Barclays up the creek?

[JamesAC]

According the the BBC, barclays Bank has had to borrow vast amounts of dosh from the Bank of England, because, due to a "technical problem" they didn't have enough wongeroonie in the tin to pay their obligations yesterday.

So, I'ne been trying all morning to log into Barclay's Online to move my 4/6d into my "shoebox under the bed" account .. and it's been a right struggle! It looks like everyone else is trying to get their hands on my halfpenny, too

 

[stevenb]

I gave up on my Barclays account in Dec 06. Fed up of the pitiful interest on my current account and paying £14.50 a month for the privilage.
Halifax HI account is way better.

 

[marinyork]

Was very pleased to see that the NUS and Facebook have apparently won their battle with HSBC. So all those people who were completely and utterly shafted by that bank this summer will apparently get their money back and things reverted to before.

 

[domtyler]

All banks regularly have to borrow money from the BoE for all kinds of reasons, this was just a large and public example. If there was no mechanism for allowing these kinds of adjustments then the whole banking system would not work.

As for current accounts, I personally use Smile, the coops online bank. Good rate of interest for a current account and has a 100% ethical policy.

 

[Melvil]

Was very pleased to see that the NUS and Facebook have apparently won their battle with HSBC. So all those people who were completely and utterly shafted by that bank this summer will apparently get their money back and things reverted to before.

What happened with HSBC and facebook, then?

 

[domtyler]

For reference this is from our old friend wikipedia:

Central Bank
====================
A central bank, reserve bank or monetary authority, is an entity responsible for the monetary policy of its country or of a group of member states, such as the European Central Bank (ECB) in the European Union or the Federal Reserve System in the United States of America. Its primary responsibility is to maintain the stability of the national currency and money supply, but more active duties include controlling subsidized-loan interest rates, and acting as a "bailout" lender of last resort to the banking sector during times of financial crisis (private banks often being integral to the national financial system).

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

The worrying thing about Barclays is the detail. They say that there was an electronic glitch at the last moment before they closed their book and they couldn't borrow the money off another bank in the normal way. However the loan was made at 11 am, five hours before they closed for the night.

 

[marinyork]

What happened with HSBC and facebook, then?

HSBC wrote near the end of the academic year to those on the last year of their student accounts telling them that their graduate accounts would affectively (but not in name) be scrapped in August I think it was originally - anyone still with an overdraft would have to pay £9.99 overdraft fee plus 9.9% APR. Perhaps keen to be seen not too soft they then sent out a second batch of letters saying that the original date was being rolled forward and that charges would kick in in a couple of days time from when the letter was received. Basically if you had your student overdraft maxed out or near to maxed out then you'd be paying well you can work it out and it's a fair bit .

It all got very little press. Ironically the facebook group that was set up in protest actually got far more publicity than the thing itself.

 

[sheddy]

Banks are crap

 

[graham56]

Executive Bob Diamond, the head of Barclays investing bank unit earned
£23m last year. Not bad work if you can get it.

 

[Jacomus-rides-Gen]

He deserves that pay much more than a footballer does.

 

[yenrod]

I share exactly what Patrick says here AND I wouldn't have money in the barclays if I did !!!

The worrying thing about Barclays is the detail. They say that there was an electronic glitch at the last moment before they closed their book and they couldn't borrow the money off another bank in the normal way. However the loan was made at 11 am, five hours before they closed for the night.

 

[dangerousjules]

i know bob diamond through my work and the guy's like a robot devoid of emotion and appears to be cold as ice. i wonder how many souls he sold to the devil to be paid 23 million bonus a year which fyi is actually about 10 million less than last year so even HE got a bonus cut!