Account Aggregation, Looking at all your accounts in one place.

AndyRams

Hi,
I am a keen saver and look for the best deals. Therefore I have many different accounts at different banks and Building Societies. This is so I can take advantage of Regular Savings accounts that often pay much higher rates etc. etc.

Account Aggregation software will allow me to look at all my accounts on one 'website/web page' in one place so I can get an overall picture of my investments and savings – rather than having to visit each institution in turn.

I wanted to use some Account Aggregation software on my MAC (not mobile) but find that I will fall foul of my Banks Terms and Conditions by releasing log-in information to third parties no matter how secure they are.:eek:

I have spoken to my own bank (First Direct/HSBC) and they offer a service for this (Internet Banking Plus) but it won't work on my MAC! And therefore is useless. I can get 3rd party software that does work on my MAC but it is 'against the rules'.

Does anyone have any experience or ideas on how I can best manage this, or some software that will work.

Thank you to all on MSE website.
AndyR:)

Archi_Bald

Most account aggregators run in IE. So all you need to do is run is install IE, and something like AccountUnity, and you are done. https://www.google.com/search?q=run+internet+explorer+on+mac

AndyRams

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I have been through this question with the Bank but they say that simply running IE on the MAC is no good as IE on this platform is so out of date it doesn't run the latest ActiveX system that is required to do it...

The only way is to run Windows on my MAC but I'm not prepared to do that as I have had problems with it before.

It is amazing in this day and age that providers choose not to support MAC users despite the huge growth in people using them.

Thanks again for your reply.
AndyR

ColdIron

You might be in luck, AccountUnity recommends IE6 which is almost paleolithic

eskbanker

AndyRams wrote: »

I wanted to use some Account Aggregation software on my MAC (not mobile) but find that I will fall foul of my Banks Terms and Conditions by releasing log-in information to third parties no matter how secure they are.

Just out of interest, are all your other banks and building societies OK with you doing this?

AndyRams

I haven't checked every one but Barclays say it is against their T&Cs too. Basically they tell me that any 'gratuitous release of on-line or other banking log-in information is a breach of your T&Cs'.

The problem is that my details are given and held on another system, somewhere else in the world, although secure, if it were hacked then someone would have all my log in info.

The system at First Direct (Internet Banking Plus) stores all the information on my (your) own computer in a secure vault – encrypted etc. So, if I am hacked – personally on my computer – I would be covered as it would be a 'Theft' rather than me giving it out.

Hope this helps, thank you for your interest.

AndyR

Archi_Bald

With AccountUnity, you do not give any data to any 3rd party. Your login info is encrypted on your PC or portable device.

AccountUnity is also the underlying software for the First Direct and Yorkshire Building Society account aggregators. The YBS one used to be the Egg Money Manager, which dozens and dozens of people, me including, have been using for years without any issues.

The reasons why I am not using the FD or the YBS implementation of AccountUnity include that neither of them allow you to store your data on a portable device, meaning you have to re-type all the information again when you move PC. Other considerations are that they both decided to strip out some organisations that AccountUnity support, and they are both an awful lot slower than the native version.

Anyway, I am not here to sell AccountUnity, just trying to help.

Read the AccountUnity manual.

AndyRams

Thank you Archi Bald, I am having a good look around and now find 'eWise' which write the software and it seems that there is a MAC version. I am in touch with them now to try and find out where I can get it from.
Cheers
AndyR

Archi_Bald

I don't believe their Mac version is available for the UK banks.

thenudeone

Yorkshire BS offers an aggregation service if you have an account with them.