Solve our branch crisis

EVERY bank should follow NatWest’s lead and offer home visits to elderly and vulnerable customers. Actually, scrap that — they should be forced to by law.

Money Mail has for years urged banks to curtail the rush of branch closures that’s wrecking communities, forcing shopkeepers to shut down and cutting off entire villages from vital financial lifelines.

Our pressure has played a role in keeping the last bank in some towns open for longer. But be under no illusion — no matter what anyone says, the top bosses at these greedy firms are hell-bent on closing any branch that doesn’t make them huge profits.

That’s the harsh reality for an increasing number of rural towns and villages where the branch is used far less often as the younger generation increasingly does its banking online.

NatWest has stumbled on such an obvious answer in community bankers who visit people’s homes that it left me wondering why it took so long. When I speak to bank bosses, they often imply that it’s our own fault if we don’t join the online revolution and get cut off as a result.

But that is deeply unfair. Many people, particularly the elderly, don’t own the sort of smartphone we’re told to use to check our balances and pay bills. Those who’ve tried often find the buttons too fiddly and the screens too confusing. And pensioners are quite right to be nervous about scams and fraud online — particularly with banks refusing refunds if you’ve been tricked by a con artist.

Eighty- six-year- old Colin Hancock speaks for thousands in our report on page 44-45 when he says: ‘We’re old wrinklies who aren’t in the digital age and we felt like we’d lost communication with people after the local branch went.’

Telephone banking is a help — but there are times when it seems impossible to get business done without seeing someone in person.

So we should welcome Lloyds and Barclays in keeping branches open by refurbishing them — adding iPads and even coffee shops — but they must do more to keep face-to-face banking available.

Having a bank account isn’t a choice any more — it’s a necessity. That’s why the Government should have legislated ages ago to stop firms leaving towns in the lurch. If ministers won’t do that now, they must instead insist on home visits and drop-in clinics.

Community bankers won’t solve the branch conundrum overnight — currently they can’t even set up a savings account for you, let alone pay in cheques. But they can be part of the answer. And that should interest any bank which realises that, in the case of branches, its duty to customers must come ahead of its drive for profit.

Taken for a ride

AMONG the dozens of terrifying car hire stories you send to Money Mail each week I get a regular request: name a firm that doesn’t take its customers for a ride.

If only it was that easy. Sadly, the dossier Money Mail submitted to the Competition and Markets Authority suggests they’re all it.

Not every rental firm will use scare tactics to flog rip- off insurance or trick you into putting down an £8,000 deposit on a credit card, but I’m afraid any tales of decent service you’ve sent in have been cancelled out by the horror stories. That’s why it’s vital that authorities across Europe listen to our watchdogs and tackle the abuse of captive holidaymakers.

Pension Unwise

SOMETHING has gone wrong at Pension Wise. This vital service was set up in 2015 to help older savers use pension freedoms to cash in their pots. At the time, Pension Wise let Money Mail listen in on calls from pensioners — and we were impressed with its advice.

But when one of our reporters tried to arrange an appointment for her parents last week she hit a brick wall. The person who picked up the phone rudely pushed them towards full financial advice, which can cost thousands of pounds.

Our reporter’s parents were only after information about their options — not full-on advice — but the man bluntly read out a number for her parents to call. ‘It was like trying to book an appointment with the doctor and the receptionist makes you feel like you’d have to be dying to get one,’ she says.

If you’ve had a similar experience, let me know.