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Helfpul literature is available at every branch of Martins								The 1960s were famous for a relaxed attitude to most things in life, but it seems many organisations (Martins Bank included) were a little reluctant to “let it all hang out”, or down or whatever it was. Compared to today, our everyday lives then seem to have been the subject of a fair amount of state control: · The price of bread eggs and milk was centrally set – indeed if a loaf of bread was to go up by one halfpenny, it was announced in the news! · Exchange controls restricted the amount of money you could take abroad. · Only so many mortgages were made available at any one time, so you may have to keep applying to be in with a chance. · If you wanted a home telephone, the General Post Office put you on the waiting list for a line, and several months later charged you a hefty sum for the installation, citing what was referred to as “the unseen work that goes on at the exchange” as reason for both delay and fee. Surely then, surely to goodness BANKING was not so strangled by red tape, was it?
Taxing Times… Martins’ Customers never quite escaped the days of having to pay stamp duty on some everyday banking transactions. It seems quite strange now to think of being taxed for each cheque you write or for paying someone by standing order, but that is how it was…
1905		1949	1969			Three and fourpence buys you 20 cheques
The rates and symbols may have changed, but the duty remained. If you wanted the luxury of writing a cheque, you had to pay the government for it, as well as your bank! To pay for setting up a standing order (right) there was the physical process of licking a tuppenny stamp and sticking it to the mandate form! A stamp was also sometimes stuck to a customer’s specimen signature card which was held at the bank to check that withdrawals were being made and signed for by the right person.
Stylish and practical…
These handsome wallets help protect your most valuable connection with us – the cheque book, and serve to show everyone who sees them that you’ve made the right choice for all your banking needs – Martins!
A slip for every occasion So, having finally paid the duty and secured smooth passage for debits to your account, was paying IN any easier to negotiate?
This slip is used to pay in at the counter of one Martins branch, when your account is held by another…					Don’t forget to complete this slip when you bring your handy martins bank HOME SAFE to the bank for opening and counting. Our standard paying in slip allows deposit of funds to a current account .
Passbook Savings
							In the days of savings account passbooks you really only needed your face and your book to pay in! It was the computer, and its need to categorise and classify everyone by branch and account number that effectively put paid to an aspect of customer service that many staff actually hated – working out which “Smith” it was who had signed a form with otherwise no information to go on… x x Towards the end of the 1960s this savings account paying in slip was introduced ahead of the Bank Giro Credit system.
	No mixed coin, please! Staff at the counter were assisted by a variety of colourful paper bags into which customers were expected to place exact numbers of coins for weighing.
	I don’t understand my statement… For such a precise representation of “money in, money out” to work, the bank statement should at least be neat. But these were the days when the same piece of paper was fed into a statement printing machine again and again – in fact every time there was a transaction on your account…
	WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO BARCLAYS GROUP ARCHIVE AND MRS E SUGDEN
	© gut informiert 2007 to date

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