No TSB, I don't have an important message

irm

Their systems are obviously completely screwed. They've started sending me paper statements, and telling me my settings for paperless aren't correct, but they're still paying interest, and when I look at the settings, everything paperless *is* enabled.

garfield33

Hi everyone,
Couple of not-urgent questions about TSB's inbox on online banking (I was going to contact TSB to ask, but seeing as their only route of contact appears to be calling them up I decided to try the MSE hive mind)
1) I can now only see my most recent 50 messages (oldest is November 2018) - should I be able to see older ones? Or do they get binned off when you reach X-number of messages, or a certain age? I've had accounts since 2014.
2) The online banking says I have 6 unread messages, but I can't see them. I have enabled pop-ups on my browser as recommended somewhere on MSE, and have tried using Chrome and even Edge, but still no luck. Has this happened to anyone else? (I do have 6 messages in my Archive. I don't know how they got there, but they say they have been read anyway so the number is probably just a coincidence). 
And 3) more rhetorical - why do they email to say I've got an important message and it must be viewed quickly, and then it just turns out to be a monthly statement??
Thanks all

born_again

hoc said:

I've got a new item in my inbox, have I? It's an important message needing my attention is it? No TSB, I don't. Half the time there isn't even a message, I log in and my inbox is empty. When there is a message it is just routine a monthly statement on an account.


Why can't you state in your email message the subject e.g. 'Account Statement' like every other bank? Is that too difficult for your IT?

Because too many people simply ignore "Your Statement" is ready to view. Then a year or so later call to question/dispute payments that have been going out for a long time....

your Statement IS something that needs your attention to check ALL is Ok each month.

masonic

born_again said:

hoc said:

I've got a new item in my inbox, have I? It's an important message needing my attention is it? No TSB, I don't. Half the time there isn't even a message, I log in and my inbox is empty. When there is a message it is just routine a monthly statement on an account.


Why can't you state in your email message the subject e.g. 'Account Statement' like every other bank? Is that too difficult for your IT?

Because too many people simply ignore "Your Statement" is ready to view. Then a year or so later call to question/dispute payments that have been going out for a long time....

your Statement IS something that needs your attention to check ALL is Ok each month.

It is perhaps a faulty assumption that it is necessary to open a pdf document to check your transactions. I do virtually all of my banking through mobile apps and I regularly review and manually input all of my transactions into an accounting system. I have a much better awareness of activity on my accounts than I did when I had to wait for a monthly statement to be produced. This seems to be a hangover from a bygone era.

sheramber

masonic said:

born_again said:

hoc said:

I've got a new item in my inbox, have I? It's an important message needing my attention is it? No TSB, I don't. Half the time there isn't even a message, I log in and my inbox is empty. When there is a message it is just routine a monthly statement on an account.


Why can't you state in your email message the subject e.g. 'Account Statement' like every other bank? Is that too difficult for your IT?

Because too many people simply ignore "Your Statement" is ready to view. Then a year or so later call to question/dispute payments that have been going out for a long time....

your Statement IS something that needs your attention to check ALL is Ok each month.

It is perhaps a faulty assumption that it is necessary to open a pdf document to check your transactions. I do virtually all of my banking through mobile apps and I regularly review and manually input all of my transactions into an accounting system. I have a much better awareness of activity on my accounts than I did when I had to wait for a monthly statement to be produced. This seems to be a hangover from a bygone era.

What about those who do not   use an app?

colsten

Personally, I rarely ever look at any current account statements but I can see that they still have a place. People who poo-poo statements don't allow for the fact that statements would detail charges, e.g. for overdrafts, which will become due by the next statement date, or for people who don't regularly monitor their transactions, for whatever reason. I believe there is also a legal obligation on current account providers to make a monthly statement available?

masonic

sheramber said:

masonic said:

born_again said:

hoc said:

I've got a new item in my inbox, have I? It's an important message needing my attention is it? No TSB, I don't. Half the time there isn't even a message, I log in and my inbox is empty. When there is a message it is just routine a monthly statement on an account.


Why can't you state in your email message the subject e.g. 'Account Statement' like every other bank? Is that too difficult for your IT?

Because too many people simply ignore "Your Statement" is ready to view. Then a year or so later call to question/dispute payments that have been going out for a long time....

your Statement IS something that needs your attention to check ALL is Ok each month.

It is perhaps a faulty assumption that it is necessary to open a pdf document to check your transactions. I do virtually all of my banking through mobile apps and I regularly review and manually input all of my transactions into an accounting system. I have a much better awareness of activity on my accounts than I did when I had to wait for a monthly statement to be produced. This seems to be a hangover from a bygone era.

What about those who do not   use an app?

People who don't use an app might still use online banking in the way I described. Those who do not use an app or online banking are not going to benefit from an email telling them to log in and view an important message.

The banks can differentiate between those who log in and view their transactions and those who don't. Some banks record this information in an activity log that can be viewed. If someone hasn't viewed their transactions or opened their statements for a long time, perhaps the deceptive emails can be justified. For the rest of us, treating us like adults and telling us it's an account statement would seem the more sensible option.

colsten said:

Personally, I rarely ever look at any current account statements but I can see that they still have a place. People who poo-poo statements don't allow for the fact that statements would detail charges, e.g. for overdrafts, which will become due by the next statement date, or for people who don't regularly monitor their transactions, for whatever reason. I believe there is also a legal obligation on current account providers to make a monthly statement available?

Agree, it is the wording of the notifications that is at issue here. There is indeed a legal obligation for current account providers to make a monthly statement available in a durable medium. I've no issue with that. Statements can sometimes be useful and I wouldn't want to lose them. What I would want to lose is the notion that they require my attention on an arbitrary date every month. Receiving a vague notification of an "important message" is bound to create some unnecessary anxiety the first few times as it seems as though something serious is happening to the account, but over time this crying wolf will desensitise customers to actual important messages that do require prompt action.

Zanderman

masonic said:

colsten said:

Personally, I rarely ever look at any current account statements but I can see that they still have a place. People who poo-poo statements don't allow for the fact that statements would detail charges, e.g. for overdrafts, which will become due by the next statement date, or for people who don't regularly monitor their transactions, for whatever reason. I believe there is also a legal obligation on current account providers to make a monthly statement available?

Agree, it is the wording of the notifications that is at issue here. There is indeed a legal obligation for current account providers to make a monthly statement available in a durable medium. I've no issue with that. Statements can sometimes be useful and I wouldn't want to lose them. What I would want to lose is the notion that they require my attention on an arbitrary date every month. Receiving a vague notification of an "important message" is bound to create some unnecessary anxiety the first few times as it seems as though something serious is happening to the account, but over time this crying wolf will desensitise customers to actual important messages that do require prompt action.

Yes, this ^^^ is the issue as I see it. 
It's all very well TSB telling us we have a statement to read, and it may well be a legal requirement they give us one. 
But labelling it as an 'important message about your bank account' is crying wolf and will desensitise people. 
It certainly does me. 
If I get an 'important message' from Nationwide, Coop Bank, Lloyds, Barclays etc I go straight into online banking or the apps to read it. 
If I get an 'important message' from TSB I just assume it's a statement and generally ignore it as I monitor my TSB accounts online in far more detail than a monthly statement does.  
TSB are letting us and themselves down with such misleading wording - and it's entirely unnecessary.

colsten

masonic said:

Agree, it is the wording of the notifications that is at issue here. There is indeed a legal obligation for current account providers to make a monthly statement available in a durable medium. I've no issue with that. Statements can sometimes be useful and I wouldn't want to lose them. What I would want to lose is the notion that they require my attention on an arbitrary date every month. Receiving a vague notification of an "important message" is bound to create some unnecessary anxiety the first few times as it seems as though something serious is happening to the account, but over time this crying wolf will desensitise customers to actual important messages that do require prompt action.

I generally ignore the TSB emails as I can guess that it's about statements. I log into TSB at least once a month and then have a quick look at what's in my inbox. When I last looked, I had 49 unread messages - either statements or annual interest rate summaries. Since I record all my transactions in my personal finance manager, none of these are of interest to me as long as the current balances tally, and I just leave them sitting there unopened. Should they ever put some other document into my inbox, I'll spot it within a month, anyway. Yes, it would be nice to be able to opt out of the silly emails, but it only takes me a second to put them into the trash can.

hoc

colsten said:

Personally, I rarely ever look at any current account statements but I can see that they still have a place. People who poo-poo statements don't allow for the fact that statements would detail charges, e.g. for overdrafts, which will become due by the next statement date, or for people who don't regularly monitor their transactions, for whatever reason. I believe there is also a legal obligation on current account providers to make a monthly statement available?

Nobody ever said statements shouldn't be generated, the criticism is TSB's language as most others have agreed.

colsten said:

I generally ignore the TSB emails as I can guess that it's about statements. I log into TSB at least once a month and then have a quick look at what's in my inbox. When I last looked, I had 49 unread messages - either statements or annual interest rate summaries. Since I record all my transactions in my personal finance manager, none of these are of interest to me as long as the current balances tally, and I just leave them sitting there unopened. Should they ever put some other document into my inbox, I'll spot it within a month, anyway. Yes, it would be nice to be able to opt out of the silly emails, but it only takes me a second to put them into the trash can.

Can you see how your first sentence here conflicts in logic with your previous paragraph and how, as others have also pointed out, TSB's tactics lead to opposite effect? This was the whole point of this thread.