Post Office bank plans outlined

[Legal Beagles]

Plans for the Post Office to start offering financial products and services are outlined by the government.

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[enaid]

Re: Post Office bank plans outlined

Post Office bank plans outlined by government


Under government plans, the Psot Office would offer mortgages

Plans for the Post Office to start offering financial products have been outlined by the government.
There will now be a public consultation on the plans, which include offering access to accounts from every one of the Post Office's 11,500 branches.
The plan, which also includes the provision of mortgages, requires investment of up to £1.7bn by 2011.
The changes would turn the Post Office into "a leading player in financial services", the government said.
Wide network
"The Post Office is a great British institution that has been part of our economic and social fabric for well over 300 years," said Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.
"Growing financial services at the Post Office will help secure the future of the network and give people access to a full range of banking products at an institution they trust and value."
He added that the Post Office had more branches than all the High Street banks combined.
The government plans include:

• Current accounts accessible from any post office branch
• Children's savings accounts
• Business accounts
• Weekly budgeting accounts that ring-fence a proportion of income each week to pay bills
• Closer links with credit unions
• Working to ensure that all bank current accounts can be accessed via the Post Office.

"Our consultation outlines exciting proposals, but I want people to have their say," said Lord Mandelson.
Information on the consultation will be available in all branches of the Post Office.
'Turning point'
The consumer group Consumer Focus welcomed the government's plans.
"A greater role in financial services for post offices would benefit all post office users, but could particularly help low-income customers, small businesses, and those is rural and deprived urban areas where there are fewer banks.
"[The plans] could be a turning point in delivering a secure future for the Post Office network."
In October, Royal Mail, which operates the Post Office, was hit by strike action, with workers walking out in a dispute over job losses, pay and working conditions.
The government has outlined plans to part-privatise Royal Mail.

[enaid]

Re: Post Office bank plans outlined

There will now be a public consultation on the plans, which include offering access to accounts from every one of the Post Office's 11,500 branches.

Maybe this should be kept an eye on, just to see which 'public' they are going to consult.
Or maybe jump the bandwagon as a consumer site and let them know our opinions.
There are now many who have opened basic Post Office accounts and a lot on our recommendation, it would be sad to see these people sucked in again like the banks have done.
As a note when ever I go into the post office it's very rare they don't try and sell me some sort of insurance or indeed other stuff.
When it comes to mortgages and things as big as that I have my doubts tbh.

[Amethyst]

Re: Post Office bank plans outlined

We mentioned the possibility of this in our PCA report response back in November 07

Post office accounts
5.9. We welcome the post office retaining the contract for the post office card account.
We value this basic account, and believe that it is vital for many consumers on low
incomes, especially those in receipt of state benefits, particularly as this account can
never incur any charges.


5.10. We would also welcome any move by the Post Office to introduce its own personal
current accounts. Ideally, this Post Office PCA would allow for the setting up of
direct debits and standing orders, as well as allowing online access. We appreciate,
however, that there may be significant costs involved for the Post Office in providing
such a service, which may require public funds to establish or operate. We appreciate
that this would be a complicated procedure under European competition legislation,
and could have consequences for competition within the market. Nevertheless, we
believe that such a move could have significant consumer and social benefits,
particularly for those with low incomes, and those who do not currently have any
form of PCA. This would also allow greater access to banking facilities in rural areas,
where only 4% of villages currently have a bank or building society branch, whilst
60% have a post office.


5.11. We would also support a move to make all current accounts accessible through the
post office, by way of cash withdrawals. Although most of the bank and building
societies have already established such a partnership with the Post Office, two of the
established banks, namely HSBC and the RBS group, have not agreed to such a
partnership. This means that about 31% of PCAs are not accessible at the Post Office.
This has particular consequences for consumers in rural areas where those bank
branches are scarce. __________________

We will try and take a look at this new consultation on the plans also.