A bank

05/06/2008 by paul.

Mum has been banking with the same bank (highstreet bank beginning with the letter ‘B’) for all her life. So we recently decided to move her to an internet bank, since the new bank offers a level of interest on current accounts, that is well in excess of 10 times that offered by Bank ‘B’ to their loyal customers.
Having opened the new account and moved all her direct debits and pension payments to her new bank, she wrote to bank ‘B’, asking them to close her account and move the balances to her new bank.  Of course bank ‘B’ subscribes to the “code of banking”, so we anticipated that all would happen smoothly and quickly…..Hmmmmm!
Bank ‘B’ wrote back, informing Mum that they could not comply with her request, due to the fact that they were unable to verify her signature on her instructions. And, asking her to visit her local branch.  Of course, in her current state, she can hardly walk a few yards and no way can visit her local branch of ‘B’.
So she wrote herself a cheque for many thousands of pounds, drawn on bank ‘B’ and paid it into her new bank. The cheque went straight through without any problem. So, bank ‘B’, how come you cannot verify the signature on her letter asking you to close the account, but seem able to pay cheques (in fact many of them), without the slightest problem.  Do you operate some sort of  “selective” signature verifcation proceedure ? 
Well OK then, you can keep the account, if that makes you happy, but there will be nothing in it……Bankers ! (or should be spelt with a ‘W’ )  

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