Consuming Interest
On Deposit
By LESLIE ADRIAN
BANKING is a secretive busi- ness, though with what justi- fication for concealment of, for example, reserves in their annual accounts I have never discovered. Not only that, they make too much of a mystery of bank charges. Over four years ago Which? made an attempt to analyse them, not by asking the banks, but by polling some of the customers. The resultant table showed a curiously illogical pattern of charges. One would expect them to vary with the number of ledger entries and with the size of account held, but not with each branch. Bank managers must have some dis- cretion, presumably, in setting the charge, but City banking people regard Is. 2d. as the true cost of an entry these days. Why, then, cannot a bank tell you straight what it proposes to charge you for handling your debits and credits?
I wrote to a dozen banks in the London area recently, telling them that I would like to open an account and asking what I would have to pay for using four to five cheque books a year, making six Standing Orders and receiving monthly £180 (an encouraging level of income for them!). Of the Big Five, only Barclays and Lloyds put their cards on the table. The rest wanted to interview me. The National Provincial said it would be 'a very exhaustive business to answer your inquiry by letter.' Lloyds say they charge 7s. 6d. to 10s. for fifty entries, Is. for each Standing Order payment, and no charge at all if a balance of £100 is maintained on average month by month. Barclays would charge £3 3s. a year on an account running at about £200 on average, with six Standing Orders to be met and about 130 ledger entries. I make this approxi- mately treble the Lloyds rate.
Martins Bank were more reasonable. On a £100 account they charge about 21s. for forty- five entries; about 6d. an entry. The Yorkshire Bank charge £4 4s. for 120 entries, the Clydesdale Bank £2 2s. for 100 (i.e., about 5d. an entry). The District Bank went further and hinted that on a reasonable account they might not charge anything (they pay 21 per cent interest on deposit savings accounts, too)'.
All the joint stock banks allow 2 per cent below bank rate on deposit accounts (i.e., at present 2 per cent), except the Co-operative Wholesale Society Bankers. They pay between 2+ per cent and 3+ per cent on deposited money, depending on the length of notice of withdrawal agreed upon. And they go as high as 4 per cent on what they call a Deposit Note, which seems to mean a four- year-term deposit. Not only that, they pay per cent on current accounts and charge only 2d. an entry on personal accounts. Their cheques can be cashed at any Co-op. store. But there is a snag I have heard about. It is non-U to flash a Co-op. cheque book, especially in a store like Harrods. A Co-op. bank customer who wanted to open an account there gave the bank as a reference. The credit-sanctioning department were not happy about it at all, but the account Was allowed finally.
The best buy on all calculable counts is, there- fore, the dear old CWS. Although the Post Office Savings Bank pays its eternal 2+ per cent and £15 a year is tax-free interest, there is the tedium
of drawing only £10 cash at a time, and only once a day. And when you send your book up for a bigger sum, they may hang on to it for weeks, which can tie up all your funds. This happened to a poor wight over the Bank Holi- day (what a very poor joke) and, when he com- plained, a clerk said that it had been 'retained temporarily in connection with a discrepancy in the official records.' Until he wrote to them they merely clung silently to the only document in existence that entitled him to use his funds.
Even in a summer that has done its best to live down to the 'traditional English' reputation beloved of French anglophobes, there is some- thing to be said for importing and imbibing a little of their climatic cheerfulness. Some of the most refreshing and uplifting wines of France come from the Loire valley, a region that was never taken seriously by winebibbers until com- paratively recently. But it is rich in bright, light' wines whose names will stir 'many happy memories—Vouvray, Saumur, Chinon, San- cerre, Muscadet.
Muscadet is so like a minor Chablis that it used Co be blended with that more famous wine and 'passed off.' Now it is establishing a reputa- tion in its own right as the perfect accompani- ment to fish dishes, as well it might, being the only wine produced in any quantity in Brittany. Average price these days is around 10s.-11s. a bottle. Hedges and Butler have a Gros Plant (an inferior type, but still good value) at 8s. 9d.
The other wine that flows from the Loire in quantity is Anjou Rose de Cabernet, quite pleasant, with a tendency to be sweet, and usually under 10s. a bottle. But there are many more low- priced wines to be had from an increasing num- ber of merchants. London-dwellers who would like to experiment should eat at the Fontainebleau in Northumberland Avenue, where there are seventeen kinds to be drunk by the half-bottle, including a distinguished Sancerre, a Champigny and the very robust Bourgeuil.
The two most drinkable Loire reds (a per- sonal opinion only) are Chinon and Bourgeuil, the one light %and fresh, the other more like a minor claret in some years. They cost, respec- tively, just under and just over 10s. The Pro- fessional and Businessmen's Wine Vaults (buy by the dozen, but mixed) charge 9s. 11d. and 'No I'm not—Yes I do—Five quid.' 10s. 2d. for this pair, and a mere 7s. 7d. for
Muscadet. Their list is well worth inspection ■ (write to 39-43 Monument Street, London, EC3; MINcing Lane 4100).
The great white Burgundies have rivals in the Loire valley that are worthy of consideration. Pouilly Blanc Fume, for example, has hints of greatness, and can be rather expensive as con- sequence. Peter Dominic list a reasonable one at 16s. 6d. Sancerre and still Vouvray are some- times cheaper. Edward Roche has a good Vouvray, called Valentine, at 9s. 9d. that will please dry white wine lovers, while Asher and Storey have a 1961 Sancerre at 15s. 6d.
Perhaps the greatest desert wine of the region is Quarts de Chaume from the banks of the Loire tributary, the Larn. At 13s. 9d. a bottle from Hedges and Butler, for the 1959 vintage, it stands up well to comparison with the lesser breeds of Sauternes, but is different in character.
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