Re: Most people stay with their bank in the UK due to inertia.

I don't get people who have savings accounts. Put £10,000 into the hands of a third-party who will gamble it (some of it "guaranteed", of course) to make themselves some more money, don't touch it for a year, and maybe - just maybe - you might get £10,200 back. Hell, if you get a really good rate, maybe £10,500. Then that extra gets taxed. Take into account inflation and you're lucky if you break even (current savings rates are around 2-2.5%, current inflation at about 3%). And if you touch it more than they allow you, you'll make nothing back at all (i.e. a loss of value).

If you told someone that, if they lent you a tenner, you would give them a tenner and 20 pence back next year, they'd tell you where to go.

And yet, go a penny over and the bank will "fine" you £25 (because what you want to do to people who can't pay for things is make it harder for them to pay anything at all, if you're a bank), plus interest for the privilege without bothering to consult you first (find me a bank account where I *CAN'T* go overdrawn at all, ever, in any way, and transactions just get refused when I have insufficient money - they don't exist).

Last time they did it to me, several years ago now, I arranged an hour's meeting with the branch manager and just wasted their time. Doesn't get me my money back, but - as I replied when the manager asked what I thought I achieved by wasting his time: "How much does a branch manager earn per hour? Is it more or less than £25? <at this point, he wisely didn't answer less because I would have stayed longer> How much will it cost you if we ALL do this?". Met the same guy managing another branch the next year - he was much more helpful and friendly that time.

I have a bank account. Every month, my wages go in, and the end of the every month it reads zero (with a small safety margin). It costs me nothing to have it, even though I'd be happy to pay for reasonable banking (they do, of course, offer services like cards and cheque clearance that I understand they have to pay for - but until they are reasonable about things like cheque clearance times, "automatic overdrafts", etc. then they can stick it - hell, where's my damn text to tell me my card has been used, where and how much, like every other European bank does for free, or is fraud non-existent and me knowing exactly how much I have just THAT much of a burden to them?). I have a credit card - it's prepay and the pittance per month it costs is worth the infrastructure and convenience of using it. I don't have a savings account. I don't have other products. Why would I?

Hell, when I went to the banks years ago (at the height of the mortgage market) to buy a house, they literally laughed when they heard how much I earned (which, to be honest, was a decent wage which made me even more annoyed). Belittle your customers to their faces, that's customer service. We walked out. We walked to the shop next door that didn't laugh, chased our custom, gave us a mortgage same-day and we paid them every penny, on-time, every month for years during all the mortgage crisis, and sold the house for profit a few years later paying off the complete mortgage + interest.

I dislike banks, so I avoid using them wherever possible. Where I have to use them, I make sure they are getting as little benefit from my custom as absolutely possible. When they are unreasonable with me, I cost them money, empty my account, take my account elsewhere and - later, when they are just on the verge of charging me for it - close my account.

Loyalty? You earn my loyalty.

Money? I earn my money. If you want it, you have to earn something for me (interest pittances don't count).

Custom? You earn my custom.

And when you do, I'm happy to pay reasonably for the service. They could have had ten times the money they've had from me over the years just by being reasonable.

They can't even charge people for their bank accounts, despite years of hard-sell. That's what banking services are worth to the man on the street. For businesses, it's different and banks are a necessary evil, but what make you think people WANT to use you?

I stopped caring about banks years ago when they stopped caring about me, and "inertia" on my account lasts only so long as you stop screwing me over (which would happen in a second if I wasn't vigilant). There's plenty of banks and, if it really came to it, all I actually need is a pre-pay credit card. I could have my wages put on it quite easily, it would pay for every service I require, and it would cost less than any other method (I don't use or carry cash - I literally have an empty wallet 99.99% of the year - and withdrawing cash is the only part that pre-pay cards really charge you for). It's only the hassle associated with not having a bank account that keeps mine open (e.g. Direct Debit discounts, etc.).

Why treat banking different to any other industry? Treat me like the scum of the earth and I'll act like it with you and cost you the most money I can.