Strong Customer Authentication - a better way for older folk

philip42h

The banks seem very keen to implement SCA via a smartphone app or SMS messaging as a fall-back. I'm looking for a better solution for my mother specifically and/or an alternative credit card provider who can provide better customer service for the more mature consumer ...

My mother is 95, and doesn't own a smartphone so the "App" solution is a non-starter. And because there is next to no mobile single where she lives, an OTP sent via SMS is unlikely to arrive and even if it does it would be an unnecessary 'faff' for her to try to manage her small legacy mobile 'phone and rekey the tiny digits with arthritic fingers.

She lives alone and currently manages fine using online shopping and Tesco deliveries but the imposition of SCA is a threat to her independence.

As an alternative Tesco Bank are offering to send an OTP via an automaton to a landline number. So she would now have to get up from her PC, gather her walking sticks and make her way to the telephone to answer the call before the answerphone cuts-in; she would then have to memorise or write down a code and make her way back to her PC before the transaction times out; all without falling on the way ...

There has to be a better way surely and a credit card provider that could supply it? Suggestions welcome ...

cx6

Nationwide alow you to authenticate using a card reader if that helps.

They also have accessible card readers with bigger buttons and displays.

Sandtree

There have been other suggestions over time like a card reader type thing built into the card itself... I am sure I have a prototype one somewhere... but that depends on how robust they prove to be and the additional cost of the card being covered. If she is using card details stored in the computer then it results in the same problem of having to get up and get the card if she hasnt brought it to the computer

Give you are talking about online shopping it does seem most simple to get a phone next to the computer or a cordless phone that she can move there

Sandtree

philip42h said:

My mother is 95, and doesn't own a smartphone so the "App" solution is a non-starter. And because there is next to no mobile single where she lives, an OTP sent via SMS is unlikely to arrive and even if it does it would be an unnecessary 'faff' for her to try to manage her small legacy mobile 'phone and rekey the tiny digits with arthritic fingers.

A basic smart phone may be the solution then, it doesnt mean she has to use any "Apps" but it can leverage her wifi to enhance the signal, it has accessibility functionality so can display things much larger on the screen and a touch screen is generally much easier to operate as no pressure is required unlike a manual keypad. 

philip42h

Sandtree said:

philip42h said:

My mother is 95, and doesn't own a smartphone so the "App" solution is a non-starter. And because there is next to no mobile single where she lives, an OTP sent via SMS is unlikely to arrive and even if it does it would be an unnecessary 'faff' for her to try to manage her small legacy mobile 'phone and rekey the tiny digits with arthritic fingers.

A basic smart phone may be the solution then, it doesn't mean she has to use any "Apps" but it can leverage her wifi to enhance the signal, it has accessibility functionality so can display things much larger on the screen and a touch screen is generally much easier to operate as no pressure is required unlike a manual keypad. 

And that's where my thinking has got to as well - a customer implemented technology solution! So we pay for a basic smartphone that will implement Wi-Fi calling to overcome the signal issue, decline to use the banking app but accept OTP via SMS, and make use of M$ Your Phone mobile integration to bring the SMS messages to the PC desktop. Which will cost around £15 pcm out of her pension to address an issue of the bank's making ... but it may well be our best solution.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of improved security to reduce the levels of fraud, and a smartphone app solution is a good way forward for 80% of the bank's customers because it is a facility / device they have anyway. But the financial institutions do seem rather happy to ignore the inconvenient 20% ... Hey ho - that's 21st century customer service for you ... 

Thanks to all for your input and suggestions

MovingForwards

A PAYG phone will do, doesn't have to be a SIM or phone contact.

[Deleted User]

£50 smart phone on a basic pay as you go SIM deal or buy an extension lead to put the phone by her desk for about £10

The 2FA is there to protect customers and try and reduce the sort of fraud that people of that age are repeatedly shown to be susceptible to.

[Deleted User]

Off the top of my head - She could:

Get a phone with a big display
Ask for the card reader with a big display
Buy a USB mobile dongle and receive SMS directly on the Computer.
Make you secondary cardholder and you transact on her behalf.

As for mobile coverage, sms are sent over the call signalling channels and don't require good signal.

philip42h

The problem with the PAYG model is that things are prone to expire after a period and you wind-up getting cut-off! But providing that we can find an old 'phone, whether we choose a SIM only contract or a PAYG SIM the cost will be a few pounds per month. And that's my problem - easily solved.

I remain disappointed by the attitude of the bank - they see themselves as a digital bank and simply don't want to support non-digital customers ...

MovingForwards

I think most PAYG phones only need a call made or text sent every 6 months, if that isn't done it gets cut off or the credit is lost. Again, easy for you to quickly do on a visit, assuming you do at least twice a year.

[Deleted User]

philip42h said:

The problem with the PAYG model is that things are prone to expire after a period and you wind-up getting cut-off! But providing that we can find an old 'phone, whether we choose a SIM only contract or a PAYG SIM the cost will be a few pounds per month. And that's my problem - easily solved.

I remain disappointed by the attitude of the bank - they see themselves as a digital bank and simply don't want to support non-digital customers ...

This isn't the bank being difficult, they are being made liable for more and more stuff that is undeniably user error so are covering their backs (possible they are being told to do so by the FCA but I'm not sure).

The vast majority of their customers will have smart phones (including older people, plenty of whom are just as tech savvy - saw an ~85 year old on the news today who is a Tik Tok star!) and have offered you a solution - they can't control the fact your mother's situation is to have a PC in one room and a phone a distance away when the solution is very simple.