UK Bank Investigation

The London Times says UK banks could face huge penalties for their treatment of deaf customers. The paper says the banks it investigated are “routinely discriminating against customers with hearing loss by failing to provide equal access to services.” Some deaf customers have to deal with “broken hearing aid loop systems, poorly trained and rude staff, a lack of understanding about how text phones work and an over-reliance on spoken answers to security questions.” There are even stories of people stranded overseas because the customer could not call the bank to resolve the problem. Action on Hearing Loss says a majority of the 152 banks it surveyed have no working hearing loop, a device which many deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the UK depend upon.