Dear LPG readers,

I want to tell you my banking life-story which I bet is a variation on a theme when you compare it with yours.

I have always lived in the borough of Lewisham and started working life in the civil service. I opened an account with national Giro Bank, (do you remember them?). I also had an account with the Alliance and Leicester building society (I thought it would be a good idea to separate my spending money from the rest), but then in 1988 the National Giro Bank got well and truly swallowed up by the Alliance and Leicester building society as it became a bank in its own right. Then they were taken over by Santander, but at least we had branches in Lewisham. I decided to diversify again and opened a bank account at the Abbey National, but Santander did another swallowing act which included that account too.

Then in June 2018, Santander decided to cut their personal service to our borough in half as the Forest Hill branch disappeared together with the Sydenham branch leaving us with just the Lewisham and Catford branches cutting accessibility in half.

Now I find that the Catford branch is to close too. So, we are all to be left with just one branch in the whole borough which is fine for the young who do all that stuff online these days, but what about us older customers.

I know that they are not the only bank to do this to us, but the result will be that many more older Lewisham residents will lose their financial freedom and end up having to depend on others to do something that affords a person a really important sense of independence.

I have visions of so many older people who are used to dealing with their own money being forced to depend on others (children and carers) to get to the bank for them because its distance has been doubled yet again and the queues effectively quadrupled. I know that ATMs are another option, but I am part of a generation that has learnt to appreciate personal service; someone who I can both see and hear when I need some professional advice. I know that there is the telephone banking alternative and, for those who know what they are doing and younger people with their busy lives online banking might suit, but that visit to your branch is often a reason to get out and do a little exercise for an older person whose journey is far likely to be more than doubled if they live in the north of the borough.

I know it is all about money but, like nearly every other institution available to us, it appears that their convenience forces the older people to make the best of it and change even though they still have lots of our money making lots of interest for them.

You think that your money is safe in a bank, but it is becoming so safe that they are not even allowing us older people access to it even though some of it is ours.

What happened to ‘Customer service’?

DC, Downham