Dear LPG,

I think that I have learned quite a lot about IT in the past few years.  I now have a grasp on internet shopping and my emails, but my learning has come out of trial and error.   I have made mistakes along the way.    

Not so long ago a friend of mine bought some perfume which I never thought I would ever see again, and which my aunt particularly liked so I decided to get some as a part of her Christmas present.  My friend sent me the exact webpage code but after I had ordered it and when it finally arrived, I had managed to by some really expensive soap instead of the perfume I so wanted.  No matter how you buy it I think that one would agree that £23.oo on a bar of soap is a little excessive.  My friend and I laughed about it and I put it down to experience, but while I continue to make the odd blunder there is one aspect of the internet that I avoid and that is internet banking.

I think that there is something really important about getting your sums right when it comes to your personal finances and so I do all my banking the good old-fashioned way, by taking a walk to the high street version of the bank and having someone make all my transactions for me while I watch. 

It has to be said that this year has been the year of bad legs for my family.  My daughter broke hers at the beginning of last year and my brother and sister have had operations on theirs while my other brother had a bit of a smash in his car with the result that he needed to use a walking stick for a couple of months.  I thought that I was getting away with it until I developed a bout of DVT and, though the doctors think it is temporary, I cannot get out; not even to the bank.

The question is; when it comes to your money who do you trust.  It took me about a week to get it all set up but I have finally learned the advantages of telephone banking and I just want to advise anyone who, like me feels that the only way to bank is to make a trip down the high street, would do well to find at least one alternative way to sort your finances especially if you don’t have a son or daughter who you can trust with your PIN number.    Expensive soap is one thing, but a banking mistake could cost so much more.  I know that when my leg is better, I will be using the phone to do my banking every now and then just to make sure that I remember how. 

I suppose what I am really trying to say is there is a real advantage to making sure that you have an alternative banking strategy in place, just in case your ability to get to the bank is suddenly taken away.

LM, Brockley

LPG has found some very basic information on how to get started when it comes to telephone banking with the most popular high street banks.

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