[00:10.95]Have you got time for a coffee?
[00:15.10]Yes,OK.Where do you want to go?
[00:19.77]How about that place on the corner?
[00:24.14]Yes,fine.Oh no!
[00:28.50]What's the matter?
[00:31.56]Oh,I've just realised I've left my wallet at home.
[00:36.91]Don't worry.It's ok.I'll pay for the coffee.
[00:42.79]Yes,thanks,but it's not just that I'm Meeting someone at two and I'll have to go back home and get it.
[00:50.83]I can't spend the whole day without any Money.
[00:55.51]Well,do you want me to lend you some?
[00:59.77]Would you mind?
[01:02.93]No,of course not.How much do you need?Is thirty euros enough?
[01:09.77]That'd be great,if you can.
[01:13.85]Yes,sure.No problem.I'll just have to go to the cash machine,though.
[01:20.09]Do you want to meet me in the cafe?I'll be there in a minute.
[01:25.66]OK.There you are.
[01:32.60]Great that's briliant.I'll pay you back next week,when I see you.
[01:39.08]Yes,fine.There's no hurry.Have you ordered?
[01:45.14]No,I was walting for you to get here.I wasn't sure how you like your coffee.
[01:51.60]1 They're rich
[02:02.36]Maybe I'm just jealous,but I think banks are too rich.
[02:08.42]The big banks in Britain made over 15 billion last year.
[02:15.50]If you ask me,they shouldn't be allowed to make so much money.
[02:21.06]2 They're mean
[02:25.61]One reason they make so much money is that,like all rich people,
[02:32.45]they are mean!
[02:35.79]That's why they give us about 0.2% interest when we have money in the bank,
[02:43.45]but when we borrow money from Them,
[02:47.52]they charge us anything from 8% to 25% interest.
[02:54.18]It's terrible!
[02:57.35]3 Bank charges
[03:01.79]Imagine you borrowed my car and I said,
[03:07.66]'Listen,can you bring it back by six o'clock,because I need to go out somewhere?
[03:14.14]You bring car back at 6.01 and I ask for 40,
[03:20.91]because you brought it back late.
[03:24.36]The following day,I write you a letter telling you that you gave me 40.
[03:31.02]I then also charge you another 15 because I had to send you a letter.
[03:37.99]On top of that,I ask for another 5,because my car is less valuable now,
[03:45.44]because you drove it for two hours.
[03:49.09]I then phone you to say you can borrow my car whenever you like.
[03:55.05]It doesn't sound fair,does it?
[03:58.89]But that's the kind of thing banks do if you spend 1 more than you should.
[04:05.34]The only difference is,they don't ask you for the money,
[04:10.70]they just take it from your account!
[04:14.54]4 Changing banks
[04:19.50]It's very difficult to change banks.
[04:24.54]In fact,it's more difficult than getting divorced!
[04:29.58]You have to write to so many people to tell them you've changed banks,
[04:35.64]you get bored and you stop.
[04:39.30]And anyway,you know it's a waste of time,because(unlike a new wife or husband!)
[04:46.75]your new bank will be exactly the same as your old one!
[04:51.79]5 Junk mail
[04:56.44]asking me if I'd like to take out a loan or get a new credit card.
[05:05.79]I always throw these letters in the bin.
[05:10.23]I wish the banks would stop sending me them.
[05:15.09]It's such a waste of paper.
[05:19.16]6 They're bad for poor countries
[05:24.62]One way banks make their money is by charging a lot of interest
[05:31.10]to poor countries for loans they have made to their governments.
[05:36.43]A lot of these countries now spend so much on the interest to the banks,
[05:42.78]they can't afford to spend money on education,health and other basic services.
[05:49.86]7 Banks abroad
[05:54.51]I often hope that when I go abroad,banks will be better than they are here.
[06:01.06]When I go to change money,there are almost no customers in the bank.
[06:07.23]However,I still have to wait for hours to be served.
[06:12.90]Then you have to fill in a form,
[06:17.03]have proof of ID and sign your name about six times-just to change 50.
[06:24.57]Then they charge you 3% commission for the service!
[06:29.54]8 I need them!
[06:34.81]Perhaps the thing I hate most about banks is the fact that I need one!
[06:41.29]They're like men-you can't live with them,
[06:45.94]but you can't live without them!
[06:49.42]For a while,I tried to live without having a bank account,but it was impossible.
[06:56.26]Everything just took a very long time.
[07:01.43]It was difficult to get paid,it took a long time to pay bills,
[07:07.99]and if people gave me cheques,I had to pay the bank to get them cashed.
[07:14.05]And I worried about having lots of cash in the house
[07:19.09]and carrying it around in the street.
[07:22.93]I couldn't do it,and in the end,I opened a new account.
[07:28.60]I was lucky,because millions of people can't open an account.
[07:34.53]The bank won't let them,because they don't have enough money
[07:39.57]which is another reason why I hate banks!
[07:44.22]1 While you listen
[07:56.16]Conversation 1
[08:00.13]Can't you ask your mum and dad for some?
[08:04.57]I have,but they just said I've had my pocket money already.
[08:11.05]They only give me 15 a week.
[08:15.70]I buy one CD and it's nearly all gone.
[08:20.53]It's a pain.I can never afford to go out these days.
[08:26.78]Won't they give you any more? Fifteen pounds is nothing.
[08:32.13]No.I've asked them,but they just said I should get a job.
[08:38.37]It's so unfair.You don't have a job.
[08:44.02]Gino doesn't have a job.None of my friends have one.
[08:49.97]I know,It's awful!
[08:54.13]I don't want to spend my weekends filling shelves in a supermarket for 5 an hour.
[09:01.99]I'm glad they're not my parents.
[09:06.06]Conversation 2
[09:11.21]So how's work?
[09:14.87]Oh,dont ask! It's just the same old thing.I'm really fed up with it.
[09:21.95]You know,I'm earning the same money as I was
[09:26.91]when I first started there five years ago.
[09:31.35]That's terrible.Haven't you had any pay rise in five years?
[09:37.41]No,nothing.
[09:40.57]So how much do you get?
[09:44.02]Seven euros an hour.
[09:47.86]Seven?That's awful.How do you survive?
[09:53.50]Well,I have to live at home with my parents,I cycle to work,that kind of thing.
[10:01.05]I manage,but it's terrible money.
[10:05.73]I never have any money at the end of the month.
[10:10.59]So why don't you get another job?
[10:14.35]I can't afford to take time off work to go to interviews.
[10:19.70]And there aren's that many jobs around at the moment,anyway.
[10:25.48]That's awful.
[10:28.64]Conversation 3
[10:35.19]Did you see the new jeans Jenny was wearing?
[10:40.76]Yes,they looked OK.I'm not sure I would wear them,though.
[10:47.52]No,me neither.But you know how much they cost?
[10:53.87]No.Were they expensive?
[10:58.60]Two hundred and fifty pounds
[11:03.35]Two hundred and fifty pounds for a pair of jeans!You're joking.
[11:10.01]No,honestly,she told me herself.
[11:15.06]She got them in some fancy designer shop on Saturday.
[11:20.62]That's craxy.Is she really well off,then?
[11:26.18]I don't think so.She's a nurse.She works at the Springfield card.
[11:33.63]I went out with her the other day and she probably spent 150 then.
[11:45.41]Honestly,she just spends money like water.
[11:50.66]Maybe she's from a rich family.
[11:54.53]I don't think so-
[11:57.98]and she was complaining she couldn't afford to go on holiday in the summer,
[12:04.04]because she's in debt!I'm not surprised.
[12:09.39]Conversation 4
[12:14.85]Did you get the bill?Yes.
[12:19.60]How much was it?Fifteen pounds.
[12:24.05]Really? Let me have a look..What? Two fifty for a coffee.I'm running out of money-fast!
[12:30.81]That's terrible! No,that's quite normal,isn't it?
[12:36.85]No way!Things like that are much cheaper in my country than they are here in London.
[12:43.79]I mean,you probably only pay about a pund for a coffee
[12:49.25]and a snack like this would only cost about six or seven.
[12:54.30]Oh,in my country it's fairly similar to here.
[13:00.17]The only thing which is cheaper there is public transport.
[13:05.74]Buses and trains are much cheaper than they are here.
[13:11.38]And they're nicer as well.
[13:15.51]Yes,well,everything's cheaper in my country than it is here.
[13:21.28]That's why I can't afford to stay here in the UK much longer.
[13:26.74]I'm running out of money-fast!
