I                                            
           River Ericht, Blairgowrie                                      Holding baby McKenzie in                                            Blairgowrie
                                                                                     Blairgowrie’s The Dome

One of my big concerns while in Scotland is the banking system that is not tourist friendly. In Canada many of us have access to a savings and a chequing account on our interact cards but whenever I use interact here it only recognizes one account and doesn’t tell me from which one it’s withdrawing the money. I don’t know what tourists do to check the movement of their funds if they don’t have internet banking.

The really big deal though, is that some banks tell you there will be a charge but don’t tell you why or how much. Some banks tell you there may be a charge from ‘your’ banking institution. One bank teller we asked about this said their bank didn’t charge so I went out to their machine and started writing out the message on their screen to show her, yes they did charge. It took me too long and a security screen came up telling me I had taken too long for the transaction and for security purposes it was retaining my card!

For a split second I felt vulnerable; jail just blocks away. They hesitated about returning my card and I couldn’t believe the whole episode. At least I proved that they do say they charge! And I got my card back.

A bank called Nationwide Building Society understands the tourist and I was happy to see user friendly messages on their screen explaining clearly that they do not charge for the use of this service. Some banks get it ! Thank you Nationwide Building Society!