in the UK there are two main domestic financial institutions where you can stash your cash – banks and building societies. there is a difference, but i don’t know what it is !
anyroadupdown, banks used to be the kings when it came to extracting your cash and they had the whole hole-in-the-wall thing sewn up (if you see what i mean).
but the building societies got themselves together with their LINK network and soon they were allowing other building society card holders to use each other’s machines.
the latest ‘craze’ is cash back in supermarkets which are neutral on the whole bank vs building society debate (as far as i’m aware).
but there’s another force going on. it’s portable branded cash machines. they’ve appears in 24×7 grocery shops and here are a load in a motorway service station. note the branded bin in the middle. probably for making deposits.
these machines seem to run off a mains socket and a normal telephone line. i may get one set up at home. be ideal for if i realise i’ve run out of cash in the morning before heading off to work.
They do indeed run off a kettle lead and a normal phone line (I got some very strange looks examinining the wiring on one at Membury services on the M4).
However, they’re incredibly slow (having to dial up every time they’re used) and they tend to charge you about £2 for the privilege of using them so I avoid them like the plague if possible.
Use a proper ATM if you can.
Oh, forgot to mention that a building society is just like a bank, but it’s owned by its members rather than by shareholders.
When a building society becomes a bank, the process of all the members turning into shareholders is called “demutualisation”.
Quite what that *really* means is anyone’s guess.
it’s an education doing this blog !
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