Rabo Direct/NIB making customers use Internet Banking - risks?

Capri

Rabobank, National Irish all want their customers to do internet banking, this problem shows where it can all unravel . You can lodge money at PO's, but cannot take it out there - you have to phone for 'permission' to withdraw money, from an ATM, that is actually yours, on 'loan' to the bank for safekeeping !

Think I'll go back to the gold bars under the floorboard - safer and more accessable
Or the Post office - http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/Personal+Customers/Money+Matters/Savings+and+Investments/

linguist

A bit unfair to lump Rabo in the same category I would have thought. They were never a retail bank so it's not as if they've inconvenienced their customers to the extent you are arguing NIB has. Rabo is a place to put your savings - and a very safe place at that. Whenever you want money out of Rabo, it's back in your designated account elsewhere the next day if you request it before midday or the following day otherwise. I don't really think you can complain about that.

Capri

linguist wrote: »

A bit unfair to lump Rabo in the same category I would have thought. They were never a retail bank so it's not as if they've inconvenienced their customers to the extent you are arguing NIB has. Rabo is a place to put your savings - and a very safe place at that. Whenever you want money out of Rabo, it's back in your designated account elsewhere the next day if you request it before midday or the following day otherwise. I don't really think you can complain about that.

Never thought much about them but as a 'common man' I hear 'RABO BANK' ad's on the radio etc and ASSUME it's a BANK because it has 'bank' in it's title.

What you're saying is it's more like a electronic piggybank, but where do you lodge your cash to them (at another, 'real' bank?), and if you want cash, you've to go to a 'real' bank as well ?

OR - is all this banking done without actual hard cash for people who are paid electronically and spend electronically ?

IF there's no hard cash involved then are we not back to the mercy of electronics that could concievably make your 'electronic' cash vanish to a Nigerian virtual bank someday :eek:

IMO there are some things that are better kept of the electronic highway - cash for one !!;)

Waster81
Yeah that's the spirit, its the customers fault really!

what were they thinking, expecting a bank to give them access to their own cash,

Anyways a credit card is a dangerous thing unless you can pay it off 100% every month

Now you're getting the picture - the banks and government are there for our good - NOT !!!

linguist

Capri wrote: »

What you're saying is it's more like a electronic piggybank, but where do you lodge your cash to them (at another, 'real' bank?), and if you want cash, you've to go to a 'real' bank as well ?

OR - is all this banking done without actual hard cash for people who are paid electronically and spend electronically ?

IF there's no hard cash involved then are we not back to the mercy of electronics that could concievably make your 'electronic' cash vanish to a Nigerian virtual bank someday :eek:

You can bank with Rabo in either of the ways you describe. Either way, your slant on modern banking comes across as rather hysterical.

We use fiat currency, meaning that there isn't a note or coin in the bank vault for every cent that shows up in your account. However, if you've any doubt about the amount in your account reflecting what you can access in cash, just head down to the ATM and you'll soon find out - unless you're currently with Ulster Bank of course.

You wouldn't be the first to question the principle of fiat currency (which is in effect what you're doing) but I can give you a list of ten bigger things that should keep you awake tonight if you want!:)

As for Rabo, it's the safest savings bank in the world (there are a few safer banks but they are mostly government finance houses in France, Germany etc...) Its core business is as an agricultural lender. So I think the Nigerian example is a little extreme.

Anyway, as regards my earlier point about credit cards etc..., yes although people won't like me saying it (in the same vein as none of us did anything wrong during the boom, it was all somebody else's fault), it is silly to rely entirely on one bank or otherwise have no emergency way of paying for things. That doesn't excuse Ulster Bank's incompetence. It's simply stating a fact that I learnt at the age of 22 when I got stranded abroad for a couple of days. As I was still a student, I got my first credit card on my parents' account immediately afterwards as airport seats get pretty uncomfortable after a while!

BuffyBot

Split from the Ulster Bank thread to keep things on topic