Natwest card reader

eskbanker

Giramondo wrote: »

I think it's really bad customer experience design that you can transfer money in but not out. At no stage of the obboarding process should Natwest design a situation where customer's money is locked in this way.

I was hit with the same issue with Natwest this money, and I've referred it to the [financial-ombudsman.org.uk]. Not sure if I have a leg to stand on, but happy to find out.

To be fair, when opening any new account, it's always good practice to validate both inbound and outbound payments using small test amounts initially, before committing significant sums, for this precise reason.

Paying into an account is always going to be easier, because this just requires a sort code and account number, which will be supplied as soon as an account is opened, whereas withdrawals will inevitably depend on access to online/phone banking and/or cards and/or card readers, all of which will entail a delay while they're issued, typically by post....

EachPenny

Giramondo wrote: »

I think it's really bad customer experience design that you can transfer money in but not out. At no stage of the obboarding process should Natwest design a situation where customer's money is locked in this way.

I was hit with the same issue with Natwest this money, and I've referred it to the [financial-ombudsman.org.uk]. Not sure if I have a leg to stand on, but happy to find out.

Often a delay in being able to take money out of an account is a security thing which allows the bank to verify (for example) the address used when the account was set up.

Most people would be rather hacked off if a bank allowed a third party to set up an account using your name and address in order to carry out some form of scam, and the first you knew was when the police knocked on your door to ask you to help with their enquiries.

A delay of a day or two makes it less easy for fraudsters to use simple methods to scam people out of their money.

agrinnall

18cc wrote: »

I believe chase Manhattans card reader doesn't work in the UK

I would expect that to be true, and also to be the case for any card reader issued on a non-UK account, so my question would be better if it specified UK issued card readers.

swindiff

eskbanker wrote: »

To be fair, when opening any new account, it's always good practice to validate both inbound and outbound payments using small test amounts initially, before committing significant sums, for this precise reason.

Paying into an account is always going to be easier, because this just requires a sort code and account number, which will be supplied as soon as an account is opened, whereas withdrawals will inevitably depend on access to online/phone banking and/or cards and/or card readers, all of which will entail a delay while they're issued, typically by post....

I did validate my inbound payment, paid in £1, then once I saw it had gone where it was supposed to paid in another £1499 to satisfy the T&C of the switch. At that point realised I could not transfer it back out without a card reader lol. Ordered one then found out the next day that I could use the Nationwide one that I already had so managed to transfer it back out. But If I did not have a card reader already my money would have been stuck until the new reader was delivered. So I can understand where Giramondo is coming from.

18cc

You are lucky because when I switched to NatWest for their incentive I did make a payment out of my account for about £14 very soon after it was opened

I had not received my card reader then, although I had ordered it - like you I used the Nationwide one

their fraud systems blocked the £14 payment I had to go into the bank with ID

when I asked them why they had done it for such a small amount they said it was because it was done on using a card reader but they knew I could not have got it yet

pochisoldi

J_B wrote: »

Nat West, Nationwide, Tesco are all interchangeable

Coop Bank and Barclays are as well.

I recommend the Barclays card reader if you have fat fingers or lack the motor skills to use the tiny readers provided by all the other banks. (Google "barclays pin sentry" to see what one looks like).

NotRichAtAll

all sorted now.

scragend

agrinnall wrote: »

Do you know of any card readers that are not compatible? Obviously things like the First Direct code generator are not compatible, but they don't read the card.

NatWest have a different card reader for Bankline (business banking) than for personal accounts. It has buttons for CODE - SIGN - INFO, rather than IDENTIFY - RESPOND - SIGN.

If you put e.g. a Barclays or Nationwide card in it, it says "Card not accepted".

J_B

scragend wrote: »

NatWest have a different card reader for Bankline (business banking) than for personal accounts. It has buttons for CODE - SIGN - INFO, rather than IDENTIFY - RESPOND - SIGN.

If you put e.g. a Barclays or Nationwide card in it, it says "Card not accepted".

We have a Nat West business account but it isn't Bankline so the generic card reader works fine.