Banks couldn’t care tuppence about our cash
Want to exchange a jar of coins for notes? Toby Walne proves that...
FOR the first time in almost half a century the Treasury has ordered the Royal Mint to stop producing any 1p or 2p coins. The crackdown on coppers comes at a time when all our cash is under threat – with banks preferring that we pay for goods online or with cards because it saves them money.
The Mail on Sunday sent reporter Toby Walne out on to Kensington High Street in West London weighed down with £50 of coins to see if they are willing to manage the simple task of taking his money.
HSBC: CLEAR OFF TO ANOTHER BRANCH
I AM forced to hobble upstairs carrying a near 10kg jar of coins to get to the manned counter. The ground floor is reserved for seven ‘express banking’ machines that seem to do everything but take coins.
The cashier, Amun, shakes her head at my audacity. ‘Sorry. It has to be bagged.’ I am bemused. What on earth does she mean – what is wrong with handing money over in a jar rather than bag?
But she is referring to small clear plastic bags used by all banks designed specifically for holding different types of coin – which I must sort through myself.
She smiles at my confusion. ‘It would be quicker if you head off to our Oxford Street branch. It has a machine that takes customer coins for free.’ Not quite what I wanted to hear. She has politely told me to clear off to another branch – three miles away and at least 20 minutes using London Underground.
LLOYDS: GET KIDS TO COUNT YOUR COINS
AS I walk in I am transfixed by a strange bank advertisement poster on the wall that announces, ‘Sorry. I love You. The M-Word.’
M is for money, I discover, before bank worker Danella creeps up from behind and makes me jump by telling me the bank won’t accept mine – before I even ask.
‘ Sorry. We do not take change unless bagged.’ She eyes up the jar bulging with coppers and the odd glint of silver. ‘I tell you what – let me find some bags to help you. We take a maximum of ten full bags every day. If you have children they might find the counting fun – turn it into a game.’
She hands over 30 small clear plastic bags that clearly show what I can fill them with. For example, £1 in 2p or 1p coins.
SANTANDER: TRY DOWN THE ROAD
THREE of the six counters are open – and I can tell by the way they nervously look at me wielding a jar of coins that none of them wants to serve me.
Raj draws the short straw. ‘You have one of two choices. I give you bags to sort out the money or you can go a few doors down the road to a Metro bank where they cash it for free. Sadly we do not offer this service.’
It is not the amount of money that is the problem but the fact it is all mixed up. Had I come in with just a fiver’s worth of coins they would still not have helped out unless each denomination had been put into its own bag.
NATIONWIDE: COUNT IT IN OUR OFFICE
THE machine in the foyer takes cash but an attached sign says it will not accept paper clips, staples, elastic bands – and coins. I am intercepted by Rachel who takes pity on me struggling under the weight of 1,820 copper and silver coins. She offers only a light-hearted laugh when I suggest she helps me count them up – but instead hands over a wad of 150 small plastic bags for me to fill up. ‘It could take a while but you are more than welcome to count it and bag it up in our back office.’
A counting machine could accomplish the task in a few seconds – this could take hours.
NATWEST: DO NOT USE OUR MACHINE
THE swanky interior looks like a hotel reception area with its purple soft f ur ni s hi ngs e xcept t hat installed on the wall is a box the size of a photocopier with a handtaped printed message saying, ‘This machine is for NatWest customers only.’
At last I have found somewhere that takes small change – but sadly not mine.
Frustratingly for me, a couple of its customers use the machine as I queue and it sounds like someone has won the jackpot on a Las Vegas one-armed bandit.
But at the counter Julie is adamant that I cannot use it. As I am not a customer, the bank will not all ow me a spin on t he fruit machine.
‘ You get a voucher from t he machine and we then transfer the money directly into your bank account – but only if you bank with us.’
POST OFFICE: WILL ONLY WEIGH COINS
A LOCAL post office is often the bank of last resort when branches shut down – so perhaps this will be my saviour. Assistant Sudhir allows me to weigh my pot of coins for free on the parcel scales – 9.6kg – while he goes round the back in search of coin bags. The branch will not let me put money in any account unless I put coins in the bags.
CLYDESDALE: TAKE A STROLL NEXT DOOR
THE ultra-modern frontage is full of light bulbs, mirrors and pictures of fairy cakes. There is a message on the wall – ‘Are you financially fit?’ Lifting this bulk of coins is certainly giving me a work-out.
But there is no hope of me shifting my collection here. Its ‘Studio B’ branch is owned by Virgin Money and without any embarrassment boasts it is ‘where new ideas are born’.
Bruno, a sharply dressed bank assistant, steps up to pass on his wisdom. ‘Across the road next door the Metro bank will be able to help.’
METRO: HE’S RIGHT... SUCCESS AT LAST
THERE is a warm handshake from assistant Reuben as he spots me flaked out on a chair by a ‘Magic Money Machine’. I am exhausted after lugging my pile of cash up and down the street all afternoon.
I explain apologetically that I am
not a customer. But thankfully he does not mind and points to the free coin machine. ‘We want to help all customers with a service they want – even if they bank elsewhere.’
Declining the offer of help I pour in my full jar. It takes a couple of minutes for all the coins to fall through the drain on the top of the machine. A computer s creen reveals a total of £49.43 – it turns out my ‘£50’ from HSBC includes a handful of rejected foreign coins.
The machine’s display screen asks if I want to donate the 43p to a charity supporting teenagers with cancer – and it seems churlish to decline. A slip pops out which I hand over at the counter, where Bhavin presents me with two crisp £20 notes, a fiver and four pound coins. Service at last.
ANOTHER WAY TO RING THE CHANGES
ANOTHER option for your coin mountain is to feed it into a feecharging machine at a supermarket. This converts your coins into a voucher to be exchanged for cash at the check-out. These machines charge a ‘coin processing fee’ of typically 10.9 per cent – costing you £1.09 for every £10.
Natalie Ceeney, author of the Access To Cash Review published earlier this year, cannot understand why banks are not routinely providing this service for free, especially as the technology is readily available. A former boss of the Financial Ombudsman Service, Ceeney says: ‘Coins are a vital part of budgeting for us all.’