I HAVE been a customer of one of the major Scottish banks for more than 40 years. Long enough to remember the days when there was a local branch in almost every town and several in every city.

I can also remember when banks actually paid decent interest on the balance in your account. It seems those days are past now, and in the past they will probably remain. If you are unfortunate enough to have to carry out a transaction that cannot be done online, prepare yourself for a journey to one of the few remaining branches, where you will probably be faced with a long queue and a long wait for some semblance of service, followed by a personal interrogation, within earshot of other customers, should you wish to withdraw cash.

I was fascinated by a recent advert which appeared on my social media feed. Open a Digital Regular Saver account between August 1 and 31 and you could win a £1000 jackpot. If I was to open one of these accounts I could be one of ten lucky winners of £1000.

READ MORE: Jim Osborne: Why it’s essential Scotland brings back local banking

There are no initial details of the interest paid or other small print, but a few mouse clicks later and you can find out the facts. You have to put between £1 and £50 a month into this account. The headline rate of interest is 3% (this can be changed by the bank) but this applies only up to a maximum balance of £1000. Saving the maximum £50 a month for a year will get you £9.88 in interest. At the same time inflation would have more than wiped out the value of this interest payment. If you continue to save £50 a month beyond 20 months, your interest rate falls to 0.01%.

If you are lucky enough to have £50,000 to put into another of their accounts and leave it there for a year you would get £25.01 in interest, however inflation at about 3% would eat away around £1500 of the value of your savings.

It seems that the old-fashioned concepts of customer service and interest on account balances has been replaced by, in essence, a lottery.

Brian Lawson
Paisley