Tag: banking

Life, politics, Politics, taxLeave a comment

War and BREXIT

Mark Cathcart

I wasn’t surprised to wake-up this morning to an email from my regular “hater” Rick. Back when I lived in Austin I’d regularly get anonymous letters, sometimes just pages from magazines with words highlighted to make messages. Much more often than that though, I’d get emails from Rick. Today’s email Rick said: As I’ve told you before, you should get off your high horse and stop blogging; you are just conflating two things to suit your own agenda, I just wish you’d go away, no one cares about your opinion. While the Iraq war might seem to have little to … Continue reading War and BREXIT

Life, politics, Politics, tax1 Comment

The Post BREXIT Pound Era

Mark Cathcart

Watching former British Prime Minister Tony Blair speak in response to the Chilcot report, was depressing. Blair clearly hadn’t grasped, or at least wasn’t prepared to acknowledge the sheer cost in lives and money of going to war. Wars are expensive, very expensive. As of writing this morning, the UK/British Pound is worth $1.2989. Essentially an all time low. My prediction is that it will settle around $1.25. That is a staggering decline over the last 100-years from all time high of nearly $5. I’ve been sorting through my archives over the last 5-months, written, photographic and audio. I’ve even spent … Continue reading The Post BREXIT Pound Era

Life, technologyLeave a comment

Laughing at US Banks

Mark Cathcart

aka too big to do anything useful. So, most mornings lately, during breakfast, Chase Bank has been running these commercials on TV. Yep, they are selling their bank on the basis of being able to make easy check deposits. Most US Banks and Credit Unions provide some form of ATM check deposit, similar to this… So while most western countries are running from checks as fast as they can, some have even announced the end of checks/cheques as we know them, the US is not only persisting with the check model and clearance process, they are making ATM’s better at … Continue reading Laughing at US Banks

healthcare, politics, taxLeave a comment

FIFA vs The Government

Mark Cathcart

I heard the BBC reporting the Governor of the Bank of Englands remarks that the “age of irresponsibility” in the City of London is over as the Bank of England promised a crackdown on rogue traders. In a speech on Wednesday evening, the Bank of England Governor said that banks, regulators and individuals had collectively failed to prevent the market rigging that has led to bank fines worth billions of pounds and he recommended tougher rules for the City and longer jail sentences for those who attempt to manipulate markets. This is a very British approach to a problem, introduce … Continue reading FIFA vs The Government

technologyLeave a comment

Two small deposits

Mark Cathcart

I’ve often commented on my absolute disdain for the US Banking system. I’ve been poking around with what I can do to remove some of the barrier to the time delay and inefficiency in the system. I used my online banking system to add the bank details of a friend. I did it by adding it as an “external account”, providing the ABA routing number and the account number. It informed me that two small deposits would be made into the account, and once I had the details to come back and confirm. I emailed my friend and said I’d … Continue reading Two small deposits

LifeLeave a comment

Banking like it’s 1985

Mark Cathcart

Every time I deal with my UK bank, I’m reminded how utterly useless, inefficient, and expensive the US Banking system is. I just paid my UK credit card from my UK bank and got this response The payment has been accepted by the beneficiary’s bank who advise that it will be credited by the next working day. Yes, I paid it on Saturday from FirstDirect, a subsiduary of HSBC. The payment was sent direct to MBNA Limited(UK) bank, who accepted it and will credit it to my account on Monday. I then went and paid my US CapitalOne credit card … Continue reading Banking like it’s 1985

Life, technology1 Comment

Internet security < Whose risk?

Mark Cathcart

In my professional life I’m acutely aware of the demands of computer and software security, see this post from yesterday on my tech blog cathcam.wordpress.com as an example of things I’m currently involved in. This post though is prep for my call tomorrow with my UK Bank, FirstDirect, a division of global banking conglomerate HSBC. It made me wonder, who are they protecting, me or them?

The answer is obviously them…

Continue reading “Internet security < Whose risk?”

LifeLeave a comment

Check’s in the mail

Mark Cathcart

Another frustrating, and wasted effort trying to deal with my FCU over online/electronic payments. I tried to set up an online payment to pay my Attorneys. They gave me all their banks details and double checked they could receive online payments. I went online entered my Attorneys details, it asked for the account number but not the ABA Routing number. I asked online via chat and then in person while at a branch doing a wire transfer today, both reps from the bank confirmed that when I made a payment, the payment would generate a check; the check could be … Continue reading Check’s in the mail