Banks

With apologies to CT for nicking his link "elsewhere"

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/business/people-still-unsure-how-banks-work-201103083606/

* nice*

 

That was rubbish.

Barclays are cunts, though. They have taken over yet another of my credit
cards, having done a deal with Egg. That'll be the end of the fairly decent
cashback scheme then. All be rebranded by May apparently.

They came for the Goldfish a few years ago. Then they had Morgan Stanley's
cards. Both had decent incentive schemes which are not worth a bean now.

I guess they'll be after my Capital One cashback card next. I may have to
consider the Amex one but the tiered rate is not so good overall.

 

Ho yes

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Meanwhile, in other non-news...

 

They didn't suffer in the crisis though and if you bought shares in Barclays
when they dipped for no good reason then you made some money.
So, I'm guessing they are managed in a way that gives me confidence to put
savings that way.

 

Proof positive that yer actual Labour party were in the wrong pockets.
Failure to regulate upper levels of interest rates. Failure to regulate
Credit Card companies and their Merchant rates.

 

So why did they need to be bailed out?

Not by the British government. Oh, no. They didn't want the restrictions
that came with the money. So instead they took their £7.5bn - for which
they're paying 14%pa over 10yrs - from Qatar & Abu Dhabi investors,
primarily the sovereign wealth funds.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/city-fury-over-terms-of-
barclays-bailout-982269.html

 

Your point eludes me

 

That they did suffer in the crisis. But are too cuntish to play the same
game as all the others.

 

It seems to me they carried out business as any company should, didn't go
begging to Daddy Brown and didn't get so deep into worthless debt products.
Good on 'em.
The day their share price sunk I had 3 American business colleagues in
Leeds. I told them to go straight home and buy. They ignored me, hey WTF
does an Aberdonian know about money? By the time they returned the net gain
was around 25%.

 

They were bailed out by the American government.

 

Barclaycard used to have some decent points incentive scheme, decades
ago. Then they changed it for some totally crap one that only only
offered you two-for-the-price-of-one entry tickets to the Newquay
Pilchard Museum and similar shite. Then they changed it again, for
something even more crap.

I stopped using my Barclayard in about 1985. I use a card that gives
me BA air miles these days, and very nice they are too.

 

Well let me be a little more succinct.
They didn't suffer *unduly*, as a global banking group. They didn't take on
the levels of long term debt as some others. Their financing agreements are
not as onerous as some of the British press tried to present. I don't think
I suggested there was no global recession. Analysts agree. Their share price
recovered significantly from March 09. Tripled in fact. Compare that to
others.

 

I feel these are a bit of a waste of time now. Once upon a time air
miles offered free flights.

Now there's a booking fee and then taxes on top of this. Add all this
up and the total figure isn't a long way south of a full-price fare
with a budget airline. Of course... the budget airline tax is the
same as BAs but even so...

 

Managed by some right wealthy err, bankers ATM ..

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...und-10m-pay-and-bonus-deals-to-two-bankers.do

Paul.

 

Whoops.

<reminder to self, click original link>

Paul

 

Yes, I'm just debating a replacement for mine too. As soon as the
cashback goes (and I'm sure it will soon) so do I; if only to Nationwide
or somebody out of principle.

 

Capital One pay the same flat rate 1% on all, like Egg Money. I don't think
the card is available to new customers. The Amex Platinum Card (a normal
credit card with either Mastercard of VISA affiliation) is probably the
best available, especially if you are planning to get a bit spendy in the
first 3 months as they offer 5% cashback.

As you travel overseas a bit, look at the Santander Zero or Post Office
cards. They are good for foreign transactions as they don't charge the 3%
currency conversion levy like most banks.

 

The Halifax clarity is another to add to that iirc

 

Indeed. The Post Office drew this to my attention when getting a check
and send on the lad's passport renewal. Perhaps I shouldn't have told
the Nationwide customer survey person that phoned last year some time
what the only reason I had an account with them was.

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