Earlier in the year, I changed my current account to a new provider. I’ll probably talk about the process in another blog post another time, but when it came to choosing a new bank, I decided to stick with a bank that still has high street branches.
When we moved to Sowerby Bridge in 2010, there were still two banks left in the town. HSBC and Yorkshire Bank had recently upped sticks, but Halifax and (the then) Lloyds TSB were still there. But Lloyds left a few years ago, and then Halifax shut up shop more recently.
Now Sowerby Bridge essentially flows into Halifax (the town), and most high street banks still have branches there. This includes Halifax (the bank) – indeed it wasn’t long ago that there were two branches, including the original branch of what was then the Halifax Permanent Building Society. That’s now gone, but there’s still one branch remaining. Barclay’s have also closed their branch, but we get a van for ten hours a week instead. But, on the whole, Haligonians and those living nearby are still reasonably well-served by banks.
Banking hubs
That’s not true for some other places. Elsewhere in West Yorkshire, the towns of Ossett and Normanton are now the home of ‘banking hubs’, run by the Post Office to provide banking services where no other banks remain. Almost all UK banks are signed up, and allow customers to pay in cash and cheques, and withdraw cash. Representatives from the main banks then visit at a set time every week for more complicated queries. It’s better than nothing, but many banking hubs lack printers for printing off paper bank statements.
And that’s a problem. For the most part, I’m happy to go paperless with my accounts, including my current account. But there are times when a paper bank statement is a necessity. When we re-mortgaged the house a couple of years ago, we needed paper bank statements that were certified by a solicitor. And if you need a DBS check, to work with young or vulnerable people, then you have to provide paper documents. Simply printing a PDF statement from your online banking app isn’t sufficient – it has to be a proper paper document. Bank branches can provide paper statements and put an official stamp on them where needed.
As much as online-only banks like Starling, Chase and Monzo regularly top customer service charts, they don’t make it easy to request paper statements. You normally have to contact their customer service team and wait for them to be sent through the post.
Now, this is arguably a problem for DBS and solicitors, rather than the banks themselves. For example, the DBS doesn’t support the government’s own GOV.UK ID check app. And I’m sure that the banking industry could work with organisations like the DBS to develop a way of sharing identity without relying on paper documents, a bit like how drivers can share their driving license details using a share code. But until something like this happens, I’ll be sticking with a mainstream bank.
Speaking of cheques: sure, you can scan cheques using most banking apps, but I’ve had this fail on more than one occasion. Indeed, one cheque that was rejected was issued by my own bank. Admittedly that was a few years ago and technology has moved on a bit, but I’d want to be able to take my cheque somewhere to pay it into my account – especially if it was for a large amount.