Online Banking

Hi all

Any banking experts out there ?

When I took over my mums online banking I was advised I would need a separate card to withdraw money as strictly speaking you shouldn’t use there “actual” card and PIN number as it could been seen as fraud if it was found that anyone else knew my mums PIN number ( even if it was family)

A new EU rule is coming into force that means you will be sent a random PIN number to a mobile phone which you must enter before completing the transaction ( it’s a extra security feature to prevent fraud)

Trouble is my mums blind and doesn’t have a mobile…So my question is wouldn’t it be seen as fraud again if I used MY number to accept the PIN number ?

The banks don’t seem to have thought this through very well for the elderly and sight impaired

Hi Linda.

All sorts of scare reports making their way to the main newspapers … need a code before authorisation for online banking /
some purchases … some banks are better prepared than others.

No definite answer across the banking industry to this new EU directive , best to stay tuned and await whatever system your
own bank adopts.
( Santander in particular has come in for some bad press as to their solution. )

I do many online transactions … mainly through PayPal … I await to learn what my own bank does when considering I do not
possess a mobile phone.

As for your present arrangement , one to bounce off your own bank … as they will have a solution.

Hi Linda, you need to adjust mum’s banking arrangements, so you are “squeaky clean”.
Do you have Power of Attorney?

I would suggest a joint account instead. Then you can manage the account, Social Services can only count half the money as mum’s, and when she passes away the money immediately becomes yours without any paperwork.

Yep … that took me back almost 40 years to me last banking exam … Practice of Banking … when banking was banking !

Didn’t want to suggest something similar due to the passage of time.

It worked really well for me and mum. She kept losing her Halifax passbook, and the branch wanted me to bring her in to the branch. It took some time for me to explain she was truly housebound, and the ambulance service wouldn’t do banking trips. In the end the manager wen to see mum himself, and he was the one who suggested the joint account. Then when inevitably mum lost the book yet again, I could arrange the new one.
When emptying the house, I found the missing book, tucked under the lino at the bottom of her wardrobe, to “keep it safe”.

Cheers all for info…


Thanks as well Chris as you say it’s a bit of a wait and see what the individual banks do…or don’t do to help

It’s all a bit daft…she also has an ISA tucked away with Virgin Bank and if you click on the question and answer page regarding what happens if you don’t have a mobile phone it basically says if you want an account get a phone !!

Don’t forget to tell the bank to change the a/c names to yours only after she passes.
Old cheque books with the joint name can still be used as the a/c number will remain the same.

On the subject of the Virgin ISA, they are still required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. I’d ring up, ask to speak to the Complaints Department, and explain that they are in breach of the Equality Act, and this has caused mum distress. Then ask for a gesture of goodwill of £50 or £100. If the person says they can’t authorise that, just ask to speak to someone who can.

I know it sounds a bit cheeky, but they’ve mucked up.
I once funded a week’s holiday in Crete from all the compensation I’d received from companies who hadn’t complied with the law i.e. hacked me off!