On-line banking hassles

[Serial_Apologist]

well yes, me too, I wondered if S-A had something against DD
paying by cheque by post seems to me to have so many pitfalls attached

Most of my payments are regularly by DD nowadays, though I do pay electricity by cheque quarterly. Security-wise 2008 told me one never knows what might happen; it seemed at that time foresighted within plausibility to allow oneself a bit of leeway should non-payability lead to the cutting off of my power supply, and if the worst comes to the worst one can always put on an overcoat.

I do also hate the way DD allows companies and institutions to up prices on their say-so, and the way this messes with personal budgetting. But I s'pose I'll have to go along with it now, or sometime, as far as Council Tax is concerned.

[Nick Armstrong]

Internet banking - best thing since sliced bread. My only grumble is that physical cheques still have to be paid into a physical bank.

By post, though...?

But I know, cheques are... annoying now (depending on the size, obviously )

[teamsaint]

[QUOTE=Pianorak;158026]Internet banking - best thing since sliced bread. My only grumble is that physical cheques still have to be paid into a physical bank.

I got Phished, and i ran a supposedly good quality security system on my PC !!
I would only internet bank if I really had to.

[Flosshilde]

I was wondering if I am alone in experiencing these...

Have you been Santandered?

I got on perfectly well with my Alliance & Leicester on-line account (& they would even deal with enquiries over the counter). THe Santander took them over. Disaster!

So I closed the acount & opened one with the Co-op, which works fine.

I've also closed my Santander ISA - which wasn't easy. I asked them if Santander was still bottom of the league for customer satisfaction. THe counter assistant said that they were 'working on it'.

[ahinton]

Don't you have to pass an initiation ceremony to bank with Coutts?

No - at least that's not quite what I'd call it. Coffee was very good, meeting was handled with the utmost courtesy and efficiency, overdrawn balance transferred smoothly from Irrational WorstMonster Bank, no problems at all, actually - but it's no good expecting to use their branch services unless living in London and there's about as much likelihood of them opening a new one in Herefordistan as there is of an international airport being built on and around Madley airfield...

[Flosshilde]

Don't you have to pass an initiation ceremony to bank with Coutts?

No, just show that your ancestors came over with the Conqueror, or that you are descended from one of Charles II's mistresses. (It might be OK if your family makes wallpaper)

[ahinton]

Internet banking - best thing since sliced bread.

That's "internet baking", surely?...

My only grumble is that physical cheques still have to be paid into a physical bank.

What are they? Never heard of them...

[Serial_Apologist]

Have you been Santandered?

I got on perfectly well with my Alliance & Leicester on-line account (& they would even deal with enquiries over the counter). THe Santander took them over. Disaster!

So I closed the acount & opened one with the Co-op, which works fine.

I've also closed my Santander ISA - which wasn't easy. I asked them if Santander was still bottom of the league for customer satisfaction. THe counter assistant said that they were 'working on it'.

Lloydstsb wasn't gobbled up by Santander, so no, Floss. The Co-op's worth reconsidering, from a politico-ethical pov too. Might investigate how far away their nearest branch is.

[ahinton]

No, just show that your ancestors came over with the Conqueror, or that you are descended from one of Charles II's mistresses. (It might be OK if your family makes wallpaper)

Really? Mine didn't, nor am I of such descent! I don't even have any wallpaper where I live, let alone have relatives who make the stuff.

[Flosshilde]

there's about as much likelihood of [Coutts]opening a new one in Herefordistan as there is of an international airport being built on and around Madley airfield...

Presumably they run a mobile banking service in certain areas of the Cotswolds?

[Flosshilde]

Internet banking - best thing since sliced bread. My only grumble is that physical cheques still have to be paid into a physical bank.

Well, that's internet banking damned as rubbish, then

[Serial_Apologist]

Presumably they run a mobile banking service in certain areas of the Cotswolds?

I get the impression ahinton lives nearer to Wenlock Edge...

[mangerton]

Unfortunately it's necessary to establish many independent, unpredictable (from your point of view), unguessable facts from you in the process. Unfortunately it's also reasonable to expect that many legitimate callers aren't going to be able to answer these questions. It's a bit of an intractible problem really. In particular the refusal to tell you which answers you got wrong has nothing to do with being intransigent or surly - it's vital for the integrity of the process that they don't tell the caller anything like this.

Quite. Much as I sympathise with S_A, I must agree with Simon. Identity hackers are very nasty people, even though they are all sweetness and light when on the phone. Advisers in call centres must be on their guard against them. I often have to take "escalated" calls from irate people who have failed our security procedures. They would be the very ones to complain if the integrity of the information we hold was compromised. In addition, the legislation surrounding this - the Data Protection Act is the most obvious, but not the only one - is quite clear. The adviser who takes the call has to be satisfied that the caller is genuine. If the adviser divulges information to the wrong person, it's the adviser who's in the dock, not their employer.

[vinteuil]

Coutt's is now nothing more than the swankier end of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and thus well naff.

For class, one has one's account at Hoare's Bank.

Classiest of all, I thought, was a former colleague who had previously worked at the Bank of England: she had an account there, and a most impressive 'Bank of England' cheque-book. The downside was that the Bank of England didn't issue cheque guarantee cards (remember them?), and she often found shops discountenanced - and disbelieving - when faced with a Bank of England cheque...

[Serial_Apologist]

Quite. Much as I sympathise with S_A, I must agree with Simon. Identity hackers are very nasty people, even though they are all sweetness and light when on the phone. Advisers in call centres must be on their guard against them. I often have to take "escalated" calls from irate people who have failed our security procedures. They would be the very ones to complain if the integrity of the information we hold was compromised. In addition, the legislation surrounding this - the Data Protection Act is the most obvious, but not the only one - is quite clear. The adviser who takes the call has to be satisfied that the caller is genuine. If the adviser divulges information to the wrong person, it's the adviser who's in the dock, not their employer.

While I'm with you up to a point, and now have all my deductions listed in front of me in the event of this happening again, to ask a person when they first opened their bank account is pretty self-defeating from a security pov. Nowhere on my account slips is that stated, and I had to go down to ask at my bank branch. Fortunately they were able to provide me with the necessary information; but what other kinds of questions are they likely to unexpectedly come up with? One firm I had to deal with over the phone even asked for my mother's maiden name and date of birth!

And another thing that infuriates me is having to send off my birth certificate to deal with certain instances. It has to be the original, of course - never a copy - and, given that only this month have I lost a cheque in the post, (not the first time), the dependability of the Post clearly cannot be... banked on.

But that's another subject...ahem...