Lloyds Take Over Of Hbos...

[BoSBoY]

I am absolutely disgusted that i had to hear about out take over on the news before heading to work, when i arrived were told that it was just a rumour we were a strong bank blah blah blah...

then 2pm hits and a one liner email sent to us from the ahole andy himself confirming the take over...

its nice when customer know more that the staff.... after all is us that will end out loosing..

40 thousand job cut over the next 2 years...

nice, very nice.

thanks for looking after us hornby...

[indebtstudent]

I am sorry to hear of your experience, sadly that is the way banks treat people, thier customers have been putting up with it for years.

As usual the bosses will have to suffer the hardship of losing thier jobs, but getting paid such eye watering amounts they need never work again. Its tough at the top.

On the positive side in discovering this site you have a lot of help available if times become hard.

[yourbank]

You have to remember that if you are within the branch network you may not necessarily lose your job. I think job losses are more than likely because of the likelyhood of two people doing the same job. I am sure that they will minimise compulsory job losses and offer jobs within their branch network and call centre network, the latter has always been the most volatile market even without a recession. Call centre staff turnover is usually high.
It could be worse.....you might have gone bankrupt and then you would not get paid anything.

[Reclaimant]

my issue here is that if you ever ring Lloyds phonebank express or whatever they call it now adays, you very rarely speak to someone in the UK.... I think this may be where the cuts go once/if migration takes place, this, I imagine will be similar to the HBOS one where they moved all BoS accounts over to the halifax platform..... if so.... will we see the end of the retail contact centre's (belfast, manchester, chester, leeds, sheffield etc etc)???? then processing/printing.... will Halifax's Copley printing site go.... what about GI (general insurance)..... the whole thing is ridiculous, and hornby is sat on £2million of Lloyds shares.... nice one.

[yourbank]

You have to wait and see what happens. Staff are shareholders, and while they are unlikely to overturn the decision to merge, you can vote NO. I think there will be a need for contact centres as Halifax introduced ringing your own branch about a year or so ago. Those centres will be needed, cos I cannot really see that kind of customer base sticking with a bank that simply outsources work to overseas call centres. If not there is always another way

EDIT: I would say as well, that on MSE there has been talk of HSBC and RBS hook up. At the moment it is a rumour but I guess I can understand how you guys within HBoS felt....odd times we are living in.

[BoSBoY]

Originally Posted by yourbank

I would say as well, that on MSE there has been talk of HSBC and RBS hook up. At the moment it is a rumour but I guess I can understand how you guys within HBoS felt....odd times we are living in.

as we found out, no smoke without fire these days...

[yourbank]

I guess I should ask, BosBoy as I have been reading your posts on the media section about the merger. And maybe throw this out to any HBoS Shareholders and LloydsTSB Shareholders, are you gonna vote for the merger?

[patrickq1]

It could be worse.....you might have gone bankrupt and then you would not get paid anything.
isnt it a shame the GOVERMENT MINISTERS ARE MORE WORRIED ABOUT THEIR OWN POSITIONS IN THEIR OWN GOVERMENT and they have not once mentiones the job losses with banks etc and also for that matter why have they not announced an investigation into the SHORT SELLING OF HBOS SHARES BY THE DIRECTORS OF BOTH COMPANIES ? nuff said just making a point short selling has put you all in a fix and anyone who knows should be WHISTLEBLOWING NOW start your own web sight to discuss this very matter now that would be interestingit might even speed up the termination of the SFA and other departments ?
patrickq1

[yourbank]

Found this quote on Facebook, kinda sums up how some people may be feeling.....

Sing to the song "Something Tells me I'm into something good"

'Woke up this morning unemployed'
'Might get a job with TSB Lloyd'
'Then again I might end up in Pantomime'
'Something tells me I have been shafted good'

[noomill060]

'Something tells me I have been shafted good'

Perhaps they can now sympathise with their customer's sentiments concerning unlawful charges.

Maybe they would like to share some juicy inside knowledge with us...?

If not, they'll get no sympathy from me- If you dance with the Devil, expect to get wind. (Or something like that!)

[FlakeyShakey]

noomill060, firstly it may not necessarily be the charges that are unlawful, but the level or how these are compiled!!

Secondly yes I dance with the devil, yes I think that the level of charges applied may not be correct but exactly how would you propose these finance institutions pay my salary? Should I be asking my local newsagents to quantify the charges applied for delivering my paper, what about the milkman, my catalogue etc.

These charges may be scrapped or reduced as a result of the OFT decision and a fair structure put into place which I whole heartedly, but then this will also be the end of free banking for those people are in a position where they are able to manage their money and not use their overdraft, is that fair! Common sense and practicality must prevail.

Needs must, I work in Finance because that is what I am qualified to do, and I need to pay my bills, my mortgage and even occassionally my bank charges!! Previously I would help customers where I can, but unfortunately I am embittered by years of customers shouting at me when I do not agree to extending their income calculation beyond what they can afford, or do not agree to their mortgage lending because it would put them in a position of not being able to repay debt. So yes I do have some sympathy, but also occassionally have seen threads where I have recognised customers who are not being wholly honest about their circumstances, for one reason or another.

I dance with the devil, it does not naturally follow that I am one!

[Rob M]

Come on flakey, are you really expecting us to believe a banks source of income is charges, right, so if everyone stayed in the black all banks would colapse, also if it is indeed you that sends that letter saying you have gone over your limit by 6 pence, how long does it take to print seal and frank it , lets say 4 minutes, (this is assuming it isnt all automated) , you must be on a hell off an hourly rate £39 for 4 minutes, or £39 per minute if the computer does it for you.
the bank regulators are strangely enough directors of the banks, charges are inportant as it makes up the bulk of their annual multi million bonus they give themselves , i don't doubt you have bills to pay as we all do, but instead of blaming the costomer for trying to make their own lives a bit easier financialy thus denying you a salary maybe you should look closer to home, you lose your job and you struggle, your boss loses his and he becomes richer. Think about it.
Charges have NOTHING to do with your salary, thats like saying tescos only pay their staff from the profits they get from home deliveries, nonsense and rediculous.

[yourbank]

Flakey, I wholeheartedly agree with you first sentence..."firstly it may not necessarily be the charges that are unlawful, but the level or how these are compiled!!" I agree that a bank making a charge for returning an item unpaid is not unlawful but the level of them are. That has been my opinion for a long time.
Your salary is nothing to do with the issue so stop thinking that it has anything to do with bank charges.
I thought I sometimes went over the top, lol.
"I dance with the devil, it does not naturally follow that I am one!"
I feel the need to write in red as the devil is mentioned. I assume you mean the bank. The bank is not the devil but people feel that it sometimes is. I doubt people will judge you on who you work for. Many times I have been told "that must have come straight out of the training manual" or "do your employer pay you to post here" and even, "I would expect that from a bankworker". Well, I haven't swallowed the training manual, I am not paid to post on here, and I cannot post like a builder cos I do not have the bottom(I am being polite today) for it!!.
Welcome to CAG, by the way, and remember to send BankFodder or Dave a Private message or email which is a requirement of this site(its nothing serious just standard CAG protocol).

[FlakeyShakey]

People, I don't make these statements off the top of my head lol, I have worked on fees justifications previously when arguing the point and even within the OFT statement on credit card charges, this is allowed to be taken into account.

All things are taken into account, which banks, building societys, shops anyone has to take into account such PL Insurance, Salary, building overheads such as lease fees, rental fees, repayment of loans if loans take to purchase the building, heating lighting costs, costs for postage , securitisation etc etc.

Some of the fees are extortionate and their does not seem to be any reasoning to the way that some of the charges are calculated, but bearing in mind that banks have to borrow money to lend money and some mortgages are in fact offered as loss leaders (to capture customers, and gambling on the fact that they will stay after any product rate, take insurances etcs), the margin for profit is sometimes not as great as you would imagine.

However, all that said, one of the most sensible things I have seen is the press is commentary over capping the pay of some o f the top executives or within the city, this should make a huge difference.

[yourbank]

Banks make money in many different ways so please can we be sensible. bank charges being lowered will not affect your salary. In 2006 credit charges were reduced to £12, was your salary reduced in half? Mine didn't reduce in 2006.

I would like to apologise to most of the forum(well site team and former site team)for my next comment.
I work for a bank. I have been in the bank charges campaign for over two and a half years.
I do not believe that my salary will be affected by the final decision of the OFT test case, period. It would be ludicrous to believe such nonsense would happen.

[FlakeyShakey]

Fair comment and you are entitled to your opinion, however I feel that I have been affected by this. I was involved in work in relation to fees and due to re-justifying these, the institution I worked for changed some of their fees and actually withdrew one they could not justify as it did not require any real work by anyone.

The reason I feel I am affected by this is for numerous reasons, but in the main I was not in receipt of a payrise for two years due to the business making little or no profit, and as a result of dwindling business and lack of income from fees or interest charging was then made redundant, not the entire fault of these factors but certainly a contributory one.

Unfortunately I did not have the luxury of working for a large company that could effectively swallow these losses by moving focus to other areas.

[yourbank]

What line of work were you in or are in? Do you work for a bank or building society?
For the record, as if it is needed, I work for RBS Group(NatWest to be exact). I don't agree with what you are saying with regards to salary being linked to bank charges. I'm sorry but I think it is nonsense to link the two.

[gemspan]

Originally Posted by FlakeyShakey

noomill060, firstly it may not necessarily be the charges that are unlawful, but the level or how these are compiled!! Is this not a contradiction. You say that bank charges may not necessarily be unlawful but the level or how these are compiled actually makes them unlawful - therefore bank charges are unlawful because of the amount they charge and the fact that they provide banks with a steady income from people who can least afford it!

Secondly yes I dance with the devil, yes I think that the level of charges applied may not be correct but exactly how would you propose these finance institutions pay my salary? Should I be asking my local newsagents to quantify the charges applied for delivering my paper, what about the milkman, my catalogue etc. The latter provide actual services, the banks provide no service but charge you much more than your local newsagents etc., would charge for delivery!! Not a very good comparison.

These charges may be scrapped or reduced as a result of the OFT decision and a fair structure put into place which I whole heartedly, but then this will also be the end of free banking for those people are in a position where they are able to manage their money and not use their overdraft, is that fair! Common sense and practicality must prevail. Not necessarily! All it will have an affect on is the obscene profits that the banks make from those least able to afford it! I remember the day when we all had free banking without charges!! Can anybody else? I believe that was when the banks started getting greedy!

Needs must, I work in Finance because that is what I am qualified to do, and I need to pay my bills, my mortgage and even occassionally my bank charges!! Previously I would help customers where I can, but unfortunately I am embittered by years of customers shouting at me when I do not agree to extending their income calculation beyond what they can afford, or do not agree to their mortgage lending because it would put them in a position of not being able to repay debt. So yes I do have some sympathy, but also occassionally have seen threads where I have recognised customers who are not being wholly honest about their circumstances, for one reason or another. It cant be easy dealing with rude people but you dont have to stand for it. IMO there are far too many embittered people working in jobs that just dont suit them. If you're not a people person then I would advise you to get a job in the back office where you don't come into contact with them. People do desperate things when they are on the edge. I assume this the reason they don;t tend to see things from your point of view.

I dance with the devil, it does not naturally follow that I am one!

Regards
Gemspan

[FlakeyShakey]

I would rather not say, but I have worked in the finance industry for almost fifteen years and for the last few years in a relatively senior role.

Your employer may not take into account salary's when doing justifications for charges, but work i've been involved in has, to the extent that the charge has been broken down to the enth degree to the extent that consideration has been given to how long a person spends dealing with that particular work, what oversight is given, training requirements, ensuring competency where the work requires it etc etc.

You are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine, whilst you state they are not connected, if businesses cease to make a certain amount of money, it is not the senior management salaries/bonus' etc that will drop, it will be a streamlining of staff that will be effected, and I have seen this occur twice now.

I'm not saying that the charges are justifiable, not all of them are and I have been in a situation where I have been involved and this has been proven and action has been taken, so they are not all.

[Rob M]

Flakey, i do sympathise as this is your job and you do sound genuine but it must be said , do you honestly believe that a financial institute would rely so heavily on such a dubious source of income, you say you havn't had a pay rise in two years, hows that anything to do with charges, sounds like a currupt and greedy organisation boosting profits so that the people at the top look good and recieve huge obscene bonuses, uk banks are still pooling cheques for seven days when in europe it can take as little as 4 hours to clear, what happens to the interest from the millions a day held while cheques 'clear'.
Recent streamlining of banks and staff have absolutely nothing to do with charges but everything to do with the global economic situation, hard to believe that banks making over 14 billion a year just last year are now crumbling, so before charges are blamed try mismanagement and pure greed first.