Banks are there to make money, but from a customer perspective, they are there to keep money safe and make it easier to use.

What would you do if your bank demanded that you come into a branch to make a transfer, even though you were in a different country?

That is what happened to the customer in this story, so he ended up flying back home just to close his accounts and move his money to another bank.

Bank selectively enforces rules, loses business and money

So, this is my Dad’s story rather than mine, but I felt it might amuse some and is probably the only time in his nearly 70 years that he has done something like this.

Sometimes you have to take whatever work is available.

In the 1970s with the UK suffering a recession and work hard to come by, my (then childless) Dad had an opportunity to move to Dubai to work. My Mum was able to go with him, they’d have accommodation provided, a good income (higher than the UK equivalent would have been) and were able to fly over and check everything out before committing.

All in all, a great opportunity.

This sounds like a smart plan.

They took the plunge, and decided as they had no accommodation costs in Dubai, they would keep paying the mortgage on their UK house so it would be available to them if/when they returned.

My parents had a UK current account with one bank (let’s call them Goodish), but their mortgage and savings account with a different bank (let’s call them Muppets).

Seems like a simple process, especially for the 1970s.

Every month Dad’s salary was paid into his current account with Goodish and he’d then phone them to ask them to move money into his Savings account with Muppets (as this is the account his mortgage payment came from); he never had any problems.

One day, Mum writes a cheque from the Goodish account, then later realizes the account will not have sufficient funds to cover it. “No problem” thought Dad, I’ll give Muppets a call and ask them to move some back out of the savings.

Who cares if they “WANT” to do it, it isn’t the bank’s money!

Unfortunately, Muppets didn’t want to transfer money out of their account, and so informed Dad that the only way he can remove money from that account is in branch, in person, using his “savings book”.

Now, Muppets didn’t have a Dubai branch in the 70s, the only way he could comply would be to travel 3,500 miles home. Frustrated at their repeated refusal to help, Dad resolves the immediate cheque issue another way, and looks at when he’ll next be in the UK.

He will never deal with that bank again.

Fast forward a couple of months and Dad is back in the UK. Armed with his little “savings book”, he strolls into his local branch of Muppets and asks for confirmation of his savings balance, and mortgage balance. He then hands over the mandatory savings book and requests to withdraw the full savings account balance in cash.

Dad then pays off the outstanding mortgage in full, and asks for an envelope for the excess. Dad then closes the savings account, walks to Goodish, and deposits the remaining savings.

Banks don’t like it when you pay things off early.

Bank manager tried to stop this happening, but once Dad pointed out that he technically isn’t able to transfer money INTO his savings account without using the savings book, he’d have no way to pay the mortgage, the mortgage itself had no restriction on early repayment, and thus he could do what he liked with his own money.

Banks (and any business) needs to remember that when they make things more difficult than they need to be, people will leave.

Let’s see what the people in the comments think about this simple story.

Yes, especially during a recession.

Yup, banks love having a mortgage open the full 30 years. They make thousands!

And have some cash left over!

This commenter learned a valuable lesson.

This can be a great way to save money.

Banks hate it when you pay off loans early.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.