Suppose a banker receives £40 from his London agent or through the coupon department of his head-office on account of coupons remitted for a customer. He deducts his charge of 2s., and, without informing the person for whom they have been collected, credits £39 18s. in his pass-book. The client, in five cases out of six, remains under the impression that he has received the market value for his coupons, whereas, had the manager credited the account with £40, and debited it with 2s. commission, the customer in every probability would have asked for an explanation.
The customer, by examining his pass-book, will soon discover whether a rate has been deducted, and if he consider that the balance he keeps at his credit amply repays the bank, then he can request that the commission be returned to him, and that his name be placed on the free list with those of other “conscientious objectors.” Where the face-value of the coupons is given in a foreign currency, he will, of course, have to discover the rate of exchange at which they were sold. Allowance, too, must be made for income-tax.
When purchasing stocks or shares through his banker the latter divides the commission with the broker, and it is perhaps advisable to see the broker’s note, as a zealous manager, anxious to augment the profits of his branch, and believing devoutly in the old-fashioned maxim “every little helps,” occasionally adds a small charge of his own. Should he do this, then he sends the customer a copy of the broker’s note instead of the note itself, and in the copy he has, it need not be said, added a small commission of his own to the broker’s. As a banker guarantees the customer against loss through the failure of either the broker or the jobber, purchasing shares through a bank has its advantages for the bona-fide investor; but the speculator, who may want to “carry over” from account to account, must deal with a member of the Stock Exchange.
Again, when buying foreign drafts through one’s banker inquiry should be made as to the rate of exchange, so that one can check his figures. In a small book of this description much must necessarily be omitted, but it may just be added that in these days the facilities bankers grant their customers range from taking charge of their plate and valuables to allowing them to have their letters addressed to the bank, while they will even pay their subscriptions for them. The difficulty is to say what they will not do, and some day, perhaps, we shall have their young men calling in the morning for orders with the baker.
CHAPTER XI
UNCLAIMED BALANCES
I would describe this banking custom as legal stealing.[*] Bankers, as well as other estimable persons, obtain their gleanings and their perquisites, which are credited to certain sundry accounts, such as “unclaimed dividends,” “unclaimed balances,” and so on. Those banks, too, that issue notes must profit to a certain extent by the paper that is lost and destroyed by the public; and though it is impossible to estimate the gain to the banks from these sources, their absolute silence on the subject seems to indicate perhaps more eloquently than statistics, that the fund thus derived must be considerable, even if it be not vast.
[*] The Government is not prepared to promote legislation for the purpose of requiring the banks of the United Kingdom to make a return showing the sums of money in their hands in respect of dormant and obsolete accounts.—Vide Press, Feb. 1908.
Coming to the definition of an unclaimed balance, it must be confessed that it is somewhat difficult to explain exactly what an “unclaimed” balance is, for the simple reason that the banks, when an account becomes dormant, seldom make an effort to discover whether the owner be either dead or alive, or to whom the balance belongs. On the other hand, if they do not court inquiry, it cannot be said that they obstruct it. Neither, however, do they encourage it, nor assist the owner or claimant in any way, but content themselves with passively carrying forward the figures from half-year to half-year. The public may well be dissatisfied with this treatment, for it is quite apparent that were the banks to make it their business to discover the owners or claimants they would be successful in five cases out of six, and, further, the longer they nurse these so-called “unclaimed” balances, the greater is the probability that they will for ever retain them.