Long Distance Banking

One of the worries that we had when we embarked on our big trip across the pond was the whole problem of banking, e.g. being able to manage our financial affairs in a reasonably efficient fashion from a distance. I am happy to say that so far things have gone fairly well. Direct deposit makes a big difference of course, and the bank that we use has a very good online banking web site-- we can do nearly anything we need to via the web. The one thing we had been concerned about was depositing checks, but in fact, we have discovered that you can now deposit checks on-line as well, if you have a PC and a scanner. This morning I took a smallish check made out to Amy, got her to endorse it, wrote the appropriate magical incantations on the back, ran it through the scanner, and voila, transaction complete (or at least that's what the web page says-- we'll have to wait a couple of days to make sure). Makes me wonder whether I'm ever going to wind up setting foot inside a bank office ever again (at least after the account is opened).

The local banking scene is of course still pretty grim. Just when you think that there can't be anything left to melt down that hasn't already melted down, there is a new gloomy story in the paper about something bad happening to some British bank somewhere. Our own bank (RBS, which owns NatWest) is supposedly getting ready to accept a humiliating second major cash infusion from the government, and it is rumored that it will be posting a 20 billion (yes, billion with a B) pound loss for the quarter. Ugh.