Banking here makes me homicial!

ACK!!!!!

There is nothing worse than banking in this country! I have just stood for 30 minutes at NatWest to cash a government cheque drawn on their back. When I got there they said, OH SORRY, you can only deposit that to your account. Well my account isn't there! I wanted the cash today, not wanting to wait the week for it to clear. ARGH!

Then I went to my bank and tried to cash two money orders. NO CAN DO! They have to wait the 5 clearing days as well! WHAT!?! They are already bought and paid for!

At home I went INTO the bank about once a year, now I am queueing up until I am ready to kill someone.

That is all- back to work.

Nice rant

But to refresh your memory - Banking isn't that great in Canada either!

I always have issues with the bank 'holding' cheques. It's totally random too because it's up to the teller. So one teller will say "Sure, I won't hold the cheque" and the other says "Sorry, we need to hold it for 30 days."

There's just no consistency. But thankfully I can deposit cheques at any branch, doesn't matter where my account is registered.

And the money order thing does seem strange..

Remember when TD would give you $5 if you had to wait in line for 5 minutes or more? My dad always used to request his waiting fee.

They stopped doing that for some reason

Ah- banking at home may not be great, but I never went INTO the bank! The only time was for exchanging money or getting money orders.

PLUS- at home you can deposit your cheques at the ATM. There are very few places on can do that here.

AND- you can cash a cheque at the bank it is drawn on.

AND- you can cash a money order.

I didn't mention that after waiting at that bank for 30 minutes I went to my own bank for another 30. Despite the fact that I changed my address two months ago, there are still sending my statements to the worng address. Their computer SAYS it is going to the right place, but reality is, it's not.

Everytime I go to the bank here I end up either in tears or a homicidal rage

There are many things I find strange and odd here, but I am getting used to them. Just cuz its not the North American way doesn't mean its the WRONG way. But banking... it will eb the death of me!

I've never had any problems in canada. My bank has never freezed my checks. When one was about to bounce, the manager would call me so I could put funds in, etc. So I'm keeping links with them and still using my Canadian account as much as my british one, specially when I need things to work now and then.

The bank manager would call you instead of just making a quick $20 NSF charge? As someone who worked in a bank for a year, that's unbelievable.

I once had to call a customer to request he not deposit his dimes and nickels through the atm.

Well.. she'd call me and say: "X amount is comming out of your account now. What do you want me to do?"

So I'd say either I deposit money the same day or have her sell mutal funds, etc..

That is service.

One of the biggest things that irks me is that I can't pay my credit card bill with my bank card in the ATM. At home I just popped my Royal Bank card into the machine & transfered the money to my Royal Bank Visa. No can do here. Can't walk up to a Natwest machine & transfer money to my Natwest Visa. Since I only have sporatic access to the internet, I can't transfer it on-line & cheques take too long to clear by the time I get my statement, so it means I have to go stand in line. I hate that!

that is quite annoying!

The banking and business practices here are chronic aren't they. Badly in need of an overhaul. I've learned the ropes, but it doesn't stop me getting really fed up sometimes. Esp when I fly home for a visit and I can conduct business same day without passing a MI5 security check each time.