Banking

At 4:40pm, I had a call with Barclays. I’d set up a new ISA and wanted to check that the money would transfer from the old one OK, which, for some reason, they couldn’t do on the phone yesterday. Instead, I set up a call. I was expecting a bit of a hard sell on some other financial products that I didn’t want, but I actually got some helpful advice about saving accounts that pay better rates and some ideas on other people I need to talk to to check if I have - what little financial planning I do - correct. In the end, I was happy about the 30 minutes.

While gathering some info for the call - mainly via the bank’s portal - I discovered a chequebook that is still going strong. The first cheque was written in it in 2013, and plenty remain. I seemed to be averaging about 1 cheque a year. I wonder how many people opening bank accounts with the new banks will even see a cheque, much less have a chequebook or a cover to protect the chequebook when you’re out and about? Banking has moved on.