We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide

Cannot access Tesco Finance online

24

Comments

  • Mr._H_2
    Mr._H_2 Posts: 508 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    masonic wrote: »
    While I'd rate Natwest's online banking below most other banks

    Really, why so? For me, it always works, instantly reflects changes to your balance due to faster payments transactions etc., allows you to set-up and edit payees and standing orders easily and intuitively, executes faster payments immediately no matter the time of day or day of the week, and is laid out in a clear, concise manner. What's not to like? And/or, who's better?
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 29,386 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 1 April 2010 at 10:44PM
    Mr._H wrote: »
    Really, why so? For me, it always works, instantly reflects changes to your balance due to faster payments transactions etc., allows you to set-up and edit payees and standing orders easily and intuitively, executes faster payments immediately no matter the time of day or day of the week, and is laid out in a clear, concise manner. What's not to like? And/or, who's better?
    What's not to like for me is that your customer number is based on your date of birth and therefore not difficult to obtain, and that it is possible to lock anyone out of their account using only that customer number, just by incorrectly guessing the other details three times. I have experienced this - presumably somebody who shares by DOB got the last digits of their customer ID wrong and locked me out of my account. I then got accused of being careless with my security details and needless to say some things needed to be pointed out to Natwest in very plain terms...
    Furthermore, Natwest use the discredited debit card generated authentication codes when setting up new payments. These are both inconvenient and of questionable value.

    To answer the who's better question, First Direct, who allow you to select your own username with no apparent restrictions (and also satisfy all of the other benefits you mention). At the end of the day, security comes before any other consideration for me when online banking and Natwest just doesn't meet my expectations.
  • Mr._H_2
    Mr._H_2 Posts: 508 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 1 April 2010 at 11:09PM
    masonic wrote: »
    What's not to like for me is that your customer number is based on your date of birth and therefore not difficult to obtain, and that it is possible to lock anyone out of their account using only that customer number, just by incorrectly guessing the other details three times. I have experienced this - presumably somebody who shares by DOB got the last digits of their customer ID wrong and locked me out of my account.

    Ah yes, that is not clever!
    masonic wrote: »
    Furthermore, Natwest use the discredited debit card generated authentication codes when setting up new payments. These are both inconvenient and of questionable value.

    Discredited? First Direct use... nothing. I quite like Lloyds' phone-based authentication system.
    masonic wrote: »
    To answer the who's better question, First Direct, who allow you to select your own username with no apparent restrictions (and also satisfy all of the other benefits you mention).

    They most certainly do not satisfy the other benefits I mention.

    Once you've created a payee, you cannot edit it!

    You can only "half" setup standing orders online - what actually happens is that you fill in the details and then those details go off and are re-typed into a different system by their staff. Then, to top it off the standing order won't show up until the day of the first payment; so make sure you get the account details right when you enter them the first time!

    I've also frequently been unable to log in, although recently this has improved.
  • agsnu
    agsnu Posts: 1,457 Forumite
    masonic wrote: »
    Furthermore, Natwest use the discredited debit card generated authentication codes when setting up new payments. These are both inconvenient and of questionable value.

    Sorry, what? How are they discredited?
  • atypical
    atypical Posts: 1,344 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 2 April 2010 at 12:59AM
    agsnu wrote: »
    Sorry, what? How are they discredited?

    Some Cambridge researchers wrote a paper about the flaws of card readers. You can read it here. BBC clip on it here.

    The scariest proposition is that one of these flaws are exploited and you're held liable for it in the future:

    "While the Banking Code does state that the bank must show that the customer is liable, it does not say what evidence the bank must record, what evidence is sufficient to prove liability, and who the proof must be presented to. In practice, where the case is heard by the Financial Ombudsman Service, the bank merely has to claim that a chip was read and a PIN was used, and the evidence used to reach this conclusion will be kept secret from the customer. We may expect a similar position to be taken when PINs are used for online banking."

    More details here.
  • barak
    barak Posts: 1,258 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Mr._H wrote: »
    No, that's not the case. The site was built when Tesco Finance was a joint venture with RBS/Natwest, but RBS doesn't have anything to do with it any more.
    I know that Tesco now has it's own banking licence, but I still get -

    "You are connected to tescofinance.com which is run by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc Edinburgh Lothian, GB"
    ".....where it is corrupt, purge it....."
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 29,386 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 2 April 2010 at 7:42AM
    Mr._H wrote: »
    Discredited? First Direct use... nothing. I quite like Lloyds' phone-based authentication system.
    As atypical has pointed out above, it can be more dangerous to have ineffective security than none at all. The banks seem to be of the position that card-based security is infallible, so if flaws do get exploited you can end up in a situation where the finger is being pointed at you and nothing you can say will convince them otherwise.
    They most certainly do not satisfy the other benefits I mention.

    Once you've created a payee, you cannot edit it!

    You can only "half" setup standing orders online - what actually happens is that you fill in the details and then those details go off and are re-typed into a different system by their staff. Then, to top it off the standing order won't show up until the day of the first payment; so make sure you get the account details right when you enter them the first time!

    I've also frequently been unable to log in, although recently this has improved.
    I actually had to log in to check some of these things out because, despite using FD as my main account for 3 months, I wasn't aware of these shortcomings. I'll have to defer to your knowledge of the standing orders - I only have one and it was switched to FD when I opened the account, but the other point about managing payees could be very annoying for me in future as I tend to open and close bank accounts at a fair rate.

    If only the situation with faster payments was different, I'd be able to sing the praises of an alternative bank, but after what you've pointed out about FD, I think every bank has at least one significant caveat.
  • Mr._H_2
    Mr._H_2 Posts: 508 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    barak wrote: »
    I know that Tesco now has it's own banking licence, but I still get -

    "You are connected to tescofinance.com which is run by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc Edinburgh Lothian, GB"

    I believe that's because they bought their Extended Validation Certificate before parting company with RBS and they're too cheap to get another.

    Tesco bought-out the RBS share in the joint venture in mid 2008. (see here, here or here, the first few relevant hits from googling "tesco finance rbs")
  • oldfella wrote: »
    enter about:config in the URL
    yes to the warning
    go down to general.useragent.extra.firefox
    right click and modify
    change Firefox/3.6.x to Firefox/3.5.8
    What effect is this going to have on all other websites I visit, with my now 3.6.3 version of Firefox? I'm not clear what you're doing if you make this change. :eek:
  • atypical
    atypical Posts: 1,344 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    What effect is this going to have on all other websites I visit, with my now 3.6.3 version of Firefox? I'm not clear what you're doing if you make this change. :eek:

    It makes the website you are visiting think you are using Firefox 3.5.8.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 354K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 455.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 247.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 603.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.3K Life & Family
  • 261.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.