Have you tried dealing with your bank recently? ‘Difficult’ is an understatement.
Last month, I needed to send money from the UK to Cyprus to purchase a house. I went online to transfer the money from my UK bank account to my Cypriot one and, having worked my way through about 20 different warning screens, I finally pressed ‘Send’.
The transfer failed.
Worse still, I had been locked out of my accounts.
I then had to spend about 45 minutes on the phone to the bank’s fraud office explaining why I was buying a house in Cyprus. This went right down to giving them the address so they could look it up on Google Earth and telling them the name of my Cypriot lawyer so they could check that he was registered.
It all felt rather intrusive. After all, I was only trying to spend my own money.
Eventually, the bank was satisfied that everything was legitimate and the money was transferred. Then I received a BD65 bill from Batelco for the phone call.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
I was transferring the money in three batches, so when I went to transfer the second batch, I had to go through the whole shebang all over again. And then, you guessed it, the same thing happened with the third batch.
Even though the second fraud officer could see and read all the notes made by the first one on his system, I still had to go through the whole explanation again.
I understand the need for banks to help their customers prevent fraud, but sometimes their security procedures seem to go well beyond what is necessary.
And it isn’t just UK banks.
I have encountered similar problems here in Bahrain. I manage an Owners Association, and we have several directors who, shall we say, are mature in age and not particularly comfortable with the intricacies of smartphone technology.
Our bank does not appear to have taken this into account when designing its online banking system.
To make a payment to a supplier, I first have to log on and create the payment. So far, so good.
Then at least three of our directors have to log on from their phones, check the payment and approve it using another app, which sends an OTP to their phones.
Then those same directors have to log on again, this time using a different user ID, and release the payment using yet another OTP.
The system is difficult and tricky for me to use, and I have 40 years of IT experience behind me.
It is so complicated and difficult to understand that, despite all this supposedly wonderful technology, we make our payments by cheque.
I fully understand the need for additional security in this increasingly spammy and scammy world. Banks have a responsibility to protect us from fraud, and I certainly don’t want someone emptying my bank account while I’m having my morning coffee.
But there needs to be a little more understanding of the needs and abilities of their customers.
Security is important, but so is usability. If a system is so complicated that experienced users struggle with it and less tech-savvy customers simply give up, perhaps it is time to rethink the system.
Personally, I think it would probably be easier to stick my cash in a Tupperware box under the bed.
The only problem is that when you want to pay for something, you have to get the Tupperware box out.
And apparently, paying for anything in cash these days is considered almost as anti-social as not having a smartphone.
Jackie@JBeedie.com