Bank staff accused of ‘interrogating’ and turning away OAPs who travelled miles claiming their visits weren’t essential
Bank branch staff have been accused of ‘interrogating’ elderly customers at the door, then turning them away if their inquiries are not deemed essential.
In one case, a grandmother was denied entry to her local Halifax branch after taking a taxi to deposit a large amount of cash.
NatWest told grandfather-of-three Malcolm Mathews, 66, that he could not pay his credit card bill in branch. And Barclays refused to help retired HR manager Irene Burwin, 73, with a disputed payment after she was unable to get through on the telephone.
In one case, a grandmother was denied entry to her local Halifax branch after taking a taxi to deposit a large amount of cash she felt unsafe keeping at home
The banks claim that they had to restrict services during lockdown because customers were supposed to avoid leaving home if at all possible.
Yet frontline branch staff had been declared essential workers — and no official guidance was ever published stating that banks should offer only limited services.
Many elderly and vulnerable customers who are not comfortable using the internet rely on branches for their day-to-day banking.
Others have had no choice but to visit their branch because helplines have been overwhelmed.
One customer in five says they were unable to get through to their bank by phone during lockdown, according to the technology firm Olive.
Shirley Hudson, 69, says she felt she was being ‘interrogated’ by a Halifax employee when she tried to deposit cash into a savings account. The grandmother of five had paid £20 to travel by taxi to a branch in Bootle, Merseyside.
She says: ‘I felt really vulnerable standing there with all that money. To me that service was essential. I didn’t feel comfortable with all that cash in my home.’
Halifax says it was not aware of how much money Shirley had to deposit and has since apologised and covered her expenses.
A Barclays spokesman says: ‘Our aim is to help everyone who walks through the door.’
NatWest admits that at the height of lockdown its branches were open for essential services only. Lloyds says that customers with ‘non-essential requests’ would have been dealt with on a case-by-case basis.