BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[plaques]

An yet when someone rings up and says "we notice that there was difficulty with you last transaction / renewal, can you please give me your banking details and I will sort it out"'. The blithely give all their details without anymore thought. Security what security.

[Stanley]

That's why I avoid internet banking like the plague. I tell them I haven't got a smart phone by letter!

[PanBiker]

It has become the norm for thousands of people as local bank branches have closed down. If you live long enough Stanley it will catch up with you too.

[Stanley]

No it won't! My banking needs are so simple I can manage fine by communicating by letter.

[Stanley]

There is a good in-depth article in PE about Thomas Cook. Their verdict is atrocious management and very lax auditing. Sounds familiar?

[Stanley]

Tiz has mentioned the terrible practice of selling debt. I see in PE that the Prudential have sold their annuity portfolio to an 'investor' who happens to be a hedge fund. Just as bad a practice I reckon. Will their investment policies be as safe as the Pru's was?

[Tizer]

This selling on always makes me think of slavery. In that sense we are still treated as slaves, to be bought and sold, by the rich bankers and financiers. It also shows that they don't think of us as human beings, or even customers - we are just rows of digits on their big electronic abacus.

[Stanley]

A very good analogy Tiz. What's the point of taking the trouble to research the market and pick a product based on security and ethics if you can be sold on like a slave to a bunch of Shysters running a hedge fund in an unstable market? Applies equally to debts and assets.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC account of the latest report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies. It forecasts that borrowing will rise to £100billion annually under even a relatively benign Brexit.

[PanBiker]

Received a cheque this morning from Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank in compensation for miss sold PPI. After the search companies payment for services rendered I will still be £1.4K better off than if I hadn't bothered. All I have done is tick a few boxes and fill in a short questionnaire when they turned up the potential fraud. Could have done it myself apart from the fact that I can't even remember the 20 minute slot I had at the Colne branch to set it up 25 years ago.

[Tizer]

That's probably the best hourly rate you've ever earned!

[Tripps]

I'm guessing that Greece, and Kleftiko will be high on the list of priorities.

Enjoy. . .

[PanBiker]

That's probably the best hourly rate you've ever earned!

Indeed.

I'm guessing that Greece, and Kleftiko will be high on the list of priorities.

That's the plan at some point after Sally finally gets her pension but that's not for another 12 months yet unless there is some form of compensation or interim payment agreed for the WASPI women. Not holding breath though.

I only had to give them my trading name and a rough three or four year spread to find the account and the errant deal. Devil is in the detail in these matters. I minced up all my trading accounts years ago.

[Stanley]

Nice result Ian!

[Stanley]

The welcome takeover of the Thomas Cook shops by Hays must be tempered by the fact that as they get to grips with their new estate they will have to do some culling. In obvious cases where they compete with existing Hays shops and in others where rents are too high and can't be improved.
I hope their faith in the viability of High Street selling is justified but it is a very big gamble.

[PanBiker]

My compensation cheque had cleared by last night so I paid my PPI searchers by bank transfer last night. All sorted on that one. Just waiting for a small annuity to mature now, later next month the day before my birthday. I stopped paying premiums last year as it was fully paid up. The cunning wheeze here is that they hang on to it for an extra year beyond the term of the policy, I bet they have made more than the interest they will pay for the extra year.

[Stanley]

It's all that pesky small print Ian! I have had many nasty shocks in my life over things embedded there. Usually in insurance policies where you think you are covered but lo and behold......

[Tizer]

My favourite example of the Cunning Wheeze embedded in the small print of T&Cs was Npower's definition of a year as 10 months so when you got a discounted one-year deal it ended 2 months before you expected it to. They got away with it for a surprisingly long time until the newspapers made a big fuss about it. And look at what has happened to the company since - they had to cut 900 jobs.

This is good news...
`Payments giants abandon Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency' LINK
`Mastercard, Visa, eBay and payments firm Stripe have pulled out of Facebook’s embattled cryptocurrency project, Libra. Their move, first reported in the Financial Times, follows the withdrawal of PayPal, announced last week. It represents a huge blow to the social network’s plans to launch what it envisions as a global currency. The project has drawn heavy scrutiny from regulators and politicians, particularly in the US. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will appear before the House Committee on Financial Services on 23 October to discuss Libra and its planned roll-out. Regulators have raised multiple concerns over Libra, including the risk it may be used for money laundering. Mercado Pago, a payments firm serving mostly Latin America, also pulled out. It means of the six payments-related firms first involved in Libra, just one, PayU, remains. Netherlands-based PayU did not respond to the BBC's request for comment on Friday...'.

[Stanley]

I agree Tiz. The big tech giants are insatiable and sooner or later will have to be curbed. This may be part of the start of that process.

[Tizer]

Further good news...
`Facebook's digital currency dealt another blow' LINK
`Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency must not go ahead until the firm proves it is safe and secure, according to a report by the G7 group seen by the BBC. In a blow to the social media giant, the world's biggest economies warned cryptocurrencies such as Libra pose a risk to the global financial system. The draft report outlines nine major risks posed by such digital currencies. It warns that even if Libra's backers address concerns, the project may not get approval from regulators...'.

The `tech' companies always rush into new things too quickly and launch them with insufficient testing. I'm glad to hear Facebook is being forced to slow down and fully develop its product first.

[Stanley]

'Progress' for progress' sake never was a good idea. Think of things like the Comet airliner for examples of how the rush to market can be a mistake. Come to think, the 737 Max is another good example.

[Tizer]

Facebook insist they are going to push on with their currency project. On the latest episode of Radio 4's Bottom Line on `Cryptocurrencies'
there was a lot of concern about Facebook's plan. LINK

[Stanley]

As Janet once told me, they want to rule the world. They have the data, now they want control of the money. They develop into crypto nations or political movements.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the demise of Quick Quid the pay day lending firm. I am not sorry to see them close but the fact that by doing so means that people with ongoing claims will lose out seems to be too easy a get-out to me.

[Tizer]

Trouble at t' mill...
`EY: Gold, drug money and a major auditor's 'cover-up'' LINK

...and more
`MPs demand action over rise in online bank crashes' LINK