Why Must I have a mobile to Open a Savings Account?

crick555

I have been trying to change my savings account, as the bonus rate is about to close, and have been looking at various banks and building societies that offer good rates regarding transferring my funds. I do not have a mobile phone but found that many banks and building societies require this, if I want to open a new online savings account. They say it is in the name of security. I have tried Virgin Money, Saga. Skipton and also Cambridge Building Society, amongst others regarding opening a new online account, but cannot do so without a mobile phone.

When speaking to another building society, they mentioned a new law coming in next month regarding this situation and that banks and building society will be able to ask new account holders to have mobiles if they want to use their company. I was told it was a matter of extra security. So no mobile, no online account. The bank will not pay for increased online security and it is put on the customer to do this. In theory, the low interest on offer these days from banks and building societies may not even cover the cost of buying a mobile and its contract.


Has anybody else come across this disgusting situation?

JuicyJesus

They are right. Whenever you access online banking some banks will ask you to put in a code you receive via text, or will call you to confirm, or (in some cases) use a little key fob or card reader to generate a code. This is due to new regulations on online security - not that disgusting really. "Disgusting" is a bit of an overreaction to say the least.

You can buy a pay as you go dumbphone for £10 and that can receive texts. You likely wouldn't even need to put credit on it. For example: https://www.tescomobile.com/shop/pay-as-you-go/imo/dash £4.99 plus a £10 topup so £14.99 total, it'll receive as many texts as you want. And that's just literally me going onto Tesco Mobile's website and looking at the first PAYG phone I saw. Hell, you pay that, not only can you get security texts, you'll also have a mobile phone!

Neil_Jones

It's not that "the bank will not pay for increased online security", that's not the law. The law will be that the banks change the way the system works and the easiest way to do it will be via the way mentioned. Most people have mobile phones and those that do have mobile phones will have text messaging facility, seeing as its been a standard since the 1980s.

Would you complain about "lack of security" if it turns out you were a victim of fraud?

And mobile phones you can get from £9.99:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/STK-SIM-Free-Dual-Sim-Mobile-Phone-Black/dp/B06XKG8LS1 currently £9.99 at time of writing. £10 credit on a PAYG network, just make one chargeable call every six months even if its just to your landline and you end up talking to your own answer machine, that's £20 going forward and that £10 top up will probably last you years.

PRAISETHESUN

It's because of some changes to legislation, as discussed here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6021774/strong-customer-authentication-now-delayed-changes-to-online-verification

It's not strictly a requirement to have a mobile phone, but rather to enforce two factor authentication for a lot more stuff. SMS codes sent to a mobile are the easiest way for banks to implement this, even though it is not the most secure way to do so. A few banks offer alternate ways to verify including codes sent to landlines, authentication apps, physical dongles, etc. There should be something out there to suit your needs. Otherwise as above, you can get a cheap and nasty prepaid phone for very cheap. It's not ideal I agree, and it shouldn't be forced onto consumers in this manner, but it would be the solution to your problem.

crick555

But why should I have to buy a phone if I do not want to have an online account? The onus on security is put on me also, not with the bank who has my money, plus with low interest, any interest I would get from the account would go towards a mobile phone.


Let's hear it for more choice, not less choice. I can only see mobile operators and banks winning here, not consumers like me.

colsten

crick555 wrote: »

But why should I have to buy a phone if I do not want to have an online account?

Who says you need a mobile phone if you don't have online accounts?

crick555

The companies I contacted as mention in my original thread - you can contact them or look online if you wish. This was why I wrote my article.

colsten

crick555 wrote: »

The companies I contacted as mention in my original thread - you can contact them or look online if you wish. This was why I wrote my article.

Your OP says you need a mobile phone if you do want an line account - for understandable reasons, and for the benefit of the account holders.
None of them require you to have a mobile phone if you don't want an online account. Although not all of the ones you mention offer passbook accounts.

JuicyJesus

colsten wrote: »

Your OP says you need a mobile phone if you do want an line account - for understandable reasons, and for the benefit of the account holders.
None of them require you to have a mobile phone if you don't want an online account. Although not all of the ones you mention offer passbook accounts.

There isn't really a distinction between "online" or "not online" accounts though. Any account can be made an "online" account these days. Arguably if OP doesn't want to use their account online, that makes it a bit more important for them to get an alert saying someone's set up online banking/wants to send money, as then they'll be alerted to their account being hacked.

But either way, it doesn't matter. OP can pay £15 to get a mobile phone (and also get the benefits of having a mobile phone) or they don't get to open an account. That's a legitimate business decision of each of the organisations involved. Moaning about it on MSE or talking about how disgusting it is won't change that.

molerat

But what about the guidance from the FCA, it seems the banks are running roughshod over it. I expect they will be called to account sooner or later.



https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/finalised-guidance/fca-approach-payment-services-electronic-money-2017.pdf

20.21 We encourage firms to consider the impact of strong customer authentication solutions on different groups of customers, in particular those with protected characteristics, as part of the design process. Additionally, it may be necessary for a PSP to provide different methods of authentication, to comply with their obligation to apply strong customer authentication in line with regulation 100 of the PSRs 2017. For example, not all payment service users will possess a mobile phone or smart phone and payments may be made in areas without mobile phone reception. PSPs must provide a viable means to strongly authenticate customers in these situations.

In OP's case I would be tempted to raise a formal complaint and take it as far as the FOS.

BoGoF

Was a long tedious thread about this recently. Basically if you want to partake in online banking then a lot of banks will be using mobile phone as part of the two factor authentication. If you don't want to bank with one of them that insists on a mobile phone then find one with an alternative method.

Nobody is forcing you to do anything.