The number of Southwold Banks will be zero as of Thursday 30 November 2023. Barclays is the last remaining branch in the town and announced the closure earlier this year. The closure is believed to also involve the ceasing of the ATM service in the wall outside the branch.
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| Southwold Banks - Barclays |
Barclays Personal and Business account holders will be able to use Southwold Post Office to do their banking. Other Bank customers can also use the Post Office (eg Lloyds , Halifax. HSBC customers etc).
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| Southwold Post Office - Banking services |
Other Cash services
CoOp Southwold
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| Southwold Banks - Co Op |
The Co Op has it's own Bank. However there is no branch at Southwold and banking services are not available at the Co Op shop in the Market Place. Nearest branches are Norwich or Ipswich. Co Op bank customers can find banking services at Southwold Post Office.
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| Southwold Co Op cash machine |
There is cash machine inside the Co Op. A separate company rents the space and runs the machine to provide the service which is complimentary to the Co op supermarket. If the machine eats your money or card though, it is the responsibility of the cash machine company rather than the Co Op . Store staff will help with who to contact if there are problems.
Boydens Reydon
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| Boydens Reydon |
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| Boydens Cash machine |
Boydens have a cash machine with no charges to customers. However, the machine holds a limited amount of notes and the business does incour time / handling charges when it restocks it and so sometimes runs out of cash.
Bridgefoot Stores (Barbrooks)
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| Bridgefoot Stores, Reydon |
Bridgefoot Stores say that they do not have a cash machine and do not anticipate having one in the near future . They may offer cashback when the card machine upgrades (no time frame for that given)
Southwold Tesco Express
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| Southwold |Tesco |
Tesco no longer offer current account banking and there is no cash machine in store. Uncertain as to whether cashback can be obtained although even if it is, the limit is likely to be £50.
No cash in the near future?
Christine Lagarde is president of the European Central Bank. In this clip posted 7 April 2023, from @Watcher.Guru on the X (formerly Twitter) platform, we hear her being asked about how switching to an electronic currency can help? She says:
"We are preparing the ground to be ready. We want to be trained. But it will not be decided until October 2023. The reason I am personally convinced that we have to move ahead is a situation like the one we are in now. We are dependent on the supply of gas from a very unfriendly country. I don't want Europe to be dependent on an unfriendly country's currency, or dependent on a friendly currency but which is activated by a private corporate entity like Facebook, or like Google."
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| Christine Lagarde of ECB on X |
About the issue of people being controlled. Lagarde says:
"Now in Europe we have this threshold above 1000 Euros you cannot pay cash..... The digital Euro is going to have a limited amount of control. There will be control. We are considering for anything around 300 - 400 Euros we could have a mechanism where there is zero control. But that could be dangerous because the terrorist attacks on France 10yrs ago were entirely financed by very small anonymous credit cards that you can recharge in anonimity. "
Barclays Bank experts
Scroll down on this link: Barclays bank . Look for "Could CBDC's be successful" . They say it ticks the boxes of legality, stability and trust. They seem to like CBDC's.
Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak can be seen if you scroll down a bit on a previous post on this blogsite entitled Sunak Sachs G7 to be in favour of digital currency.
Bank of England
On 24th August 2023 Bank of England indicated that a central bank digital currency known as the digital pound IS likely to be needed .
Privacy concerns regarding CBDC's
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| CBDC privacy concerns - Turing |
Someone who knows what you spend your money on will be able to alter your options by programming your money. It's all for your own good.
At the butchers : Too many burgers this week big boy. Please visit the salad bar instead.
In the pub: You cannot make payments for any alcohol today as you already purchased 10 pints.
Driving: No travelling to protests, or on frivolous journeys. Fuel purchases in your home postcode only.
At the doctors: prescribing you a calorie limit of 2500cals a day on your food and drink purchases.