Dear LPG, 

I can only talk about what I can see going on around me, but having talked to a few locals of my age I have noticed that quite a few of us have similar memories.  Many of my friends remember when your spending power was real money as opposed to bank cards and direct debit payments.  We paid the electricity bill at the Electricity Board and the gas bill at the Gas Board by physically visiting the shop and handing them money to settle the bill.  When it came to parting with any money there was usually someone to take it from you. 

In those days being paid and paying bills weekly was quite acceptable for both the workers and pensioners of the UK, but monthly has gradually become the new weekly and the post office has given up acting as a bank.

Over the years so many shops have disappeared and all that bill paying has been substituted with Direct debits and credit card payments, which meant that a bank account was not something you could choose to live without.  I remember when pensioners, many of which received their weekly pension in cash over the Post Office counter each week, were all made to have it paid into a bank account. 

And then the Post Office stopped being the place to bank, and I ended up getting an account at a building society, which eventually got taken over by Santander, where I would go weekly to get a mini statement so that I could keep up with my finances. 

That was in Forest Hill, but it closed in the middle of 2018 as did the Sydenham branch. So, I started to go to Catford, but that has now closed too.  Over the past three years we have lost many branches of that bank throughout the borough, leaving just one, and I know that all the other so-called high street banks are doing the same. 

You can get the statements from the ATM machines, but the print is often so small that I have real trouble reading them if the machines have enough ink in them to make them legible to start with.  The thought of my bank account on the internet really worries me and the only surviving branch in Lewisham High Street is not that easy for me to get to.  Most banks will send emailed statements each week, but mine only show the most recent 5 transactions which leaves holes in my knowledge of what is going on. So, I have taken to telephone banking and getting them to send interim mini-statements. 

They have now noticed my requests for posted ones and mentioned the charges.  One adviser I spoke to suggested if enough people feel the same about keeping up to date with their finances and let the banks know, they might think about more regular posted statements again or upgrading their email statements. 

I know I am only talking about one bank’s policy, but they do appear to have similar policies and they are all quietly disappearing if they have not already done so.  If my survey of friends is anything to go by, I also have a feeling that I am not the only pensioner with this little problem, so I would ask that any readers who find themselves with a similar predicament, let the banks know when you phone, because perhaps if they get enough complaints they might change the system. 

 SK, Sydenham