(no subject)

[winterbadger]

So, I'm curious about people's banking habits. Some people set up automatic payments from their bank account (like having a utility automatically deduct its bill from their checking/current account, or having their bank automatically pay a set amount monthly to their credit card balance). I heard of this from friends in the UK long before I ever heard of it here, so I've always thought of it as a UK thing. But I discovered in asking around at work that quite a few of my colleagues here do it too. So, a poll!
[Poll #1461690]

I realise that many of my friends are *from* one country but living in the other (in some cases, that's how we became friends!), but I'm mostly interested in what people's preferences are by nationality and upbringing, not by where you happen to be at the moment.

Comments

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Everything is geared up for direct debit over here though and it runs pretty smoothly (well, maybe 3 glitches in a decade for us? not bad going..). I'd hate to have to spend time sorting cheques and making direct payments and remembering to do them on time and allowing extra time for things to clear, ugh.

each to their own though, and I'm not sure I'd been nearly as sanguine about US banks and companies taking charge, they seem less... organised.. when it comes to their customers.

[winterbadger]

I'm not sure I'd been nearly as sanguine about US banks and companies taking charge, they seem less... organised.. when it comes to their customers.

So far all the horror stories I'm hearing are from UK banks...

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

You're clearly not going to be converted then :)

[winterbadger]

Well, not based on the evidence I've heard! :-) It sounds like UK banks are even less reliable than US ones, and over 15% of people who do direct debit report having problems with it! Whereas none of the people who don't have direct debit have had problems with it... ;-)



(This is, of course, a highly unscientific poll. What I find most surprising about all fof this is that, in fact,t he number are bearing out my initial impression that this is more common practice in the UK than in the US, it's just more common in the US than I thought. What surprises me most about this is that I've gotten the impression--again, anecdotally, from my editorial colleagues--the UK folks tend to be *much* more paranoid about identity-theft and general online security issues than US people, which makes their willingness to use DD that much stranger. Another impression I should test, perhaps...)