Secret plot to kill off your paper bank statements
As NatWest tells loyal customers it won’t print transactions, we expose backlash over its ...
NATWEST is refusing to print bank statements for customers in branches in yet another attempt to force people online.
Money Mail can today reveal how the bank quietly changed its policy in September and will no longer allow customers to pop into their local branch to get a paper statement.
Instead, customers of all ages will be directed online and encouraged to view their transactions in a ‘paperless format’.
Campaigners accuse the bank of abandoning elderly and vulnerable customers and warn it could use the lack of footfall as justification for further branch closures. NatWest has shut the most UK branches between January 2015 to the present — a total of 638 according to consumer group Which?.
The bank is also contacting thousands of online banking customers to inform them they will no longer automatically receive paper statements in the post from January.
Instead, customers are being encouraged to check their spending using an online account or smartphone app. You can still request paper statements at no extra cost by adjusting your online account settings.
The findings come just weeks after NatWest was forced to re-train its staff after grieving customers were told they could not report a death in branch and must go online instead.
Pensioner Janet Ball was refused a bank statement when she visited a NatWest branch in Leeds at the end of September.
The former assistant radiographer wanted three months of statements to check whether she had received an expected refund from telecoms provider Plusnet.
When Janet, a NatWest customer of 50 years, complained, a manager explained the bank was ‘going digital’. She was shown her account online in a private cubicle, but felt uncomfortable with staff watching. She was eventually told the bank could send her a weekly statement in the post.
Janet, 74, who lives in Cookridge, Leeds, says: ‘Older people like me do not want to bank online,’ she says. ‘I have heard all sorts about people accessing your account.
‘If the bank is going paperless, why is it offering to send me a weekly statement instead of allowing me just to pop in now and again and have one printed out? That will contribute much more to its paper trail.
‘NatWest is turning into a faceless bank.’
Social media platform Twitter is littered with customers reporting the same issue. Data quality manager Faisal Hassan tried to get a bank statement printed a few weeks ago in a branch in Ilford, Essex.
He needed it as proof of income to clear money-laundering checks before sending cash home to his family in Bangladesh. But after queuing up, staff told him they could not give him one. After waiting 25 minutes Faisal, 36, was eventually given copies of his transaction history, but adds: ‘I can’t understand why they have made these changes. It’s stupid.’ Trevor Stell, 42, and his wife visited a branch in Headingley, Leeds, to get a one-page statement but were told it must be posted or viewed online, or the couple could visit a bigger branch three miles away and make an appointment for it to be printed out. Trevor says: ‘Surely the cost of printing at head office and posting out to me would be more than a cashier doing it on the spot?’ Martyn James, from complaints website Resolver, says: ‘It might seem innocuous, but even the removal of what might seem like a small service is another step to withdrawing branch services altogether. Everything that is offered online should be matched by what’s available in the branch.’ Other banks, including HSBC, Lloyds and Santander, provide paper statements to customers in branch. Barclays customers can print full bank statements from online banking points in branches or go to the counter if the branch does not have one.
Caroline Abrahams, director of charity Age UK, says many older people like the familiarity of getting a hard copy bank statement from their local branch — a place they routinely visit, staffed by bank employees who they know.
She adds: ‘Banks must not forget the 3.4 million over-65s who have never used the internet and the many others with limited digital skills.’
NatWest claims the changes are to reduce waiting times in branches and paper usage.
A spokesman says: ‘Since September, we have been talking to customers to understand their needs and discuss alternative ways they can access their transactions in a paperless format through mobile and online banking.
‘We continue to print transaction history lists for customers who, for example, require proof of address, income/expenditure for a third party and customers in vulnerable situations.’
IT’S no secret that banks would prefer us all to manage our accounts online. It lets them save on printing and postage costs, and they don’t need to pay as many staff to run branches and call centres.
But there is a fine line between encouraging customers to bank online and trying to force them — and NatWest has crossed it.
Just six weeks ago, Money Mail exposed how NatWest staff were advising grieving customers that they had to report a death online.
The bank swiftly (and rightly) apologised and promised to remind staff this is not the case.
Yet now we hear that NatWest branch staff are refusing to print paper statements and telling customers they must monitor their spending online instead.
NatWest HQ claims that branch staff will still print statements for vulnerable customers and those who need the documents as proof of income. But as we reveal on page 49, a pensioner was refused the service, as was another customer, who needed it to clear money-laundering checks in order to send money overseas.
So you have to wonder what NatWest is really telling its staff behind closed doors. Let’s face it, every time you step inside a branch these days, you are met by someone waving an iPad.
Sometimes, these ‘meeters and greeters’ can be very helpful, but as 74-year-old Janet says, it can be incredibly frustrating to have to say again and again that while, yes, you are aware you can bank online, you just don’t want to.
There are 3.4 million over-65s who have never used the internet — and many others who aren’t comfortable using it for banking.
For years, these customers have been used to dealing with a local branch manager they know and trust. But, now, after being forced to travel further to reach a branch, they are being fobbed off by strangers holding iPads.
If someone has gone to the effort of travelling to a branch to get a statement, surely the right thing to do is just give it to them — it’s cheaper than having to post one. Presumably, NatWest knows this, so is it all just an attempt to justify more branch closures? If the bank shoos away enough customers, the next time it wants to close a branch it will be able to say, hand on heart, that its rarely used.
When you compare NatWest’s behaviour to that of Newcastle Building Society, which now offers special opening hours for those with disabilities, it’s shameful.
NatWest needs to start listening to its loyal customers and stop being so heartless.
Driven crazy
For many young motorists, a telematics policy that monitors their driving habits is often the only affordable way to get car insurance. So it’s worrying that some customers are losing trust in the technology (see page 41).
Some insurers do not allow you to track your own driving, so how are you supposed to check for mistakes? And with so many devices on offer, it only adds to the confusion. Who is overseeing the technology and ensuring it’s updated in line with changes to road speeds? It’s vital these policies are crystal-clear about how they work and any catches in the small print.
Petrolhead tips
THANK you all for sharing tips for cutting petrol bills.
one Money Mail reader suggests trying fuel comparison site petrol
prices.com. Using your postcode, it finds the best deal near you.
Another adds that many satnavs can be programmed to find local, cheap petrol stations, helping you to avoid motorway prices.
However, for Mr Kinnard of East Grinstead, West Sussex, it’s all about ‘feather footing’. He says: ‘Learn how to use the rev counter to obtain maximum pulling power in the gears, in conjunction with the speedometer, keeping within the speed limit naturally. Do not brake heavily; smoothly does it — the term is feather footing.’
I look forward to sharing these driving tips with my partner Chris during our next road trip.