App Only Banks

graham.helliar

Hi,

I am interested in investing in ATOM Banks 1 year term saving as Martin's saying that's the best deal out there. My concern is how do I verify that the App I downloaded from Google PlayStore is genuine and that I will still have my money in a years time when hopefully the app will present me with a feature to get my money back out again.

With the 'App' being the only way to access the account I have no independent way to verify what its saying is true. Any advise on how I can verify the money is going where I think it is?

Regards,

Graham

Malthusian

Deposit £1 then ring ATOM Bank via the number on their website and check they've received it.

Amst

If you're concerned about this then you're not the target market they are after and should stick to a building society with a 0.01% interest rate.

Do you feel more secure if your savings are numbers on a laptop screen instead?

adindas

The problem with APPS based bank here is that, every bank have their own Apps. In the future if every bank insist on using their apps based banking, Are you going to install all of them on your phone ?? It might be more secure, but if you lose your mobile devices with ten bank apps on it (say) it is also not secure. Moreover it will slow down your mobile device to process other instructions.

For some people who are not on the move all the time, I do not see the benefit of using apps based banking.

Online banking with your large dual screen monitor will never be matched by apps based banking on mobile devices

Amst

adindas wrote: »

The problem with APPS based bank here is that, every bank have their own Apps. In the future if every bank insist on using their apps based banking, Are you going to install all of them on your phone ?? It might be more secure, but if you lose your mobile devices with ten bank apps on it (say) it is also not secure. Moreover it will slow down your mobile device to process other instructions.

For some people who are not on the move all the time, I do not see the benefit of using apps based banking.

Online banking with your large dual screen monitor will never be matched by apps based banking on mobile devices

Largely incorrect. The benefit with App based banks is that they don't have the legacy costs associated with rent, branch staff salaries, upkeep on websites etc. when it can be app based. Whether you agree with them or not, in 10-20 years time they will have put the building societies out of business and either forced the current heavyweight banks to go app only or beaten them altogether. :money:

graham.helliar

Thanks all for your advise. The worry was not on the bank or the product but on how I can verify that the 'app' I downloaded is genuine. For websites with the use of https and a chain of trust to a well known certificate authority pre-installed in my browser I have confidence I am using the right site. With an 'app' downloaded from a store then I had a worry that I did not have the same level of trust the 'app' was genuine.

Malthusian's suggestion of verifying the 'app' did what it claimed by ringing the number shown on a website that I could verify was good advise. ATOM's customer care person was understanding and confirmed that the transaction had taken place. I'm now happy that the 'app' is genuine.

Nick_C

I thought all apps on Google Play Store are checked and authenticated by Google? I've downloaded lots of banking apps and never given or a second thought. Of course, with a traditional bank, you can also see the info on line through their Web site.

Incidentally, unless you are buying shares in the bank, you are saving, not investing.

adindas

Amst wrote: »

Largely incorrect. The benefit with App based banks is that they don't have the legacy costs associated with rent, branch staff salaries, upkeep on websites etc. when it can be app based. Whether you agree with them or not, in 10-20 years time they will have put the building societies out of business and either forced the current heavyweight banks to go app only or beaten them altogether. :money:

Meh, I am talking about the benefit to customers.
How many banks/ BS you are banking with. Do you have more than 20 ?
Are you you going to install all of their apps on your mobile devices ??

karlie88

adindas wrote: »

Meh, I am talking about the benefit to customers.
How many banks/ BS you are banking with. Do you have more than 20 ?
Are you you going to install all of their apps on your mobile devices ??

I have more than 10 banking apps on my phone. I can log in much faster than on a desktop/PC and carry out tasks a lot quicker. Other bonus is that I can do this when I'm out and about (not in public places for obvious reasons). With some banking apps, you can call your bank from within the app and therefore pass security checks instantly (no need to remember/enter/say memorable information over the phone).

If my phone gets misplaced/stolen, then my data is secure with passcode/fingerprint detection - just the same if my laptop was stolen.

Also, with the roll-out of cheque image clearing next year, you'll be able to 'deposit' cheques via your mobile app just by taking a picture of it - no need to visit a branch to deposit those maturing regular savers.

Mobile banking apps are the way forward.

adindas

karlie88 wrote: »

Also, with the roll-out of cheque image clearing next year, you'll be able to 'deposit' cheques via your mobile app just by taking a picture of it - no need to visit a branch to deposit those maturing regular savers.

Mobile banking apps are the way forward.

It is good when there a universal apps to be developed for general tasks so people just need to install one apps on the mobile device. But I do not know whether this sort of thing is possible.

Alexland

It called HTML and the app you need on your phone is a web browser.

I much prefer financial institutions that just stick to web standards and have a good mobile and tablet accessable websites.

There's not much special about money that cannot be done through a web browser. I don't want to see visual effects, have my fingerprints scanned or persistantly store client side cryptographic certificates. I want a clean simple interface that quickly shows me the latest transactions and asset valuations and enables me to make choices and move money around.

I am fed up of downloading 50MB+ bloatware packages each containing their own unique runtime engines which are slow to load and then regularly stalls the device while they update (asking permission to access even more unnecessary personal data than last time) until eventually I get told they are no longer compatible with my operating system so I need to buy a new device.

Finally I really don't understand why anyone would be integrating digital cheque photo technology into apps as such effort would be better invested in eliminating cheques altogether.

Alex