Dear LPG,

I wonder if I am the only Lewisham resident who finds the way that many of our banks look after our money really overbearing these days.  I think that most will agree that it is getting harder and harder to get at it once you have asked the bank to look after it.

During my working years I managed to find myself with two well established bank accounts and they are in different banks.   I recently wanted to transfer some money between my bank accounts in preparation for my Christmas shopping, but over the past couple of years, the bank that holds my savings account happens to have decided that our borough only needs one of the four branches that were a feature of its high streets before that.

The surviving bank is in the middle of Lewisham which makes it quite hard for me to get to as my mobility fails, hence the need for the transfer.  I would have gone to the bank but a telephone adviser suggested that I transfer the money via Bacs (Bankers' Automated Clearing System) which is something I have always been reluctant to do. 

I was uneasy about what I had done and decided to make the trip to check that the money had arrived in the more local and accessible bank the following day.  I was lucky I suppose because that bank was relatively empty when I arrived and, while I was waiting to be seen in the queue, one of those members of staff that offer to help asked me what I wanted to do when I got to the front of it, but because I was not sure whether I would need to take out some spending cash I was told I should wait.  There was one person in front of me talking to the one cashier and one other person in the queue behind me.   He was asked what he had come to do and then the three of us got into a conversation about how much harder it is to get at your own money these days. The staff member talked to the both of us about how much more dangerous doing anything with cash is.  

I got seen and went on to a lunch club but while I was there, I got a call on my mobile phone.  It was a recorded message asking that I answer questions by pressing the appropriate key on my mobile phone about if I had spent four amounts of money with my card that day.

I had decided against getting any cash and had not spent anything so you can imagine that I was shocked, and hung up in horror.  Luckily my daughter was with me by then and we got onto the bank’s fraud section quite quickly.  There were many questions about the transactions and proving that I am really me before the bank decided to stop the money from leaving my account, void my debit card and arrange to send me a new one.

Now, I will always wonder if that other man in the queue managed to see me put my pin number in when I got to the cashier, and although none of the amounts of money were really large two were to one of those companies that deliver food; something I have never done.

I have to say that I would have been truly worried if my daughter was not there to deal with the recorded phone call but it does go to show that the banks do really have to check what is going on.

I wrote this down to remind readers that this does happen and also to mention that, if you find yourself receiving a recorded phone call regarding money you might have spent, the best thing to do is hang up and phone the banks number (if you still have your debit card, the emergency telephone number will usually be on it).   Please don’t use the number that called you even if you can see it on your phone.

I will always wonder if the nice man behind me in the queue was responsible though.  Readers please be careful!

BW, Sydenham