Banks failing us

Royal Bank of Scotland justifies the extensive closure of branches across Scotland by saying: “Many of our customers choose to bank online or by phone” (or words to that effect).

A poll straw poll of friends and acquaintances of all ages in the Borders shows this to be untrue: we prefer to speak to a person in a branch and have all recently used our local branches.

Whenever I use or pass a bank in the area there is usually a queue of people waiting to be served. I listened to requests the last time I was in, which ranged from someone wanting cash which included £5 notes which a machine can’t dispense and someone who had lost their card. I was paying in cheques.

We read and hear almost daily in the media of cases of banking fraud by phone and computer which the banks are loth to repay or take responsibility for, again saying that account-holders should be more careful – another reason to be wary of online banking.

If all the proposed multiple branch closures take place many customers will be forced to make long journeys involving a lot of time and bus changes to avail themselves of a banking service which we should be entitled to. We are told the Post Office offers a banking service, but in many Border towns we don’t have those either.

I feel many banking (and other) decisions are made by people sitting in city offices who do not fully consider or research their impact on rural communities.

MARY DOUGLAS Glendearg, Galashiels