Printing statement pages connect banks to profit

Money is the bain of life, those that have it love it but may not be happy. Those that don’t have it spend their life constantly working and wanting it.

Unless you’ve been hiding or on some remote island, you of course know that lack of money and spending cuts are having a terrible effect on West Midlands businesses and consumers as well as the local economy.

Due to the troubled times, there are a few banks that had to be bailed out and are currently sitting in the hands of the state, because of this you would have thought that they would take note of this and realise that they have been helped and look to perhaps instil policies and procedures to assist their personal and business customers rather than hinder or looking to maximize on profit.

Yesterday whilst standing in the queue at a bank in Quinton a customer went to the cashier and advised them that he has an account with the bank but his branch is in Mosley as that was where he lived.

He continued to explain that he has a meeting with a mortgage advisor at estate agents across the road and needed copies of his bank statements for proof of earnings, as he had forgotten his as he had left them at home.

The cashier confirmed on the system that he was a customer and then proceeds to tell him that he can have copy statements but there would be a charge of £5 per page.

What if he needed 5 or even 10 pages?

How on earth could such a charge be warranted, if the shoe was on the other foot would the banks pay the same charge? Presumably, they would expect you to provide proof of how such a charge is worked out – so why on earth do we not do the same…!

Let’s just say that it costs .30 pence to print one statement page, if a person or business customer wanted to do something comparable they could deposit .30 pence with the bank and then ask them for £4.70 worth of interest….what do you think the bank would say?

Unfortunately, this customer was put in an awkward situation as he needed them for the meeting and the bank wouldn’t provide them without him paying for them – begrudgingly the customer shrugged his shoulders and said I need them so I’ll pay.

Of course, businesses that banks are, need to make a profit, but surely there is a time and a place and the suggestion would be that currently, it’s not the time to charge exorbitant administration charges to personal and business customers.

There is a general lack of funding, and even grants in the West Midlands to help local businesses so it’s hard to believe how financial institutions can create policies in regard to such high costs for copy statements.

It’s no wonder they get such bad press, doing what they did on this occasion was extremely poor and the effect may have wider ramifications as there were many people in the queue witnessing what was happening, and they may go off and tell others……some may even put it down on a blog….!

Being able to connect and have access to finance is tough and banks need to realise that they need to connect with their personal and business customers as it is them who hold the key to their future success….what their customers experience now doesn’t stop them from walking away when things are better in the future.