Minister enters cash access row

19 September 2011 Last updated at 10:36 GMT Consumer Focus said millions of bank customers would benefit from access to accounts at Post Offices A minister wants HSBC and Santander to allow customers to withdraw cash from the Post Office, but the banks are questioning the demand for the service.

Consumer Minister Ed Davey said that the two banks were "holding out" against allowing customers to use Post Office branches for account access.

But HSBC said that fewer than three in 10 of its customers actually wanted such access.

This comes as the latest stage of Post Office reform is announced.

Judging demand

A recent report from watchdog Consumer Focus suggested that four million customers of High Street banks used the Post Office network to use some current account services.

It claimed that up to 18 million people could go to the network for their banking needs if access was widened.

HSBC and Santander are the only two of the major banks that do not allow cash withdrawal for account holders at Post Offices.

Mr Davey told the Liberal Democrat conference that customers should consider switching to another bank if the two did not listen to a campaign for access.

However, HSBC said customers were able to access their cash through 60,000 cash machines and 1,275 HSBC branches in the UK.

"We recently conducted in-depth research among our customers with regards to accessibility of their accounts at Post Offices, and only one in 10 thought it would improve our service - with many actually saying it would be viewed as a negative," a spokesman for the bank said.

"Recent research by Consumer Focus backed this up and showed that less than three out of 10 HSBC customers would want access to their banking via a post office."

He added that those with basic bank accounts - that do not offer overdrafts or cheque books - could access their money at the Post Office.

Consumer protection

Mr Davey also told the conference in Birmingham that the Post Office could be on a clear path to mutualisation by the end of this parliament as the government launched a consultation of its proposals.

The government wants Post Office Ltd - the national company that sets the strategy for the Post Office network and operates some of the larger branches - to become a mutual.

This would not affect the ownership of the thousands of privately-owned Post Office branches across the UK.

Meanwhile, Mr Davey also announced plans to bring consumer regulations found in 12 different Acts under one Consumer Bill of Rights.

This would include new measures to allow consumers more time to get out of a contract if they have been victims of aggressive sales practices.

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Minister enters cash access row

19 September 2011 Last updated at 10:36 GMT Consumer Focus said millions of bank customers would benefit from access to accounts at Post Offices A minister wants HSBC and Santander to allow customers to withdraw cash from the Post Office, but the banks are questioning the demand for the service.

Consumer Minister Ed Davey said that the two banks were "holding out" against allowing customers to use Post Office branches for account access.

But HSBC said that fewer than three in 10 of its customers actually wanted such access.

This comes as the latest stage of Post Office reform is announced.

Judging demand

A recent report from watchdog Consumer Focus suggested that four million customers of High Street banks used the Post Office network to use some current account services.

It claimed that up to 18 million people could go to the network for their banking needs if access was widened.

HSBC and Santander are the only two of the major banks that do not allow cash withdrawal for account holders at Post Offices.

Mr Davey told the Liberal Democrat conference that customers should consider switching to another bank if the two did not listen to a campaign for access.

However, HSBC said customers were able to access their cash through 60,000 cash machines and 1,275 HSBC branches in the UK.

"We recently conducted in-depth research among our customers with regards to accessibility of their accounts at Post Offices, and only one in 10 thought it would improve our service - with many actually saying it would be viewed as a negative," a spokesman for the bank said.

"Recent research by Consumer Focus backed this up and showed that less than three out of 10 HSBC customers would want access to their banking via a post office."

He added that those with basic bank accounts - that do not offer overdrafts or cheque books - could access their money at the Post Office.

Consumer protection

Mr Davey also told the conference in Birmingham that the Post Office could be on a clear path to mutualisation by the end of this parliament as the government launched a consultation of its proposals.

The government wants Post Office Ltd - the national company that sets the strategy for the Post Office network and operates some of the larger branches - to become a mutual.

This would not affect the ownership of the thousands of privately-owned Post Office branches across the UK.

Meanwhile, Mr Davey also announced plans to bring consumer regulations found in 12 different Acts under one Consumer Bill of Rights.

This would include new measures to allow consumers more time to get out of a contract if they have been victims of aggressive sales practices.

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How to open an encrypted file if access is denied in Windows

Maybe you have faced this problem some time. You just forget to decrypt the file first and instead directly copied the file in its encrypted form to another computer. Now when you try to open it on the other computer, you get a message saying that Access is denied. This occurs because either you do not have permission to view the file or the key that was used to encrypt the file is probably not on the other computer.

If you right click its Properties > Security tab, and find that you do not have permission, you may have to contact your system administrator. But if the file is from another computer, you need to get the key from the computer where you encrypted the file. If the file was encrypted by someone else, that person will need to add the certificate to the file before you can access it.

Here is a step by step tutorial on how to do this:

You need to first export the Encrypting File System (EFS) certificate and key on the computer where the files were encrypted, and then import them on the computer that you transferred the files to.

1. Go to Control Panel and search for Certificate Manager and open it. 

2. In the left pane, double-click Personal, click Certificates, and then click the EFS certificate that you want to export.

3. Click the Action menu, point to All Tasks, and then click Export. 

4. In the Certificate Export wizard, click Next.

5. Click Yes, export the private key, and then click Next.

6. Click Personal Information Exchange, and then click Next.

7. Type the password you want to use, confirm it, and then click Next.

8. The export process creates a file to store the certificate in. Type a name for the file and the location (include the whole path), or click Browse, navigate to a location, type a file name, and then click Save.

9. Click Next, and then click Finish.

1. Go to Control Panel and search for Certificate Manager and open it.

2. In the left pane, click Personal.

3. Click the Action menu, point to All Tasks, and click Import. 

4. In the Certificate Import wizard, click Next. 

5. Type the location of the file that contains the certificate, or click Browse, navigate to the file’s location, and then click Next.

6. Type the password, select the Mark this key as exportable check box, and then click Next. (Do not select the Enable strong private key protection check box.)

7. Click Place all certificates in the following store, choose Personal, and then click Next.

8. Click Finish.

To add your encryption certificate and key to a file, export your certificate and key by following the steps above and have the person that you received the file from import the certificate and key and then add it to the file by following these steps.

1. Right-click the encrypted file, and then click Properties.

2. Click the General tab, and then click Advanced.

3. In the Advanced Attributes dialog box, click Details. 

4. In the dialog box that appears, click Add.

5. Click the certificate, and then click OK in each of the four open dialog boxes.

Hope that helps!

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