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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the go-long-on-mattresses dept.

The RBS banking group has warned 1.3 million customers they could be charged negative interest rates if the Bank of England cuts base rates below zero.

The group, which includes NatWest, wrote to its business and commercial account holders about the potential changes, which mean they could lose money even when they are in credit.

The letter said: "Global interest rates remain at very low levels and in some markets are currently negative.

"Dependent on future market conditions, this could result in us charging on credit balances."

The Bank of England's base rate currently stands at the historically low rate of 0.5%, where it has been for more than seven years - and some economists believe it should be cut further to stimulate the economy.

Source: Sky News

From October 1st, the Dutch bank [ABN Amro] is adjusting its conditions to state that the bank can give negative interest rates to account holders with a business checking or -savings account, ANP reports.

Source: NL Times


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:31PM (#380875)

    Might as well pay for a safe-deposit box instead. It might be cheaper.

    It could be... but did you factor in the cost of the risk of loss?

    Deposit $10,000 in a bank, a fire breaks out, and you still have it in some form or another (even if it requires FDIC to intervene). Put $10,000 in a safety deposit box, a fire breaks out, and it is just gone.

    Quite literally, that infrastructure and security to guarantee your deposits has a cost.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:46PM (#380882)

    I'm not sure I'd call something that can't withstand a normal building fire a safe.

    Then again I have no idea what banks use for their safe deposit boxes.

    Might want to ask before getting one.

    For a long time though I've been wanting to just keep all my cash under my mattress (well, in a fire-proof safe somewhere in my house) except for explicit investments.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @12:54AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @12:54AM (#380960)

      According to my friend who works with this sort of thing, the loss that costs the big bank the most money is water damage. Fires are relatively rare and they have fire suppression systems. The smoke damage is usually only in the top few layers. However, the boxes are not usually water proof, especially when you talk about high pressure fire hoses. In fact, his bank is seriously considering giving people waterproof containers when they sign up for a box; it looks like a free bonus, is cheaper than waterproofing everything, prevents smoke damage, and gives them a break on their insurance.