Call for banks to help elderly

Press, 6 March 1989, Page 9

Call for banks to help elderly

An old people’s welfare group believes banks should try harder to ensure their elderly customers get the best deal.

The chairman of Age Concern, the National Old People’s Welfare Council, Mr Jim Hylton, said the group believed many elderly people were not making the most of their savings. Many elderly people were not familiar with the variety of interest-bearing accounts available to them, he said. Many found the banking system complicated and confusing and stayed with the easy option of doing nothing.

“Banks are cashing in on ignorance and it’s generally the poorer elderly who are the losers,” he said. Age Concern has written to Postßank because it believes the bank has many elderly customers with 3 per cent savings accounts. The bank replied that almost 80 per cent of its 3 per cent interest rate accounts had balances of less than $lOO, and 89 per cent had less than $4OO.

This demonstrated that most holders of the accounts were not losing out on significant payments, said a bank spokesman.