RE: Your Bank Is An Anachronism!
You're spot on. For too long the banks have had no competition so do what they like basically treating us regular people like dirt - as your friend's example shows. The tide is slowly turning and they will need to adapt or die - might be better if they do just die in the long term.
One of the worrying trends that I have noticed is that they are deliberately shutting down cryptocurrency business accounts without notice both in the UK (Barclays is notorious for this) and the US. Looks like they are trying to get rid of potential competition before it gets too big.
A UK bitcoin selling business called Bittylicious (that I use a lot) has been trying to highlight this problem. Unfortunately there is little that can be done right now as the Banks are a law unto themselves and too powerful to be taken on directly by small businesses.
Hopefully this kind of behaviour will backfire on them when regular people start to realise that cryptocurrencies put the control back in their hands. They (banks) may end up making themselves irrelevant.
I'm familiar with Gyft and Purse.io - I haven't used OpenLedger yet (not that I remember) - will need to check it out. Also I hadn't heard of Advanced Cash so thanks for pointing out some new things for me to try.
@thecryptofiend Thanks! I really appreciate feedback. I didn't know this BS was going on in the UK too. But it makes sense. I had never heard of Bittylicious, but if you have a way to reach out to them, you might want to let them know that Santander recently bought ripple and has been bringing a bunch of banks onto the ripple blockchain. I honestly don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Hasn't helped the price of XRP though at all. But the banks doing this might be more open to dealing with crypto dealers in general, since they kind of need to know how this stuff works in order to use it.
I do agree about that "law unto themselves". It really bothers me a lot that they have this level of power and control over people's day to day lives. Especially those who are most vulnerable and least able to be able to seek out alternatives.
On a side note, if you do go to Advanced Cash, use the link from the posting. The reflink belongs to the single mom I mentioned in the post. When you sign up with it, she gets a couple bucks and you get a discount on fees. Also the single mom is a fellow steemian who I won't mention by name, because I don't know if she wants folks knowing her business like that. But using that links helps her, and helps you, so if you're planning to go you should consider using it.
Yes. I think they are aware of Santander and Ripple. Sadly Santander has one of the worst reputations for customer service in the UK!
OK thanks or the tip about Advanced Cash will do.
@thecryptofiend Really? I've got friends in Mexico who use them who absolutely RAVE about the level of customer service and cite it (especially the ripple thing) as their primary reason for not coming over to bankster free life.
I suspect they vary from country to country. Here they are constantly on a consumer affairs show called "Watchdog" for ripping customers off, overcharging, closing accounts all kinds of shenanigans.
Here's a funny thing...
Barclays has been working with a lot of UK cryptocoin businesses. If I'm correct, I'm pretty sure they're the banking partner of either Coinbase or BitPay. It's hypocritical, they work with a lot of Bitcoin companies, at the same time they'll treat their customers like crap.
Natwest, RBS and Lloyds aren't so bad, they're pretty good about it and don't question it much. Barclays are already known for being the NSA of banking, i.e. anything you do can and will be used against you, and will be questioned, not just crypto payments. I wouldn't touch Barclays with a 10ft pole, even if they weren't against cryptocurrency.