Is online banking better than having banks open in town centres?

As banks continue to close in town, the Advertiser heard people’s opinions on their departures and the rise of online services to replace them.

Transcript

00:00Well, I'm very upset about it and very mad about it, because I don't understand internet

00:12banking or anything. So I'm going to be lost. Where do I pay my bills? And everything.

00:19Well, there are far too many closing down, and not everybody is able to use a computer.

00:24And older people certainly find it more difficult. I much prefer to go into my bank and I prefer

00:30to talk to people.

00:32I don't... there is a positive and negative to it. I do do a lot of things online already.

00:39But if I ever do have a problem, I would like to be able to go to a physical bank and talk

00:44to somebody. Yeah, so that was the only thing I can say. Maybe they can have smaller branches,

00:50so it's completely closing everything.

00:53I think it makes it very difficult for people, because not everybody uses the internet. And

01:00sometimes it's much easier to come into a branch and talk to somebody if you've got

01:06a particular problem or want some information, than to get sent out to some of the people

01:13that answer the phones when you do ring up. Or you get passed on from one person to another

01:20and you end up not getting the answer that you want. Whereas if someone is stood in front

01:25of you, it's much easier.

01:28Yeah, I agree. Yeah, no, but then three years ago, we used to have lots of banks with lots

01:33of staffing. And the banks made money, so it makes you wonder what they're doing with

01:37all the money that they used to make. Yeah, because everybody didn't have a bank account

01:42when I first started work. It's not that many years ago.

01:48Well, there's so many banks closing down, it's not fair for the elder generation. Because

01:53not everybody wants to bank online. And my husband and I, we don't bank online, so we

01:58rely on these banks to go and talk to somebody face to face. You just don't get that anymore,

02:04do you?

02:06So a necessity to lots of people, very vulnerable people, depend on banks. Elderly people, people

02:13that are lonely, that haven't got the internet access. If they close the bank, it's going

02:19to be a nightmare for people to have support when they need it individually. Having online

02:25is not the same as having it inside. And I think it's going to be shattering lots of

02:30families and elderly people mostly, and vulnerable people that depend on banks. We need to stand

02:36together and fight for saving our banks in Europe.

02:40Yes, I obviously think it's a shame that banks are closing down. And for an awful lot

02:45of people, for various reasons, they can't get into town, they don't use the internet.

02:52I think we forget there's a lot of people that don't use the internet. It's a disaster.

02:58But I do appreciate the other side of the story. In this economic times, I think this

03:05is pretty well inevitable, I'm afraid.