New Banking Service

[j-lo]

All

I'm a banker of 12 years experience and now facing redundancy. I'm thinking about writing a one day seminar targeted at people having problems with their bank. The idea would be to help them know their rights, be prepared and have the right information in the right format to sell their case to their relationship manager.

I don't know if I can make a full day of it but I'm wondering do people feel there's still a market for it - and would you pay £250 for the day?

 

[cjd]

A service that provides help to get you out of the mess might be a better idea, but it would be a tough one to find customers for.

 

[j-lo]

Well that's the idea - once you're in the mess you need the bank on your side. All to often the customer won't talk to the bank at. The information should help you find a way through. Some good accountants can do the same job - but not all are good and most are expensive when business owners could do the job themselves if they knew what was needed.

 

[oldeagleeye]

Writing a seminar is one thing. Holding or speaking at one is a completely different ball game and I doubt that you can tell small business owners/managers anything important that they don't know anyway.

We all know that the banks are still charging exhobitent penalty fees of up to £8 quid for going a £1 overdrawn even though the ombudsman has said they should charge no more that £5 quid.

We all know that the vast mjority of so called business bank managers have little or no power to authorise loans or overdrafts. That everything is run by faceless twits at head office who in turn are told what to do by a computer programme.

So what are you going to pad this seminar out with. We SME's ain't like the the delegates spawned by corporate sector that take 2 hours to choose whether that want pickle in their cheese sarnie for lunch or not.

Unless you are supremely confident in holding an audience and have genuine content delegtes then they will see it as padding and your probably have a riot on your hands given the subject matter.

The bottom line j-lo is if you plan to go ahead with this I would buy some body armour out of your redundancy pay and make sure you don't accept any cheques. I guarantee they will bounce.

 

[Tej]

All

I'm a banker of 12 years experience and now facing redundancy. I'm thinking about writing a one day seminar targeted at people having problems with their bank. The idea would be to help them know their rights, be prepared and have the right information in the right format to sell their case to their relationship manager.

I don't know if I can make a full day of it but I'm wondering do people feel there's still a market for it - and would you pay £250 for the day?

As you are only "facing redundancy", I would suggest that you make a list of all your current clients who are in deep doo doo.

Contact them and help them to know their rights etc, help them prepare their plan etc.

Should this not be automatic for you bankers to help your clients whilst you are working at the bank???

How do you expect these same clients to pay you £250 for a day.. after guys like you have screwed them?..so they would perceive .. IMO

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

IMO £250 / day - too expensive.

How about delivering this info via a subscription based web site?

You could have a bronze, silver, gold package offering varying levels of info and then a platinum package for one to one consultancy.

Good luck

And don't forget to register as self employed or a limited company and get yourself an accountant

 

[oldeagleeye]

Agree on the £250 a day too. Only the body corporate and goverment pay those sort of rates. As for business in general.

A full day starting with helpful seminar leading to sitting sitting for a personal pub licence in the afternoon about £120 quid. Lunch included.

Most secuity seminars these days free - including lunch. I used to run one on boardroom security.

I plan to run 2 hr local seminars for up 10 -12 delegates a time on the implications of BS 25999 to SME's. Again free. The name of the game now with most seminars is free - in order to sell other services of course.

 

[stugster]

id love to know how to get round their evasive non existant complaints procedure

Dear Barclays,

Please close my account with immediate effect.


All the best,


You.

 

[j-lo]

Of course we're supposed to help them - and we do (at least we try). It can be frustrating though when you see people with fundamentally decent businesses (we think) but we can't get decent information off that to prove their case to the no-named shirts who make all the decisions.

The more quality information a front line manager has the better equipped we are to influence the decision - I've seen good business turned away because of poor credit proposals (by staff) and I've seen poor business approved because of good credit proposals - it's all in the way you tell it!

I figured if I could get enough good content together for a full day that people would leave not needing a further one-2-one. They would get the opportunity to ask questions specific to their situation throughout the day.

 

[j-lo]

Turnover is vanity - profit is sanity. Just because you're turning over big money doesn't mean you can afford to repay the debt you have. Tht might sound mean and I don't mean it to - that's the way a bank thinks

But if you can prove that you re making profit, can continue to make profit and can reduce your borrowing in a reasonable period of time - you should be able to come up with some structure of finance that works for everyone.

You'll need to do all those things to find another bank anyway so its worth showing them to your existing bank.

There is no good way of getting your complaint heard - all the banks have proper procedures to follow when they receive an official complaint. The problem with banking is that most people will complain when they don't get what they want (even when it may make sense for the bank not to do it). But for a bank to really respond because they feel entitled to provide whatever facilities suits them you need to show that someone has broken rules. Even if you involve a solicitor you may not get a satisfactory response - in the current climate frankly I would approach my local political representative. There are examples out there of decent businesses having necessary funding withdrawn without adequate notice - and this is creating a problem for the business and for our economy. If these banks have public money then our public representatives should have them brought to book.

 

[Tej]

I think we are perhaps being a bit harsh with the OP

If after attending the £250 seminar.. and you got what you wanted out of the bank.. would you think it was worth it?

If you owe the bank £1000 you are a debtor
If you owe the bank 1million.. you are a partner..

I guess Dans "relationship manager" did not attend the partnering course

I trust the OP will bear me out on this one?

 

[GRDCredit]

im sorry there was a chance to prove your worth of 250 but it was a typical banswer ie avoid the question

i asked what the complaint procedure was and you said every bank has a complaints procedure

i know fundign is being pulled from succesful companies without enough warning im one of them


your answer indicated you dont really know the best way to complain because you know there is no where to complain and that for me is the only reason i would attend a seminar

as for mps ,useless..when your local mp is labour and the bank concerned are not funded by the taxpayer not a lot he will do ..he can hardly admit complaints procedures against banks are non existant if u turnover over one million


as for turnover who mentioned turnover we posted 400k profits 2 months previous to the pulling ,history proved we are a seasonal firm of when they get paid back


sorry but does not sound with that explanation you have much too offer pretty much like most of the underqualified relationship managers out there

At the risk of highjacking the OPs post (sorry!) but will you change the record!

Complaints procedure is here - http://www.business.barclays.co.uk/...icleFWgroup&value=11328&target=_self&site=bbb

I accept that this may be only if turnover is below £1m so therefore why not go to the top: Marcus Agius, Chairman

The problem is that you clearly and understandably feel very hard done by and I don't think there is anything the Bank can do that would satisfy you. They made a commerical decision with which you disagreed but that is the decision they made.

 

[j-lo]

im sorry there was a chance to prove your worth of 250 but it was a typical banswer ie avoid the question

i asked what the complaint procedure was and you said every bank has a complaints procedure

i know fundign is being pulled from succesful companies without enough warning im one of them


your answer indicated you dont really know the best way to complain because you know there is no where to complain and that for me is the only reason i would attend a seminar

as for mps ,useless..when your local mp is labour and the bank concerned are not funded by the taxpayer not a lot he will do ..he can hardly admit complaints procedures against banks are non existant if u turnover over one million


as for turnover who mentioned turnover we posted 400k profits 2 months previous to the pulling ,history proved we are a seasonal firm of when they get paid back


sorry but does not sound with that explanation you have much too offer pretty much like most of the underqualified relationship managers out there

That's right - I don't have a magic wand - nobody does. And read your post again you mentioned turnover indicating that you believe that's more important that the £400k profit you made.

 

[j-lo]

its nothing to do with a magic wand.you are offering your services and askign if u can charge 250 quid

ive asked you a question about the complaints procedure of the bank ,if you have been well involved you would know what that was if turnover was over one million.

if you cant answer the question so decide instead to quesstion my post im simply saying your advice would not be worth 250 quid.if you do know bankign like you say you would be able to answer this fairly simple question..

you do seem to have learnt a lot from your stint at the bank like how not to answer perfectley straight questions..

i dont think the seminars bode well

The link posted tells you how to complain to Barclays what else do you want to know - that if your turnover is over £1m you're on your own ?

I hear you loud and clear - you won't be booking a seat...

 

[oldeagleeye]

Quote.

Of course we're supposed to help them - and we do (at least we try). It can be frustrating though when you see people with fundamentally decent businesses (we think) but we can't get decent information off that to prove their case to the no-named shirts who make all the decisions.

That is what we have all been saying. Managers can do nothing. What will your £250 quid buy. The template of a letter which starts.

Dear no-name shirt

Why the f--- did you pull my overdraft when I have been banking with the bank for 20 year and always made a healthy profit every year.

 

[Tom Egerton]

I'm thinking of undercutting the original poster by providing seminars at £150 per day on how to submit posts using correct English, use of the apostrophe, correct use of capital letters, non-use of text-speak and correct spelling.

 

[yorkshirejames]

To the OP - I can see an offering for your services. I often meet with struggling companies, and talking them through financing options (whether it be new investment or whatever) often shows that there is some negotiating with a bank to be done.

If you are/were sufficiently senior with a bank in order that you would be the person to send to a meeting instead of myself, then there is a conversation to be had. Perhaps you can PM me your contact details?

 

[oldeagleeye]

Nice one Tom. I am think about starting my own bank. After all I have a spare £100 quid or so and no toxic debt. That would mean I would be market leader wouldn't it.

Seriously. James you might have something there had it not been for the fact that in 99% of cases it will be hard to find a decision maker who doesn't need to consult the computer and can over ride the normal criteria.

Robert

 

[j-lo]

I suppose to explain myself more clearly what I'm aiming for is customers who want to prevent a problem with their bank (want to keep on the right side of them) or are getting the squeeze (as opposed to having been booted out altogether) and just want to achieve the best result or buy themselves enough time to make n orderly exit.

My background is larger businesses with loan facilities so while I still think I could be useful to a small business with just an overdraft I won't know everything.

Where I'm coming from is that having been inside a bank I can see clearly why everyone is so p***** off. Money was very easily got for a long time and frankly a lot of people got lazy - and why wouldn't they - you need a few extra quid and you pick up the phone - all sorted - no questions asked. No where's your accounts, how are your creditors, debtors.

I think a lot of customers (this is only my opinion) need to get back to basics in order to get what they want / need from their bank. What I'm proposing in many respects is little more than a refresher in business planning basics but with the twist that I should be able to help you understand how the bank sees you as a customer (I'm sure that'll draw a few smart remarks !) and where you should put them in your priorities.

In reality a bank is a supplier of a critical product for all of us - so why do most of us have only one. If we had an essential ingredient for a product that we make we would be acutely aware of the risk of waking up one and they either weren't there or wouldn't supply to us. Every sensible business would have a plan B if there was one - so why do any of us treat banks any differently. Granted its more complicated and takes more effort and yes every single bank out there has tried to convince us not to do that and made it difficult to achieve.

I suppose when I posted first a better question would be - what would you pay?

 

[GRDCredit]

have you ever encountered a lawsuit for lender liability..ie your bank lent money then pulled it without due cause at a period of time which was obviousley going to be catostrophic for the company only months after posting record profits

How do you define 'without due cause'? Unless you had a committed facility (rare) then your borrowing facility would have been 'repayable on demand'. The bank made a commericial judgement that they wanted the money repaid.

It doesn't make it right. It doesn't make it fair. It doesn't make it illegal.

 

[j-lo]

The only time I came across lender liability was an environmental situation. So clearly I'm no expert in what you want to know. I am not aware of any cases of that nature against my employer - although that doesn't necessarily mean they don't exist.

I am (only!) a senior manager and don't work in a central credit or legal department. Although generally if something new is happening that the frontline needs to be aware of and conscious of how they behave then there tends to be some sort of briefing note or legal presentation (eg liability of shadow directorships was the last thing I recall).

Pretty much all of the facilities that I have ever offered have been 'on demand' and the documentation specifically states they're repayable on demand and without giving any reason - I can't say from memory exactly what it says about notice. There is an additional clause that states an offered facility can be withdrawn at anytime prior to drawdown.

All of that said we have clear legal advice not to withdraw or demand a facility without good reason - ie the client must have demonstrated some form of default.

To reiterate my last post - I'm not proposing to advise people on this route so imo it is not a major disadvantage to what I'm proposing.

Good luck with Barclays.