One more thing to add about banks and such businesses. Any official documents from a bank or other type business will come to you through the mail. That way they have a record that you have been notified about whatever you are contacted about.
Yes, thanks for mentioning this. This has been the case so far. But I'm not too sure if banks will continue to do so.
For instance, I used to set up my standing orders (banker's orders) by surface mail, because it involves authorizing a company to automatically withdraw money from your account at regular intervals, and it obviously needs a signature and full personal details. So it felt safer for me to use a paper form and stick this in an envelope. Or sometimes go to an office and identify myself and vice versa to make sure.
But now my bank has put an end to this possibility, and allows only online banking to deal with this. So what's next?
I actually get lots of mails from companies that urge me to do everything online. That way, they can fully automate their procedures and 'cut out the middleman', that is lay off more of their employees.
I realize this is sidetracking the issue a bit, but I just wanted to address the general dilemma behind it
Rich