Change to authentification of online payments in the UK and EU

[Newportnobby]

Mobile phone reception where I live is appalling so it's never switched on at home. It hasn't got internet capability and is used purely to make calls and text when out. Anything else is surplus to my requirements.

[njee20]

Calls? What are they?! 

[Snowwolflair]

Oooo........ was it a meteor or lack of smart phones that ended the Jurasic era.   

Only kidding, however as I understand it you will be able to request your method of second authentication.  If you are ordering online, which is what we are talking about, then you can receive email.

[woodbury22uk]

American Express is already applying this to selected purchases from new sellers and over a certain threshold. I have received email and cellphone code communications for the same transactions and the codes were different.

[Buzzard]

Of the 5% of people the OP mentions without good phone signal how are they buying things online? Using a computer with a broadband connection I presume. To which their mobile device can also connect...

With my rubbish broadband connection I can buy stuff and read forums but how can I receive a text on my phone via broadband?

[njee20]

Phone with WiFi?

I accept there will be a subset of those with poor phone signal who do not have smart phones (like NN, and possibly you), but as has been said there are alternatives in place for that subset of a subset!

[red_death]

As Nick says most modern mobiles will piggyback off the wifi if you allow it.  The other thing you can do is ask your mobile provider for a signal booster - some give them out free, others charge for them.

Or as I said earlier, there are plenty of other ways that banks can fulfil the requirements but that is a discussion you need to have with your bank/card provider.

In general 2 factor authentication has been around for ages and if it helps reduce the amount of online fraud etc then that is a good thing for everyone.

[PLD]

As ever, behind the sensationalist headlines there is a lot more that isn't reported.

In this case, a laudable intent and there are a lot of common sense clauses that mitigate the impact and burden.

What I can glean from the limited information received from my debit card issuer (HSBC/visa):
1. It only applies to transactions over 50 Euro / c £35, similar to the cash limits for 'unverified' contactless payments on many cards.
2. As a blanket requirement, it only requires every transaction to go through 2-factor verification when one party is within the EU and the other outside the EU. (How the UK will fit within that after March is a moot point...)
3. You as the purchaser will be able to 'white-list' sellers. After your first 2-factor verified transaction with them, you should not need to go through the process again for subsequent transactions with that seller until the expiry of the credit/debit card.
(not clear how this works with 2 above - e.g. whether you can 'white-list' non-EU sellers)
4. Existing pass-code systems such as "Verified by Visa" (which asks for 2-4 characters from a string specified by the user) are expected to fulfil the requirements without the need for SMS/e-mailed codes.
5. there may be some lee-way for intermediaries (card-issuers, banks etc) to apply some form of 'risk-logic' modelling algorithm to determine which transactions require 2-factor verification. (My information hints at this being still under negotiation/development).

[CarriageShed]

...To which their mobile device can also connect...

Mine can't.

[njee20]

Yep, as I mentioned, those without a smart phone will have other authentication methods available to them, but (whilst probably disproportionately represented among railway modellers due to 'advancing years') the majority of people buying online do have access to a smart phone these days, so it's the easiest method to provide 2FA.

Many places don't accept cheques now, or orders by fax, but that doesn't mean that no one still uses those technologies.

Like PLD I can't help but think this is not going to be the catastrophe which the headlines may suggest.

[Bob Tidbury]

I don't do any online banking or transactions ,MY WIFE WONT LET ME .
Mind you it saves a lot of arguements ,We don't even have any credit cards ,Val does have a debit card ,so do I but she keeps it in her handbag .
So if I don't have the cash I can't buy anything .
Bob Tidbury

[njee20]

Conversely, my barber aside, I'm trying to think of a cash transaction I've made in the last few months!

[themadhippy]

I'm trying to think of a cash transaction I've made in the last few months!

im the opposite,cash were ever possible.

[CarriageShed]

...but (whilst probably disproportionately represented among railway modellers due to 'advancing years') the majority of people buying online do have access to a smart phone these days...

Still not me - advancing years are something I still have to look forward to. Perhaps instead I'm disproportionately unrepresentative of non-advanced years modellers...?

[njee20]

I'm trying to think of a cash transaction I've made in the last few months!

im the opposite,cash were ever possible.

In London particularly there are more and more places going cashless; market stalls, pubs etc, originally the last places you'd be able to use a card.

...but (whilst probably disproportionately represented among railway modellers due to 'advancing years') the majority of people buying online do have access to a smart phone these days...

Still not me - advancing years are something I still have to look forward to. Perhaps instead I'm disproportionately unrepresentative of non-advanced years modellers...?

83% of mobile phone users use a smartphone (source), so of course there will be exceptions, and I suspect it's more than 17% of the user base of this forum still on 'dumb' mobiles, as per my comment. That doesn't require every single person still avoiding a smart phone now identify themselves!

How many of those do have a tablet, however. I'll wager it's not zero.