Leaving First Direct Due to Two Factor Auth Fail (Secure Key) Who Is Better?

Herbalus

mcompton69 wrote: »

So if you have no payees, then you cannot transfer money without using the app - so it is true??!!I I think you are being really pedantic.

Yes that's true - but do you really have no payees? You should have all the people you normally pay already set up, and so don't need the code.

I haven't actually used the app to generate a code for online banking for months, as I haven't needed to set a up a new payee. For everyday banking I just use the "light" mode and that does everything I need.

bxboards

I hate the First Direct card machine too - tiny thing, very fiddly to use.

I do not use any banking apps, but I find Santander is about the best for setting up payments etc as they SMS you a code, so fiddling with card readers or devices with tiny keys like the FD code generator.

I've been with First Direct for 15 or so years, and nearly moved when they introduced the code generator - now I just use another account to do any sort of banking that needs it.

maninthestreet

mcompton69 wrote: »

You are forced to use it for online banking.

No you aren't - you only need to use it if you want to set up a new payee. If you want to pay someone you have paid before via online banking you do not need to use it.

Chino

maninthestreet wrote: »

No you aren't - you only need to use it if you want to set up a new payee. If you want to pay someone you have paid before via online banking you do not need to use it.

As already stated by EarthBoy in post 14.

gingercordial

A bank's app is important to me as it's the main way I access my accounts these days. I do use a desktop PC at work but I don't own one at home at the moment.

Natwest is by far the easiest as it can be accessed via fingerprint recognition on an iPhone. I really value this. Amex recently introduced this too which is brilliant.

I don't like the HSBC/FD/M&S thingy either.

SuperHan

My own gripe about the FD app is the way it does updates outside of the app store. So sometimes I open it to find I need to update it, and then I have to use my mobile data to do so. It's a minor issue though so I can live with it.

What I REALLY hate is that it doesn't tell me if I get the password wrong when generating a code as I use it infrequently and I am always a little bit unsure if I get it right first time. That, and I don't know how to look at standing orders/DDs on the app either.

But I do find the app 1 million times easier to use than the online banking. The use of lowercase letters everywhere and the way things split on to more than one line just make it too unintuitive for me to use.

Which is annoying, as I switched for the opening bonus, and really didn't want to leave after all the great things I'd heard, but given that they are offering the leaving bonus, and I really couldn't switch my main banking to them because of the interface, I will be closing the account.

Archi_Bald

SuperHan wrote: »

What I REALLY hate is that it doesn't tell me if I get the password wrong when generating a code as I use it infrequently and I am always a little bit unsure if I get it right first time. .

I agree, this is very irritating and badly designed / programmed / tested.

But it isn't enough reason for me to give up on FD as I value my regular saver too much. I am not using FD for anything else atm.

zaax

Have you phoned them? Very quick on answering.

There app is fine on tablets as a card is not needed. Unlike SMILE who managed to lock my card twice at a retailer machine. I had to go to their cash point of which the nearest one is 10 miles away.

malky39

The only thing I have found with the app is that is doesn't seem to remember the payments I make. For example I make 3 payments to 3 different accounts once a money, when I try and use the app for this I keep getting "you can only pay people you have recently payed on online banking"

Bloomberg

mcompton69 wrote: »

I persevered with First Direct after they moved to the card machine, then they finally saw sense and used a phone app, but the way they have implemented it is a total joke, it is hugely difficult, intensely frustrating, and this is coming from someone who has a number of Microsoft qualifications and has worked in IT for a decade!!!

I really feel sorry for the elderly or mentally impaired people who would normally have been able to benefit from the online facilities like everyone else, but who are now excluded.

The failure stems around having to repeatedly input the same password, despite being authenticated on the app, as well as coming up with new and confusing names for the new multiple passwords they have invented for this process.... I could go on but most people will not be interested!!!

So my questions are...

I am forced to having a Barclays joint account, and the Barclays App and TFA implementation is great I think. But there is no mention of Barclays on the list of current accounts on MSE - Why is this?

Are the Santander or TSB apps any good can anyone tell me? Specifically around sending payments?

Thanks for reading

You are right when you say that the Barclays app in great. I have used other banking apps but the Barclays one is the best by a country mile, their dedicated iPad app is just as good. You ask why Barclays isn't on the list of current accounts on this site. Personally I struggle to think of a reason why not. Barclays are in my experience an excellent bank and I haven't looked back since leaving HSBC in 2013.



Even their website is top notch, things like Barclays cloud it are pure genius. The branches are very high tech not that I use them that often. For some obscure reason People love to hate Barclays, they are the Man Utd of the banking world.