Re: Online Banking Woes
 

Online banking is fantastic, I use it all the while, do anything I want, whenever I want. The number of bills I have paid at 2am in the morning is getting bigger every month.

As for ATM's, hardly ever use one - I get all my cash from shops as cashback.

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

Hooray for online banking from me too. While this discussion has been ongoing, Mrs T has had her debit card refused at B&Q ... she came home to find a letter from Barclays warning of unusual transactions and advising that the card is suspended. I was able to check immediately and see where and when the amounts debited had been spent. Indeed they were dodgy - so Mrs T just phoned Barclays and a very nice lady explained what we had to do to get the money back.

She sends us a form, we detail the fraudulent transactions, we sign (in blood!), we get reimbursed. And because we can do that by referring to our balance online, instead of having to wait for a statement, we hopefully get our money back rather quicker.

She told us that the card has been 'used' (unsuccessfully, thank goodness) half a dozen times since it was suspended, in the West Herts/Northwest London area. Apparently what's likely to have happened is when Mrs T paid for something in a shop, some unscrupulous shop assistant took a second swipe of the card. How they managed to then use that without actually having the card in their hands is beyond me.

We're going to get it back, but I didn't need £200-odd to go missing from my current account right now!

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

Only if its not your banks ATM. If you use an ATM belonging to your bank then its usually free.

Debit card use is very common in American, the majority of shops are fitted with card readers where you insert your debit card and enter your pin.

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

The usual method is that the fraudulant swipe is used to record the data by means of a handheld card reader, and then this copied data is physically written to another card which is usually a stolen credit card that has been maxxed-out and itself then been cancelled. This means that the thief can re-use the stolen credit card until it's cancelled as the magnetic strip now contains details of an active account. Once the fraudulent activities are identified, the account becomes frozen and the thieves will then overwrite the card data on the magnetic strip with somebody else's data that they've also skimmed illegally.

This whole process could fall down if shop assistants took the time to verify that the details physically printed on the card match those printed on the receipt, but this doesn't always happen. Also, the use of Chip & Pin will dramatically reduce the amount of skimming that is possible.

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

This is why you see competent shop assistants circle the last 4 digits printed on the paper ticket and check they match those embossed on the card. If the data track is rewritten, it is highly unlikly 10000/1 that they will match.

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

I disagree, I find online banking very useful. It lets me do anything that I could do in the branch without having to be there (very useful as my nearest branch is 2.5 miles from where I live and work).

However, online banking does not let you do anything that you could not already do in the branch so I guess its usefulness depends on how close your branch is.

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

Except you can do it any time, not just when they feel like opening a branch. Anyway whats a branch? I bank with First Direct, their only branch is a telephone call away 24/7.

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

every time I go into a branch to do something at the counter I always manage to get behind someone who has decided to bring in a massive sack of notes and coins that need to be counted out when all the other windows are closed or gone to lunch


online banking is good - but if that 3 day rule applies then how come they can't wait three days to actually remove it.

But this is, I imagine, the nature of the beast

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

Precisely.

As for online banking yes I can pay my bills but I already have everything set up with DD's and I use either cheques or card for everything else.I've only ever set up one DD in three years online.Ok if I want to transfer money between accounts at the same bank it's ok.However it is quicker to go and take the cash from one account and pay it in over the counter into the other account.No delays that way.

Half the problem is that when you want to pay money into another account is that you have to factor in what day of the week it is as for some reason even with electronic banking the weekend always adds at least two days to the total of days for transfer.So mid week it can be three days but on Friday it will 5 days.

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

Online banking can be really easy & convinient, however yes they do need to update some of thier procedures & timescales to reflect the 24 hour facilities of online banking.

perhaps annoying the ombudsman etc might get them to force a change?
Even bad press like watchdog etc.

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

Heh, I thought I was the only person that did this. I always seem to end up being stood behind the owner of our penny arcade :(

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

Online banking is very good for cancelling Direct Debits, though. You used to have to go into a branch and fill in a form that would then be applied to your account the next day or write a letter to your bank. With online banking, you can view the DD and just press the cancel button. You can then see that it has immediately been removed from your account. The same goes with standing orders where you can also change the amount to be paid, date or frequency online.

Transferring money online between accounts within the same bank or building society is instantaneous so taking the cash from one account and paying it in over the counter into the other account should not be quicker.

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

From Spain to the UK, I'd be interested to find out how much Nat West charge to send â‚ ¬700 from the UK to Spain. Intra Europe things have got much better since the advent of the â‚ ¬.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0d1d8c92-0b...00e2511c8.html
Receipt with that?
By Clay Harris
Published: September 21 2004 03:00 | Last updated: September 21 2004 03:00

Moneybox, operator of ATMs in clubs and convenience stores, said last week that transaction volumes were down over the summer and that it wouldn't meet full-year forecasts made on joining Aim in March.

Have even binge drinkers wised up and refused to pay £1.50 or £1.75 for a withdrawal that would be free from any Link machine?

Moneybox still doesn't know what caused the dip, but founder and chief executive Paul Stanley has gone. Peter McNamara becomes executive chairman. Stanley will make one final withdrawal from Moneybox, equal to a year's salary estimated at £200,00 0

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

At least he will only have to pay a single flat rate fee of £1.50 ;)

Re: Online Banking Woes
 

Seems to depend on the receiving bank as much as the transmitting bank, if I send a transfer to ING from HSBC it takes 2 days, but ING to HSBC takes 3! As you say a banking con so that they can lend the money to business at no cost to themselves.