![\"Cash\"](\"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/money_table.jpg\" "\\"Cash\\"")
We\u2019re in the 21st Century, but it drives me crazy that I can only pay cash into my account specifically at one of my bank\u2019s<\/strong> branches. That means having to get to a high street somewhere, with parking and fuel costs, not to mention the general inconvenience (don\u2019t get me started on old people waiting in the West Bridgford car parks without buying a ticket while their spouse does the shopping, blocking everyone else). And when I get there I have to keep my fingers crossed that there isn\u2019t a queue, because it seems that 99.9% of other bank customers use the places for the sole purpose of raising impossibly complex queries that take ages to resolve and tie the only cashier working up for ten minutes. Even with just a couple of people in the queue and more than one cashier working (which isn\u2019t often at Halifax), this can lead to a 10-15 minute wait just to deposit cash and cheques..<\/p>\nAt my local branch they have a fast-deposit machine. That\u2019s a very funny joke, because it isn\u2019t fast at all (though admittedly it\u2019s usually slightly faster than going to the cashiers\u2019 desk when it\u2019s working), and doubly so when someone else is trying to use it and is reading every single word on the screen and putting their money in all mixed up (and why the bloody hell do they then go straight to the withdrawal machine to check that it\u2019s gone in? The other one just told you it had accepted your deposit, and you got a receipt. It\u2019s the same system<\/strong>. Are you really that stupid?) Anyone over 35 – except for me – should be kept away from the automatic system, or maybe even forced to use a bank specifically for old people who are frightened of technology and who don\u2019t trust banks with their money!<\/p>\n But all banks seem to want to raise bureaucracy to new heights in every area of their business. You see, the PPI refund I am waiting for to appear in my account is being paid by another bank – one I was with many moons ago and which stopped being a bank, hence my move elsewhere. I got a call from them on 30 May telling me the claim had been upheld, and that a letter would be sent out within 10 days for me to accept the offer formally.<\/p>\n We could have sorted it all out on the phone there and then, but that\u2019s not how banks work. Instead, I had to wait 10 days – and we\u2019re talking about WORKING<\/strong> days, so there were two weekends in the middle – for the letter to arrive, and that was after discovering that after the 30 May conversation the letter only went out on 6 June (oh, it was ordered<\/strong> on 30 May, they told me, but it wasn\u2019t printed until a week later). I now learn that they will pay out \u201cwithin 28 days\u201d of receiving the acceptance form. Of course, the chances of that turning out to be much less<\/strong> than 28 days are extremely remote. I assume that the interest they\u2019ll<\/strong> be earning on my<\/strong> money will pay for all the unnecessary arseing about involved – albeit only at their end.<\/p>\n Then this week, in a totally separate incident, a household bill for \u00a3200 I had paid by debit card last week was charged again by standing order – in other words, I have paid \u00a3400 instead of \u00a3200. The second \u00a3200 was removed from my account in ten seconds flat, but I now learn it will take \u201c3 working days\u201d for it to be credited back – and with the weekend now looming (thanks to the day and half already taken to discuss it and agree it WAS<\/strong> an error and not some fraudulent claim by a Master Criminal) that means Monday at the earliest.<\/p>\n