Thanks for all replies, will chew them over. I keep the minimum in my current a/c to meet direct debits etc so couldn't lose much if hacked into. 

On the subject of stealing data, being "old school" with my banking, I had no worries - I thought. Did not bank on (sorry) someone in the Royal Mail taking my printed bank statement and finding out where all my incomings came from and all my out goings went to. All the information they need is on the statements.

Hello - I have used Nationwide for many years and had no problems until last December when I noticed £100 had been paid to an organization called
Gumroad.com - an organization I had never heard of and certainly not carried out any transaction with them - I decided to contact Nationwide and have my card cancelled as a safeguard in case they tried to take  more money - I eventually traced this company on the internet and managed to find an e-mail address for them - I contacted them and sent a message not really expecting to get a reply - to my surprise I did get  a reply and they promised to refund me the cash (it was for some goods that I had apparently ordered from America -which I had not) - meanwhile Nationwide refunded the money through Visa pending their investigation - I have never found out how on earth Gumroad came to have my card details in the first place - but I was very impressed with the way that Nationwide dealt with this - I will continue to use Internet Banking
Clive Hughes

I noticed non regular payments going out of my bank account, 2 years ago not for very large ammounts, they were to a phone company who I have never heard of in Birmingham, I phoned my bank who put me through to the fraud department, they put a stop to my bank card and issued me with another, they even paid me my money back, it was a super service in which I am greatful.

I have had no problems with internet banking touch wood, and that is with the Halifax been with them for donkeys years but they do now charge me £10 a month for the account, does anyone else get charged for there bank account?

Nope, free banking with FD and a free automatic £250 overdraft facility to use if I want


Paul

I use internet banking as well, with no trouble.  Apart from setting up my mortgage, I haven't been in a bank since the 90's!

Quote from: Sprintex on March 10, 2014, 07:11:14 AM
Nope, free banking with FD and a free automatic £250 overdraft facility to use if I want


Paul

To be fair FD grant banking services without charge providing you pay in a minimum amount each month, it used to be £1600 but I think its now £1000.

Oh and some of us have a free £500 overdraft facility if they need it.  (not that I've ever used it!)

I'm pleased to read some very positive threads regarding internet banking but I notice that most (all ?) are from UK users. The situation down here in Africa is rather different.

The banks, some international and with UK connections, keep on adding or changing there "security" features with the aim of making internet transactions "more secure" for the user. What they are actually doing is making it more difficult for the user to demonstrate that the bank &/or criminal are responsible for an unauthorised transaction.

The banks will admit privately (and make increasing provisions in their annual statements) that they have internal employees in cahoots to steal their clients money. The cynics have suggested that their increasing provisions in the annual accounts are actually a tax scam because they rarely admit their own internal problem(s).

Down here it's not only the banks, we have the 'phone companies (VAS services), local government and now the road agency trying to access bank accounts with more problems. I'll give internet banking a big pass until we get an assurance of honest employees down here.

Rant over !

I use internet banking. I check my current account and debit card transactions every day to make sure there are no fraudulent transactions and keep an eye on my wife's spending.

Best regards,


Joe

Hi Bob

If there are problems with dishonest staff then surely having internet banking allows you to spot any problems much quicker?

I genuinely don't see how you are exposing yourself to more risk by having internet banking (caveat about usual internet security etc).

Cheers, Mike

Hi Red Death

The problem is that the banks (in particular) don't admit the problem. They are more interested in proving that it's the victim's fault and therefore they have no liability. With manual transactions there should be a paper trail and down here two signatures, the client and the bank teller / person.

Quote from: red_death on March 10, 2014, 06:29:55 PM
Hi Bob

If there are problems with dishonest staff then surely having internet banking allows you to spot any problems much quicker?

It does but the law is actually a problem in the UK and many other countries because for a cheque its up to the bank to prove you signed it, for a card the onus is on the bank likewise, for many other kinds of electronic payment/transfer it is not.

The banks also arranged a highly dubious deal with the police so that if you try and report bank fraud the police send you to talk to the bank and won't listen. The bank needless to say are not always quite so motivated to listen either.

Another problem to be wary of is that the credit card system is very good at tracing and clawing back money paid in error or misallocated. The electronic money transfer systems right now are not, so if you typo a transfer you may have trouble getting the money back.

For all its bad reputation in some areas paypal does actually have a lot of benefits for electronic payment over straight internet bank transfers (but not over cards so much)

It's interesting to note that the big rise in the cost of legal aid is not through lawyers earning more, nor through overcomplex cases - its all the legal aid being spent suing the bank over PPI etc.

Alan

I would love to do Internet banking but all my cash is spent on model trains so for me its a waste of time, the joys of living hand to mouth to trains