I had an email from a major bank last week advising me that I had not logged on to view my current for 5 months.

WTF has it got to do with them? The account is well in the black and so why are they pestering me?

It is sinister how so many are now employed to look over the shoulders of others and 'advise' them about what they should be doing.

And what makes it worse, those sending the emails and doing the nosing are almost certainly young, naive and have been brainwashed by a UK society that is a now a nanny state. It will only get worse before / IF it ever gets better.

For someone like me, born in 1960, raised to think and stand on my own two feet by slightly older parents and a very strict, but highly effective, grammar school education, the touchy-feely UK makes me feel ill nowadays.

We are awash with counsellers and mental health professionals who cannot wait to intervene in the affairs of others. Society needs to develop a backbone again and start wallowing in emotion at every opportunity.

Cider • May 21, 2024 9:04 PM BST
How can one put into words how ludicrous that ombudsman final decision is. A bank simply facilitates transactions, as long as they are legal. It should not be compelled to meddle in what anyone spends money on

More than that, the FCA guidance which he shoehorns his decision into, was issued on 2021, well after the events in question.

So the bottom line is banks are sending these emails to avoid having to pay back someone's gambling losses. But if you've bought 6 new pinball machines at 10k each that's fine because it's not gambling. Even though you've lost 10k+ as soon as you take 'em out the box.

Partly correct I think TM - but there is such a thing as shopping addiction. Yes, people do end up with products, but often they are pointless and simply bought due to urge to buy and spend. I have a close relative who suffered with this, and she ended up with a bank loan of 20 grand to pay off credit cards, for useless clothes she didn't wear. She then spent the loan on more clothes not to wear and almost went bankrupt.

Essentially, financial problems can be just as easy to create by other spending, not only gambling. Having products after buying them is not the main issue for many who just love debt.

In fact banks are making huge sums of money from their own gambling. It is called the "Merchant Banking arm" Not only do they trade in shares and currency exchanges for their clients and charge a fee for doing so, they also manage large sums of capital for themselves and other clients and of course that capital can be lost. The analogy with cars is not valid. If you deposit £1000 with a betting organisation you might on average lose 20% of it in a month (less for those who are experienced punters). If you spend £20,000 on a new car you lose 20% in 24 hours as that is the depreciation that most new car owners suffer. You still have the car but not the financial value.

Dartford and I go way back, just for the record he's a proper old school English gentleman, one of your own.

Betfred is the third company to ask me for 3 months bank statements.
If I did comply and print them off there would be literally hundreds of pages, it's just completely absurd and illogical.

All three accounts are now defunct, not that it's inconvenient really but just a bit annoying just how wrong it all is. The decision makers not knowing their ar$e from their elbow in particular grates on me.

Reply from Santander

I would like to reiterate the point, that there are no suggestions being made to insinuate that you have a gambling problem, but instead we just want to share useful information that you may benefit from knowing.

I'm sorry that you're unhappy about the gambling email that you received, I have recorded your dissatisfaction regarding this matter with reference

Be easier to not send them in first place then,

and then some pr1ck takes them to the ombudsman and they're £50k down.

If they are just 'infomercials' in essence then no problem, if they feel they need to send them out due to obligations as above.

However, the wording should be changed - gambling noted as 'high' certainly implies more than just some information in general about gambling, it is a description of where they see and judge your personal gambling spend.

They could instead state, we've noticed your spends include some gambling companies. The use of the word 'high' is the issue IMO.

From a privacy point of view, very odd they are sending an open email, rather than an email advising to check secured messages after logging into account, which they normally do when advising interest rate, T&C changes etc.

Also 100% important - they should be careful they don't get counter-sued on privacy grounds.

Anyone who are serious about gambling must have a gambling account,in all my days involved in gambling i never seen such a stupid thread.imagine checking your gambling account and see a bill for dog tablets,chips and fish,school books and dry cleaner bills and so on,your accountant would be asking a few questions

Brassneck, I think you are suggesting having a separately funded bank account for the purposes of masking transactions to and from gambling establishments. It may be possible but certainly no point if using the same name, as banks share information nowadays. Much more joined up than you might think since the law was changed to track money laundering and criminal activity.

Maybe the government should do it for anyone who receives taxpayer handouts.

That would really upset all the pensioners on here imo

a gambling account with a bank is paramount for every gambler.
it is not hard to find out how a gambling account if funded.
A winning gambler will never have to fund his gambling account.
if a person wants to try his hand at gambling for a living all he has to do is
OPEN A GAMBLING ACCOUNT WITH A BANK.
FUND THE ACCOUNT AND EXPLAIN WHERE HE GOT HIS START UP DEPOSIT.
THEN HE REGISTERS WITH THE INCOME TAX OFFICE.

THIS MEANS HE IS NOW A SELF EMPLOYED PROFESSIONAL GAMBLER.
THE BANK ACCOUNT WILL TELL IF HE IS GOOD AT HIS JOB OR NOT.
HE IS TAX FREE FOR HIS FIRST YEAR.
AFTER ONE YEAR HE WILL BE ASSESSED BY THE TAX OFFICE FOR INCOME TAX.
IF HE IS GOOD AT HIS JOB HE WILL BE REQUIRED TO PAY PRELIMINARY TAX(INCOME TAX ONLY) ON HIS SECOND YEAR.
ITS THAT SIMPLE,if he loses he can close his business.

Ive been gambling 52 years, they wouldnt let me open account when I was 8

Might return to the Days 50 Year back , where we have to stand outside the Shop asking people to put bets on for us

They actually do in brassneck's country, although I would have thought that the level of stupidity required to register as one would preclude any possibility of profit.

ireland

or in UK I should say of course...