rural service centres

I wonder if this development represents an opportunity for better value for bank customers or a new way for us to be inveigled into some more bank mis-selling.  One thing is for sure it does not presage any more physical rural bank outlets. The article tells us:

Britain’s 46 million current account holders will be bombarded from Monday with offers to switch banks thanks to the formal introduction of “seven-day switching”, after a £750m systems overhaul to ensure direct debits and payments can be transferred between providers in the space of a week.

Three-quarters of current accounts are still held by the “big four” high-street banks, with the typical customer staying with a bank for 17 years – six years longer than the average length of a marriage. Fears of payments going awry has discouraged most customers from moving, even if they have endured poor service. A recent survey found that one in five people would rather go to the dentist than try to switch their current account.

But starting from Monday, 33 bank and building society brands will be involved in the launch of the Current Account Switch Service, backed by a multimillion-pound television advertising campaign introducing customers to a “simpler world” of switching. The Payments Council, the independent body that has spearheaded the initiative, promises that switching will become “reliable and hassle-free” and make tales of month-long delays a thing of the past.