real time balance

eskbanker

notafan wrote: »

There's a few people who are also adamant real time balances cant be done citing the system - but thats because they are only thinking about how it currently works and not what could be changed or improved. You wouldn't necessarily have a terminal get authorisation in future. If the likes of apple and google are getting involved in payments then there should be some more interesting stuff going on too.

To be fair, OP's question (that others have been answering) was "Is there any bank in the UK that shows real time balances?" not "at some point in the future is there likely to have been enough technical innovation to make this a reality?"!

benjus

eskbanker wrote: »

To be fair, OP's question (that others have been answering) was "Is there any bank in the UK that shows real time balances?" not "at some point in the future is there likely to have been enough technical innovation to make this a reality?"!

I think the point is that it's down to the payment processing networks, not the bank. The bank can't show a real time balance if the payment network hasn't yet reported a transaction that's just happened.

benjus

notafan wrote: »

So do it for tiny fraction of the time when this wouldn't even be an issue.

Not sure what you mean. Once you've allowed the possibility of offline transactions, even if they are almost never used, you can't have a real time balance.

Cliecost

Wow this exploded into a huge conversation. It was just a question I had because I'm with FD and they sometime show instantly and other take days. I guess if what has been said above is true then that explains it.

colsten

benjus wrote: »

Not sure what you mean. Once you've allowed the possibility of offline transactions, even if they are almost never used, you can't have a real time balance.

notafan's proposals are a pipedream. A simple power cut could knock out all the carefully crafted technical solutions. Any reliable real-time system could also be prohibitively expensive and many retailers would not be happy to pay for it. Just think of trains and planes, and cillions of small traders. A solution involving the customer's mobile would be riddled with unreliability - flat battery, forgot the mobile, got the wrong app version, got the wrong phone for the app, doesn't work abroad etc etc etc.

System

Can't the OP not just get an online debit card with their current account?

colsten

That might be an option if they are prepared not to be able to make purchases at some retailers / in some locations. I have an inkling the OP wouldn't be happy with that.

Also, not even online card purchases will always be reported instantly by the retailer to the bank. The authorisation will obviously happen in real(ish) time but the actual purchase might still be batched up and is not guaranteed to happen instantly.

notafan

colsten wrote: »

notafan's proposals are a pipedream. A simple power cut could knock out all the carefully crafted technical solutions. Any reliable real-time system could also be prohibitively expensive and many retailers would not be happy to pay for it. Just think of trains and planes, and cillions of small traders. A solution involving the customer's mobile would be riddled with unreliability - flat battery, forgot the mobile, got the wrong app version, got the wrong phone for the app, doesn't work abroad etc etc etc.

A power cut would wipe out the current system we have (it wouldnt wipe out a mobile). Wifi is already on a hell of a lot of planes and thats increasing (and some connections are probably quicker then some terminals).

It's also not any more expensive - they send the data anyway so your talking about sending it as its made rather then in bulk. Exactly the same amount of data. (if you send 100 text messages it doesnt cost you any more if you send 1 each day or 100 all at once).

And given that they can track real time balances already with certain types of card the only thing that needs resolving is the need for always on data - IF we did it in the same way we do now (which we probably wont). AND there's companies already working towards this.

The issue is the appetite to do it - which the legacy banks aren't too worried about.

For a forum of moneysavers you'd think people would be interested in anything that might help people manage money better. Think its a really odd attitude to have ...

"this is how it currently works and i cant see any possible way it could change, therefore we'll all just have to put up with what we have":wall::wall::wall:

Ballard

For 100% real time balances to work you would need to eliminate all options of offline transactions. That would mean that should someone accidentally go through the phone line whilst digging up the road, any businesses that rely on that line wouldn't be able to use credit cards.

Using customer's phone signal doesn't really hold up. First and foremost not everyone has a mobile phone. What about Johnny Foreigner coming over on holiday? Would they be expected to pay for the data use or would overseas cards be able to be used offline?

Is there even that much of an appetite for this? It really doesn't take that much control to keep the receipt and check your balance against it. TfL don't issue receipts for contactless travel but I can't think of anywhere else that doesn't off the top of my head.

Thinking about it, TfL would be an issue. They don't charge you until the following day as it needs to check whether you've gone over the cap for the area in which you've travelled.

anoncol

notafan wrote: »

A power cut would wipe out the current system we have (it wouldnt wipe out a mobile). Wifi is already on a hell of a lot of planes and thats increasing (and some connections are probably quicker then some terminals).

It's also not any more expensive - they send the data anyway so your talking about sending it as its made rather then in bulk. Exactly the same amount of data. (if you send 100 text messages it doesnt cost you any more if you send 1 each day or 100 all at once).

And given that they can track real time balances already with certain types of card the only thing that needs resolving is the need for always on data - IF we did it in the same way we do now (which we probably wont). AND there's companies already working towards this.

The issue is the appetite to do it - which the legacy banks aren't too worried about.

For a forum of moneysavers you'd think people would be interested in anything that might help people manage money better. Think its a really odd attitude to have ...

"this is how it currently works and i cant see any possible way it could change, therefore we'll all just have to put up with what we have":wall::wall::wall:

Whats going to power the wifi?