Of course, he then deposited it into a building society.  Nicely though, my own bank back in Australia just abolished overdraft fees, even though the bank would lose millions of dollars as a result, so they aren’t all crap.

Defiant Mapua artist Roger Griffiths today made a stand against Westpac by withdrawing his $190,000 savings in $20 notes.

The bank provided a red-and-black carry bag to take away the cash after meticulously counting it in front of Mr Griffiths at its Nelson branch.

Mr Griffiths, a loyal Westpac customer for 25 years, decided to withdraw his money after the bank rejected his application for an $80,000 mortgage. “It’s about time normal people took a stand.”

He said the bank turned down his application because he did not have a regular income as an artist. However, he was a successful artist, exhibiting his paintings at the World of Wearable Art complex, in Christchurch and New York, he said.

He wanted to buy a $385,000 property in Mapua, had $200,000 in cash and was going to sell his $110,000 campervan.

That more than met the bank’s criteria for a 20 per cent deposit, and the property which included a home and commercial premises would have returned $500 a week, he said.

He was disappointed when his loan application was rejected, but it was Westpac losing $111 million to Lane Walker Rudkin Industries that tipped his decision to withdraw his money.

“They can lose $110 million with LWR but turn down a normal customer who has never missed a loan payment,” he said. “If they don’t have the trust in me after 25 years, there’s a problem for Westpac.”

via $190,000 withdrawn in $20 bills – national | Stuff.co.nz.

But not my details, I checked.

THE bank details of 40 million people have been reportedly recorded by a former British cop who plans to charge victims to see whether their details are available.

Colin Holder a retired detective has spent more than $324 000 scouring the internet for stolen personal bank details of millions of people.

Credit card details bank account numbers home addresses and PINs are all available according to Mr Holder.

It is not known how many Australian details are stolen.

The data comes into criminal hands as result of “phishing” where internet users are duped into revealing over their key details.

Mr Holder claims the highly sensitive information is readily available and traded over the internet.

“About six months after I retired I was contacted by an old source who said he was seeing a vast amount of credit card and other personal data being exchanged between criminals and what could he do with it ” Mr Holder told the Washington Post.

Mr Holder has since created a website- www.lucidintelligence.com – where people can search to see whether their details are for sale.

via Former British cop ‘has bank details of 40 million people’ | News | News.com.au.