The banks that like to say no

Last week was wear it pink and this week our supporters are paying in the money they raised. Well – you might hope so. But we have heard from several supporters who have tried to pay in money on the paying-in slip provided to their own banks and have been refused or told to pay extra.

We provide specially coded paying-in slips to supporters so that they can pay the money into any branch of any bank – and we pay a small extra charge for them to do that. Otherwise they would have to find a branch of Barclays – our bank – to pay in the money.

It is tough enough raising the money without then having to struggle to pay it in. So far complaints have come in from supporters trying to pay into Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland. Our guys at Barclays are on the case and have written to them but clearly the message isn’t getting across to everyone.

We really do try to make it as easy as possible for people to raise money for us – the effort is significant, the generosity is wonderful, the stories behind why people are doing this are heart-rending and the impact, when translated into research, is life-saving. And then someone at a bank gets in the way.

I really don’t want to turn this blog into a whinge-fest but we seem to be walking through treacle at the moment. First we are savaged by the postal strikes which have left unhappy supporters out there and may well damage our Christmas card sales, and now this.

Hey guys – give us a break. All we are trying to do is raise money to beat breast cancer – that’s challenging enough without having to fight you too.