BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Tripps]

I heard one case yesterday where a woman had her offer price dropped by £20,000 and she wasn't even informed.

That was from the type of company which you shouldn't get within a mile of. They're not hard to spot. Unfortunately the list includes some 'well recognised' companies. Take care out there.

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

The regulators should set a maximum for all interest rates, say at 10%.
`Banks asked to explain 40% overdraft rates' LINK

[Stanley]

I agree but can you ever see it becoming law? Strikes at the heart of the financial market!
Later... Interesting comments about the US economy and particularly the actions of the Fed. They have banned the use of the phrase 'quantitative easing' but at the same time have made US Treasury Bonds an attractive place to put your investment money. The effect of this, by lowering the price of credit across the market is quantitative easing by another name and far bigger than any of those programmes.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on a sad story. Norton Motorcycles is in administration and facing a winding up order. The man who rescued it entrepreneur and property developer Stuart Garner seems to be having difficulty with other investments as well.
Many enthusiasts will be in shock this morning. For years, Norton and the Manx TT races were synonymous.

[Tizer]

The financial pages make depressing reading these days in terms of the number of British companies closing or being sold abroad. I think they've suffered from the years of Brexit uncertainty and in some cases the owners feel it's not worth carrying on now that we're isolating ourselves from Europe.

[Stanley]

That can't be right Tiz. The PM and the Chancellor say we are in robust shape and about to sail into a golden future.
I saw Mark Carney making his last statement as head of the BofE. What struck me was the forecast of economic growth being a shade over 1% per annum in the foreseeable future. According to all the economists I have read and respect, you need somewhere near 3% to tread water. Perhaps we have an entirely new form of 'New Economics'.....
I've always thought of Carney as a smart cookie. I reckon he is leaving at exactly the right moment!
(Must read Thomas Piketty again, perhaps I missed something...)

[plaques]

We all know that credit cards carry a disgusting amount of interest payments if you don't clear your debt quickly. One little fact has now emerged which puts the whole business of exorbitant interest rates into prospective.

'People making minimum payments end up paying £2.50 in interest for every £1 they owe, it said, and it was time for that to stop'.

For many people the background thinking must be 'well they only ask for this minimum amount therefore it must be all right to continue'.

In my mind the minimum payment should be an amount that starts to reduce your debt not to increase it..

[Stanley]

It's a no-brainer isn't it P. Funny how the more debt there is the more profit is made from it. That's the real Money Tree.

[Tizer]

Good news for once! Could this be the way to go if Barlick loses all its original banks?...
`A new rural bank branch opening! What's going on?' LINK
`In one respect, Hawes - a small market town in the Yorkshire Dales - shares the plight of many rural communities. The last bank in town has closed. HSBC moved out in 2016. Last summer, Barclays shut premises which had hosted a bank branch for more than 150 years. It blamed customers' switch to digital banking. Civic leaders said Hawes had been abandoned. Now something unusual has happened in this picture postcard town, the home of Wensleydale cheese. A new branch has just opened. This time it is a building society, the Newcastle. It does not have its own building. It is just an eighth of the size of a normal branch and occupies a corner of the community office alongside the local library and Post Office. Its size belies some bigger ambitions - a financial services industry trying to work out how to reach customers who are not online, and a community setting a template on how to reinvigorate local provision...'.

[Stanley]

Good news indeed Tiz. What struck me about that report was this: "Banks say fewer are needed, as customers open accounts and manage their money via apps. " They wish! Closure of high street branches is their way of forcing customers to switch to online banking which means less staff and expense and higher profit.
Who do they think they are kidding?

[PanBiker]

The apps are very useful, you can move money about between accounts and even take it out but they don't encourage you to save. You cant do a deposit via a phone.

[Big Kev]

You cant do a deposit via a phone.

The Barclays app will let you pay in a cheque (there is a limit on the amount). You take a photo of the cheque, using you phone's camera, from the app. I've only used it once as I don't get many cheques.

[PanBiker]

That's nearly as redundant as the DVLA still using Fax as a main method of communication.

[Tizer]

...and the use of fax by the NHS too. The weak point with fax has always been the opportunity for loss of the printed out message between the receiving machine and the intended recipient. I once had to wait weeks after a consultation with a specialist for his prescription message to get to my GP. The hospital kept saying they'd sent it and the GP's surgery kept saying they couldn't find it.

[Stanley]

I simply pop incoming cheques in the post and send it to Burnley, unlike shopkeepers I never have cash to deposit. I pay my credit card direct by post to their card centre in Camberley. Never failed yet!
BTW, I get any cash I need at the Co-op on Cash Back when paying with my debit card, no charge and notes in the hand.

[Tizer]

Exchanging cash will be hazardous in China at the moment but I'll bet they're well into cashless transactions. (I'm sure our China correspondent can help us on that.) It might get a boost here if we see more coronavirus infections in the UK.

[Stanley]

Bleach your money......

[chinatyke]

Exchanging cash will be hazardous in China at the moment but I'll bet they're well into cashless transactions. (I'm sure our China correspondent can help us on that.) It might get a boost here if we see more coronavirus infections in the UK.

Money is very dirty biologically and you should avoid it at all costs. Please send it to me at

► Show Spoiler

@pauper.com

and I'll dispose of it for you.

Contactless transactions are very widely used and accepted for even very small amounts, not by me though, I use the old fashioned stuff.

[Tizer]

Invest in latex gloves!

[Stanley]

Hard to know which is the most toxic, the cash or the bankers!

[Whyperion]

Possibly not wholly spotted by the likes of BBC Moneybox/ Martyn Lewis money saving expert, is that in additon of a flip on overdraft charges from a daily (monthly capped) £ rate to a general accross most banks of a 39.9% APR overdraft rate (this might work out cheaper for some individuals though). but had a note through from Santander that its exchange rate charge - on debit card transactions and etc overseas is going from 2.65% to 2.95% not a big move as such, but another increase, and I suspect most UK banks doing much the same.

[Stanley]

Despite a universal move by central banks globally to inject money into the economy the markets are continuing to fall slowly. Many are getting nervous and wondering if this is the end of the bear market. At the moment it's a toss up and nobody can be sure. However, the danger is there and is beginning to affect politics. (Events Dear Boy)

[Tizer]

The Times has had a leaked climate change report from JP Morgan bank. It warns of floods, droughts, migration, disease etc just as the IPCC does. The one thing it doesn't mention is that JP Morgan invests billions of dollars in the fossil fuel industries. They know what they're doing is dangerous for the world's population yet they carry on with it to squeeze out as much profit a they possibly can while the world goes to hell - business as usual!

[Stanley]

No surprise there Tiz. Aren't they nicknamed 'The Vampire Squid'? Just look at the squillions that are being made out of Austerity. No wonder the well loaded hedge funds back any political faction that espouses it. Private Eye makes dire reading lately......