LIFE is never going to be the same again. Who says so? Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC, one of the world’s biggest and most successful banks.

Announcing a £5 billion half-year profit – a feat rivals can only envy – he said: “Ultimately, the real economy will recover from this crisis, though it may get worse before it gets better. Financial markets will not, and should not, return to the status quo ante.”

If that Latin phrase refers to the world before last August, we can presumably say goodbye to 125% mortgages, loans at six times annual salary, precipice bonds that assumed share prices would never fall, a spending culture that made saving look quaint and interest rates so tiny it was a crime not to borrow.

So it’s not all bad news. We might even see banks putting customers first – okay, I’m spinning into sheer fantasy now. However, there is plenty you can do to squeeze a better deal out of your bank. HSBC says that average current-account balances have fallen £50 this year, but are still £1,000. That is too much, even allowing for the average being inflated by monthly salaries.

Even worse, many of those leaving money doing nothing in their current account are probably among the savers Abbey has found pulling an average £579 from tax-free Isas.

More than a quarter of those questioned said they were using Isa money to buy a car or other big expense: fair enough, that is what savings are for. Nearly a third, though, admitted they were relying on their Isa to meet day-to-day expenses. I hope those people had emptied their current accounts first, but I doubt they all had.

Abbey says more people are cutting down from using several banks to just one. While that is sensible, choose carefully. Banks use a tempting deal – like Halifax’s below – to pull in customers. Then, unless you stay on your toes, they are liable to hit you with products designed to boost their profits rather than your wallet or purse.

I am not suggesting Halifax stoops to such underhand tactics – but look around before abandoning the dozy bank that snapped you up as a student with free tickets to the first Shrek film.

However good the movie, a free night’s entertainment pales against a lifetime’s commitment. If you are going to trim down to one bank, look beyond the razzle-dazzle. Compare what is available across the board for your saving and spending pattern. We’re all different – some of the fancy add-ons may be just what you need. Or not.

Plastic hackery

IT IS all too easy to be lulled into complacency by the use of that seductive word “sophisticated” in connection with the US computer-hacking ring who were in court last week after allegedly stealing 41m credit and debit-card numbers. But it could happen here and it could happen to you.

Although the equipment the thieves used was more complex than you might pick up in your branch of PC World, the trick itself was simple. The villains drove round shopping districts with a portable computer, trying to pick up wi-fi signals. Once they got one, they hooked on to it. The tricky part was that they then had to crack encryption codes – though not as tricky as we like to think.

According to US federal prosecutors, the gang used so-called sniffer programs to tap into retailers’ networks for processing credit cards. Once they had done that, they could download customers’ card numbers and Pins.

The worrying point is that any of us can pick up those wi-fi signals, too. I’ve done it myself when I’ve been away from home and piggybacked any available system so I could access the internet. You just find one that doesn’t require a password and away you go – no criminal intent required.

Next time you go shopping, take a laptop and see if you pick up any networks from nearby retailers. If you do, keep your plastic in your pocket when you visit those shops. Going back to old-fashioned cash may be a nuisance, but a little inconvenience is a small price until we can be assured that retail systems are thief-proof.

I hope no-one manages to tap into bank computer networks. That would be a disaster on a huge scale. Couldn’t happen? They insisted cash machines were impregnable at first, but criminals still found ways in.

Free money

THANKS to the credit crisis Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, and housebuilder Persimmon have come up with a “money for nothing” scheme for first-time homebuyers.

You make regular deposits into any Halifax or Bank of Scotland account, the best of which pay 6.5%. If, after a minimum six months, you use the money for a deposit on a Persimmon home the builder will match what you put down, up to £5,000.

Cut the flimflam and the deal gives Halifax a customer without promising a mortgage, while Persimmon knocks no more than £5,000 off the price of a home. That is peanuts if it helps to unload a few properties. So the plan costs the two companies very little, but gives first-timers a genuine benefit.

Even though you could probably cut a house price just as much with some judicious haggling, playing that game does not suit everyone. When all’s said and done it is £5,000 for nothing: worth having in these troubled times.