Chudleigh's Nationwide Demise

[devonshiredeli]

We all have our reasons for hating banks and recently they gave us an enormous added incentive.

One of the bigest reasons for me to hate banks is the way a Nat West worker finished off one of my previous companies. It would be tedious to go into detail, let me just say that I was standing (metaphorically) at the edge of a cliff and thinking "that drop looks pretty dangerous, but as long as I'm careful we won't fall over" when someone came up behind me and gave a darn good shove! Nat West paid back all of the charges they took from the company (over £500) but it was too late and the company had to be closed.

I now find out that my local Nationwide is about to be closed down. This is the only bank in Chudleigh so we will all now have to travel to Newton Abbot or Exeter to use a bank. The reason given by Nationwide is that the Chudleigh branch does not have enough business. What they mean is that although the bank is making money it is not making enough money. Consider this headline from the Evening Standard:

Nationwide sees profits leap to £781m
Nick Goodway, Evening Standard
22 May 2008, 8:30am

How much money does a branch have to make before it does have enough business? Generally whenever I go into the Chudleigh branch there are always people ahead of me. It isn't a long queue by any means but the bank is in constant use.

Business is not just about making as much profit as possible at other people's expense. It is also about providing a service. At the very least it means they will be living in a society that doesn't hate the very ground they walk on. Sure Nationwide will save some money by not having to pay the wages of the good people who work at this branch, but they will loose my custom as I will move my account to a different bank if my local branch does close - purely as a means to protest against its closure.

This will be a shame since I have always enjoyed good service from the Nationwide. The people who work in them are always friendly, helpful and well trained. But someone in the upper etchelons of the company doesn't care two hoots about the effect it will have on the local economy or the cost to the environement as we will all have to either drive or get the bus into Newton Abbot if we want to, for example, input cash into our accounts. As a market trader I have to do this every week so I will certainly feel the effects of the change. We have to put up a fight otherwise we will be paying too dearly for a nice smile and an instant loan.