Santander app data harvesting

Ergates

aj23 wrote: »

Every method of digital banking is data harvesting. When, where, how, to who.

All that information is captured by the banks for both digital and non-digital transactions - for the very obvious reason that they *have* to gather that information for all transactions they process - but that *isn't* data harvesting.

JuicyJesus

If you object to this, the correct place to vent your spleen is Parliament and the FCA, which set laws and standards on money laundering and in the latter case in particular the liability of banks for scams.

Banks are between a rock and a hard place, this is the result.

aj23_2

Ergates wrote: »

All that information is captured by the banks for both digital and non-digital transactions - for the very obvious reason that they *have* to gather that information for all transactions they process - but that *isn't* data harvesting.

Of course it it. Spending habits, what you're spending on money, where you're buying it. It's naive to not think so.

Westie983

aj23 wrote: »

Of course it it. Spending habits, what you're spending on money, where you're buying it. It's naive to not think so.

Doesn't ask what you are spending the money on but why you are making the transfer, to your own account - (doesn't ask where) Returning a overpayment (again doesn't ask whom too) paying a friend (again no further information asked) Paying for a service (no further mention on what service) Buying Goods (no more information taken) transfer to an investment (no more details needed) Property (other then amount, no other information is provided) anything else.

This as mentioned above is additional information to try and capture reasons for transfers and payments so if you have been contacted by someone else who could be trying to defraud you into making payments to another account further information is given to ask you to agree.

If you don't agree with this then stop using online banking and the app and go into the branch to make transfers but you may get asked the same information if only to make sure you are not being unfairly forced into something untoward.

Westie983

daveyjp

OP, why is this an issue? How do the bank know you are telling them the truth?

Nebulous2

daveyjp wrote: »

OP, why is this an issue? How do the bank know you are telling them the truth?

It isn't necessary for them to know why I'm transferring money. They have a great deal of information about me already, but I always assumed they knew very little about my other accounts.

I am not telling them the truth. I've only done about 4 transactions so far and they've all been 'something else.'

Having said that I'm not bothered enough to do much about it. I'm getting almost £10 a month from my 123 lite account and still 5% on my regular saver.

I'd like to see it as an optional field rather than a mandatory one.

aj23_2

Westie983 wrote: »

Doesn't ask what you are spending the money on but why you are making the transfer, to your own account - (doesn't ask where) Returning a overpayment (again doesn't ask whom too) paying a friend (again no further information asked) Paying for a service (no further mention on what service) Buying Goods (no more information taken) transfer to an investment (no more details needed) Property (other then amount, no other information is provided) anything else.

This as mentioned above is additional information to try and capture reasons for transfers and payments so if you have been contacted by someone else who could be trying to defraud you into making payments to another account further information is given to ask you to agree.

If you don't agree with this then stop using online banking and the app and go into the branch to make transfers but you may get asked the same information if only to make sure you are not being unfairly forced into something untoward.

Westie983

Of course it does. It knows what shop you're in so it knows the nature of what you're spending money on. Spendlytics and the like telling how much you spend on food, clothes etc. each month.

You're inputting the sort code and account number of the person you are paying too, and soon you'll have to put the name, so of course it knows who you are sending money to. A sort code is unique to a branch as well. It's naive to think that banks don't use or keep this kind of info and monitor it.

JuicyJesus

Nebulous2 wrote: »

It isn't necessary for them to know why I'm transferring money.

Think you'll find it is. Look up what "Know Your Customer" is.

Ergates

aj23 wrote: »

Of course it it. Spending habits, what you're spending on money, where you're buying it. It's naive to not think so.

It's not a matter of naivity. I work in a bank in the department that analysis data. I know what kind of data banks are interested in and what they use it for.

The analytics done (using merchant category codes) on spending patterns is there to attract customers with the "cool" and useful apps. However, it's of little interest to the bank itself if you spend your money on clothes or eating out or going to the movies - because banks don't sell clothes or food or movies.

What banks sell (and hence make money from) are loans, mortgages, paid accounts etc. and you don't buy those in shops with your debit card.

Takmon

Nebulous2 wrote: »

It isn't necessary for them to know why I'm transferring money. They have a great deal of information about me already, but I always assumed they knew very little about my other accounts.

I am not telling them the truth. I've only done about 4 transactions so far and they've all been 'something else.'

Having said that I'm not bothered enough to do much about it. I'm getting almost £10 a month from my 123 lite account and still 5% on my regular saver.

I'd like to see it as an optional field rather than a mandatory one.

You seem to be missing the point of why they are doing it. Next time you do it have a look at the options in the list, they are all potential types of payments that people send when getting scammed. When you select each option they give you a message specific to the option explaining why it might be a scam.

People who are silly enough to fall for these scams will be the ones who will just choose not to fill in this field if it's optional and therefore they won't get the message that might make them think twice and see sense.

I don't see the problem with choosing 'something else' each time.