I just found myself agreeing with Nigel Farage. I… I don’t think I can go on.
If you aren’t aware of who Nigel Farage is… you lucky, lucky utter bastard. Let’s just say that his politics are pretty much exactly the opposite of mine and I think he’s possibly the biggest douche to ever exist. The thought that he an I can have any thought in common is, um, horrifying.
Witches and Ray-Guns 
As long as you are agreeing with him on banks not being allowed to close accounts down because of the holders politics thats ok! Everyone has to be right occassionally and this one is his.
Of course the issue he was complaining about was himself and the bank says it wasn’t his politics it was his lack of cash. So you are agreeing on principle while he was arguing on self interest so it confirms you are a better person than him. Admittedly not a high bar to cross but a good one
Not exactly that. He was BBC Radio 4 news and made a simple statement that there should be a legal right to have a bank account. We used to have one in the UK, but that right no longer exists. I agree with him that (especially in this day and age) that should be a legal right.
Baks are private commercial entities. They should have the right to not have you as a customer. I can’t necessarily agree that banks should be forced to keep customers they don’t want. But there should be some sort of fallback service available for those unable to get an account any other way. The Post Office used to provide that, until they got nationalised.
The problem is the fallback bank would have to be public owned and in order to not compete with private banks it would somehow have to suck more than they do. That’s a pretty low bar to limbo under.
Agreed, but it did exist once and it would at least provide a service we don’t have.
Coming from Australia, I’ve often though that the Reserve Bank which is government controlled, should provide all citizens, with a fee free, zero interest, electronic bank account, including a virtual debit card for online payments, with the option to pay for a physical card, which most people wouldn’t actually need given most phones support services like google/apple pay for making payments in person.
What is it they say about a stopped clock being right twice a day? Probably just coincidence.
Tharcion, we all have a moment of sympathy with a monster. I once agreed with Margaret Thatcher for over an hour.
Blame it on an unused portion of the brain which used to control the tail, sometimes it wags for no reason.
I can’t remember agreeing with Thatcher, but she wasn’t a total and complete monster, so I probably did at some point. I recall having thought Boris Johnson was right about something, though I have no idea what it was. I just never thought I’d agree with Nigel Farage about the colour of the sky!
I know, you were just daydreaming of introducing nigel to Aneka or Ceri and making the world a better place
Bloody Hell Niall! It must have been just some few random words. The whole world would be better off without that idiot!
Niall, read the link. Nice to know the U.S doesn’t have exclusive rights to sleezebag officials. We do seem to have raised it to a fine art. Your folk do have the edge in the verbal department. Here congress wouldn’t be caught dead with threats of a beat down. Dirty hands and such. Some of the telecasts of your gang sometimes sounds like what goes on just before a bar fight starts.
Don’t be discouraged you and he agree on something. Mathematically you had to at some point. Someone has to hit the lottery, get eaten by a starving pack of hamsters or always pick the slowest bank line.
Congrats on achieving the unthinkable?
Oh no. While I entertain myself from time to time (every day) with the antics in DC, you guys do not have a monopoly on dumbass politicians. Consider Boris Johnson, who is rapidly becoming more and more like Trump. He was already far too similar, but lately he’s basically turned into the dollar store version with a posh accent.
What I detest is douche bag people in politics who are incompetent at being a thief. Clark County where Vegas sits has some of the most pathetic officials. If you are going to steal, lie and cheat in public office at least do it right. I am used to New York, New England politics. Those boys perfected graft about the time Teddy Roosevelt was governor.
If you start agreeing with Ron Desantis of Florida fame we may have to have an intervention.
That isn’t too likely.
Then again, I never thought I’d agree with Farage. On top of that, DeSantis will say anything he thinks might be popular, so… Then again again, DeSantis’s view of what’s popular is a bit insane, so I should be safe.
I have my fingers crossed.
I do think a bank-of-last-resort ought to exist, probably in the form of postal banking, and one of the ways it should try not to compete with private banks is that it’s fees should not be zero, they should represent the actual cost of providing service, plus maybe 5%. So yes, each time you transact with them their would be some small fee. If you want a paper statement mailed, that should not be free. When commercial banks do that for free, they’re taking your money some other way. Checking and passbook savings, ACH and debit card. *NO* attempted overdraft fees in excess of actual cost of processing (which should be tiny), but also no overdraft capability, if the money isn’t in your account, you can’t spend it. There should be *some* monthly fee to cover their basic cost of operations. They aren’t going to loan money out, so they’re not covering their costs by earning interest, you are just depositing your money with what is effectively the government. Thoughts?
As long as you don’t export him to us, I can live with you being suddenly in agreement on a random issue. We already have a surplus of stupid, banal, and greedy politicians who are utterly shocked when caught.
RE: Legal access to a bank account. I don’t have an issue with it unless it’s mandatory to have one. (I’m thinking of Zelazny’s “My Name is Legion” novel.) I’m not in favor of the government being any more involved in the matter aside from legislating that it be so. Government intervention in business should preferably be limited to regulation, not participation.
I don’t want to be the bringer of bad news, but he has repeatedly suggested he might move to the US…
I am shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
One important point of course is Nigel Farage wasn’t prevented from having an account.
He was apparently offered basic banking services with natwest (due to not meeting Coutts requirements and shared ownership).
The implication is he has been refused business accounts etc with various banks.
So while we should have kept the minimum service obligation, I would note Farage would probably still be complaining (because his problem is banks won’t offer him stuff beyond a minimum account…)
I think we can be assured that he would still be complaining. It is, after all, all he ever does.