America has many great things: The best telephone system in the world, 24 hour grocery shopping, Creamo's belly, great service in restaurants, bars, stores, hotels. A myriad of choice in everything.
And then there’s the banking industry.
Well, it’s come on in leaps and bounds – thanks to a little British help.
We might be backward over here in Limeyland, but our banking system may well be the envy of the world. When I first had a bank account, I had with my cheque book a plastic card which guaranteed cheque payments up to a maximum value of £50, which was quite a bit back then. With my cheque book and cheque guarantee card, I could walk into
any branch of
any bank, and cash a cheque for up to £50. It’s all to do with the fact that we have a Central Clearing Bank, which I believe acts much in the same way as the Merchant Bank in a credit card transaction. When a merchant makes a sale to a credit card customer, the transaction is money in the bank. I got statements every month, and an overdraft facility which came in handy if I had to make a big payment just before payday.
How did this compare with America at that time? Well, the first thing that I had to learn when I opened my first US bank account in Springfield,IL was that the law stipulated that a bank could not have more than one branch. My account was with the First National Bank of Springfield. But there were no other branches of that bank. And I had to go to that very bank if I wanted to cash one of my own checks.
I couldn’t just go to another bank and cash a check there. Even check payments were viewed with suspicion, except when paying bills to people like Illinois Bell and Commonwealth Edison.
I was always puzzled by the names of American banks. First National Bank of Springfield – was there a Second one? And what was National about it? Did people come in from out of state to cash checks? LOL. I had a car loan with them at one point, and under the terms of the loan, the whole thing became repayable if I were to relocate out of state. So what was National about it remained a mystery. Later on, I lived in Mt. Prospect,IL – NW suburb of Chicago. The bank was called Mt. Prospect State Bank. But Mt. Prospect is not a state.
I once asked them if I could overdraw my account temporarily – just a few days, and not more than about $50. They didn’t know what I was talking about! I got put on hold and transferred between about four operators before a male voice advised me
”that’s not the way we do business”. You were not allowed to touch the bank’s money for any reason! One time, I paid for some film processing by check. Funds in the account were insufficient to cover the $6 check, so they bounced the check and hit me with a $10 charge, hence the account was more overdrawn than if they’d just paid my damned check – LOL! At FNBS they were at least very friendly. I was assigned a manager, and we were on first name terms from the outset – maybe that’s why it was called
First National Bank? LOL!
Luckily, I was able to cash my paychecks over the counter without needing a bank account. That surprised me. Here in Limeyland, for security a cheque must be paid into an account – that’s why the cheques have “A/C Payee” printed on the face.
I had never bothered with credit cards at home. Cheques had always been good enough, but now I was having problems. People were distrusting of “checks”. I might be able to pay my Osco-Jewel grocery bill by check, but that was at their discretion. There was no equivalent of the cheque guarantee card. All the banks had “Member FDIC” amongst their credentials. I later learned that FDIC is the Federal Depositors’ Insurance Corp – which insures individual losses to the tune of $100,000 if the bank goes belly up. What? I banked with Lloyds (not the same company as Lloyds of London), and over here, banks simply do not go belly up. Well guess what – a bank in the nearby township of Des Plaines (which the local population pronounces Dezz Plainzz) actually did go belly up. Customers invaded the bank to draw their money out. (Memories of the 1930s Depression?) And signs went up in stores to say that checks drawn on First Intergalactic Bank of Des Plaines would not be accepted. OK, I can’t remember the exact name of the bank.
Well, the day came when I needed to make a trip back home to Limeyland, so I phoned the bank to order some pounds sterling so that I’d have money when I got there. The person at the other end didn’t seem to know what I was talking about.
”Sterling? I’m sorry, sir. We don’t deal in precious metals.” LOL!!! I had to explain that “Sterling” is the name of the UK currency, and then all was well.
(Kind of reminds me of the post office that thought United Kingdom was part of Russia!)
I was amazed at the denominations of bills – as well as $1, $2, $5, $10, $20 and $50 – there are also $100 and even $1000 bills. The $1000s have President McKinley’s mug on them, and I keep mine separately from the other bills. The $100s have the mug of Benjamin Franklin, and he wasn’t even a president.
The $2? Oh yes, not many of those, but they have President Jefferson’s mug on the front. I keep one in my wallet for luck.
Well, I got back from my trip home, and my New York based company was sending me out to San Francisco. I had had an expenses advance, so all was well. But on arrival in San Francisco I tried to cash a check from the company. Can you imagine it! A check drawn on a New York Bank being presented in California by some funny foreign guy with Illinois ID! I had no chance. Well, I did, but it took them 30 minutes to figure out what to do. I later opened an account with Bank of America, but had the usual American problem. Where I ended up living and working was nowhere near the bank, and I was unable to get there to cash checks. Had to open a new account with another bank.
And that one was Security Pacific National Bank in Concord,CA. Yes, it had reasonable security. Yes, it was sort of near the Pacific. But what was National about it? At last! For the first time, I had a bank card which allowed me to draw cash at any time around the clock from the ATM. I didn’t have to drive up to the bank during opening hours. No check guarantee card, but I’d got used to that by then, and had MC & Visa – and AmEx. Oddly enough, the AmEx card was the easiest of all to get.
After I’d returned to Limeyland for good, I read in the paper a few years later that American banks were planning to end the erstwhile practice of returning paid checks with the bank statements. Reversal of this policy was to be known as
Check Truncation. As one bank official put it,
”The world (by which he meant the American banking system) is drowning in paper!”[/i]. Over here, when you pass a cheque, that’s the last you see of it. It’s been like that since the 1930s, according to my father, but by the 1980s America was catching up. Just before I left, I remember seeing TV ads for a bank which covered 11 western states. You could have an account at one branch of the bank, but use any of the others. Luxury! I think it was First Interstate Direct, and in this case, it really was a First!
Banking practices have converged in the two countries recent years. There are far fewer cheque transactions here these days, and people now use payment cards instead. And now, even America recognises my Lloyds-TSB gold card, and the banks pay me cash on demand – no ID, no interview. How things have changed.
