First Direct

smartgolfer

I applied to change account from Santander to First Direct, everything was going fine, i got the welcom pack, i got online and registered, then i was sent an email

then to call a number, except, the recipient sounded South American, 'Alarm Bell' Number One, then i was asked sensible questions, Name DOB Address, 'Alarm Bell' Number 2, i was asked to disclose all of my sensitive information , answers to security questions, and my password i would be using to access the account...

I Declined and terminated the call, now i wasnt sure if this was a scam or just a badly made up set of interview questions.

The following day i called the number again, same thing, right up untill i had to hand over my full password, then i lost it, i demanded that my switch be stopped.

Santander couldnt help, once the switch was in progress it could not be stopped.

So, back to the 'Bank' same again all the security stuff, and i eventualy got a 'supervisor', she agreed with me that i had every right to be worried, but this is

their process, i eventually managed to terminate the switch by using a 'temp' password in order to stop the switch.

I just think that this is very high risk way of doing buisness, my background is Police Hi Tech Crime, i wasnt prepared to take the risk of losing my savings or anything else for £125.

My concern was that the customer service rep could take script notes of all my information and sell on, not only that, a mobile phone can be monitored using

third party software, you have to know what your doing, but there are software programs that do just this, audio files saved then reviewed later.

Anyway, im still with Santander..and i still have my money.

born_again

So which number were you calling?

cymruchris

If you were calling the official telephone number as published on the official website - there wouldn't be anything to worry about (receiving a call from that same number could be a problem - but not if you're the one that had dialled it)

etienneg

First Direct started as a telephone-only bank. It has progressed as far as online access as well, but is generally thought to be rather stuck in the past in some respects. (Then again, it's not the only bank you could validly criticize in this way!)

Now, a telephone-only bank would be expected to require a lot of security information to be given to pass telephone security, so that's probably why "this is their process". Having said this, I imagine any bank that's going to deal with you over the phone would be similar. I wholeheartedly agree that phone access is much less secure than online, which is why I don't use it for day-to-day purposes.

I wish banks would get their house in order on security matters. Lots of things they put out are reasonable enough, until they end up breaching them themselves. For example, there is no system yet for the bank to "pass security" when a customer phones in. And yet they still put specific phone numbers in texts/emails asking you to phone that number, which are difficult or impossible to find on their web site. Why not always the number on your card, with a "press x if you're responding to our email/text"? And so on. There's such a lot the banks could do if they tried!

TheMightySwordfish

smartgolfer said:

...then i was sent an email...

Guarantee this was a (un)lucky hit from a Phishing email.
Lesson to be learnt here is not to go through links from emails unless you know 100% that they are genuine.
If in doubt, go to where you know it's legit and contact through there.

[Deleted User]

If you aren't comfortable then don't move.

FD and HSBC generally are fairly old fashioned in terms of processes. 

[Deleted User]

I have banked with FD for 27 years and I am in the process of switching. As said above, they used to be an exceptional telephone banking service but they have lost this USP with the move to online banking. I am not prepared to wait an hour on the phone in response to a ‘call FD’ message. The fact that the person at the other end of line didn’t know why I was calling didn’t help my blood pressure. 

Fortunately, I knew what the problem was. I had transferred £10 to a new savings account the day before; checked to see if it had arrived properly, before sending another payment. This resulted in FD’s anti fraud measures kicking in. When I finally got through to the anti fraud team two days later, my account had been locked. As part of the account unlocking process, I was asked to confirm the amount of a transaction that had gone through 10 days previously! That’s tricky when the account has been locked.

etienneg

[Deleted User] said:

As part of the account unlocking process, I was asked to confirm the amount of a transaction that had gone through 10 days previously! That’s tricky when the account has been locked.

Why? Don't you keep any kind of record of what you do with your money?

adamp87

etienneg said:

Dolor said:

As part of the account unlocking process, I was asked to confirm the amount of a transaction that had gone through 10 days previously! That’s tricky when the account has been locked.

Why? Don't you keep any kind of record of what you do with your money?

I don’t know if you are being serious but many people can use a debit card many times during a day never mind a week or two.

or as they stated the account was locked at the time

colsten

adamp87 said:

etienneg said:

Dolor said:

As part of the account unlocking process, I was asked to confirm the amount of a transaction that had gone through 10 days previously! That’s tricky when the account has been locked.

Why? Don't you keep any kind of record of what you do with your money?

I don’t know if you are being serious but many people can use a debit card many times during a day never mind a week or two.

Not an excuse for not knowing what you have spent. Bank accounts are no substitute for spending diaries, even if some people like to think they are.

However, I am certain that no bank will fail you during the ID questioning for not knowing your transaction details. They’ll just ask some other questions instead.

wiseonesomeofthetime

Personally, I could not tell you details of transactions ten days ago if I could not access my mobile or online banking. Why would I?

I keep track of large (e.g. car tax, insurance, MOT) or irregular purchases (e.g. swimming pool),  within AceMoney, however, any other general spend would just be clubbed as that at the end of each week.

I have no need to record each transaction individually. Perhaps I am just financially lucky, but I doubt many do.