government contractor Carillion, which collapsed under £1bn of debt last year. In June 2018, the FRC also found an "unacceptable deterioration" in KPMG's work and said it would be subject to closer supervision...'.

[Stanley]

How long will the farce of these dodgy audits continue? Think of the confectionery chain where the accounts were totally fictitious but passed audit.
David, was it Vermuyden? See Samuel Smiles 'Lives of the Engineers' for the story......
Into Grayling territory again. See THIS BBC report that Stagecoach are suing the government over being disqualified from running railways because of their refusal to carry the whole burden of the pensions. Virgin are affected also and they are the only British Owned franchisee left. As an industry expert said this morning this is a direct result of the government burying its head in the sand about pensions. The whole enormous cost will eventually devolve on the passengers if nothing is done.

[PanBiker]

Talking of banks, the Yorkshire Bank branch in Skipton is closing, August I think.

[Stanley]

High Street banking is facing extinction Ian. The banks have bigger and more profitable fish to fry than us....
The redundant Yorkshire Bank at the bottom of Newtown in Barlick is a disgrace and is depressing the street. They should be forced to do something about it!

[Whyperion]

Talking of banks, the Yorkshire Bank branch in Skipton is closing, August I think.

I note Burnley is Still going, but Yorkshire under is Australian Owners had been run differently for some time with generally higher costs for businesses and borrowers so its business model indicates it was trying to cover possibly higher costs of operation.