Cynergy Bank - bad login procedures

phonek

What a really rubbish bank, I've had over 25 savings accounts over the years and this bank has the worst procedures I've ever dealt with.

To start with their app is beyond awful due to the bank's infuriatingly difficult and fiddly to use login procedures. I work in tech, so have a good understanding of how things should work, and this is not it.

Along with the basic given of decent security, the other principle feature bank apps should have is usability. This is just as important as security, so your users don't have to mess around with baffling behaviours in order to do their business with you as a bank. Cynergy's 'authenticator' mobile app simply does not offer what most users would call logical easy to use methods for its intended target audience – everyday bank customers.

Cynergy's security implementation is so utterly stupid to use that it's actually extremely bad, because they fail to offer login procedures that make any sense whatsoever in how customers would want to use their bank service to login securely.

Firstly, bizarrely, unlike any of tons of other banking apps I've seen and used, you have to use TWO devices to login from anything other than a mobile phone. You have to use their authentication app on your mobile to scan a silly colour pretend-QR image on another device's browser (desktop/laptop/iPad), which also takes ages to work regardless of you moving your phone back & forth multiple times attempting to get the camera read it, or it simply fails to work at all, forcing refreshing the image and repeating.

Secondly, you can only use this authenticator scanning app on ONE device. So if you don't have your mobile with you, you cannot login to online banking in any browser on another device AT ALL?! You also cannot have a useable copy of this app on say an iPhone AND iPad, only one of them...erm, why? Another needless limitation to annoy your customers no end.

Thirdly, only mobile phones can login to online banking on ONE device. Cynergy's help section is so convoluted they even fail to mention anywhere to make sure your browser is in 'mobile mode' not 'desktop mode' when you do this! Only mobile mode offers to open the colour image in their authenticator app on your same mobile. Another entirely confusing behaviour to users.

Lastly, and most obviously, the app only offers authentication, giving no access whatsoever to your actual account, even as a simple browser wrapper-app. Nor therefore using basic device security features Apple offer including Face ID/Touch ID to quickly login and see your account info, never mind basic implementable things a million other organisations have offered for literally years now, like TOTP's (time-based one time passcodes) or even fall-back SMS codes.

All of these issues are completely and utterly ridiculous going into nearly 2024, and are frankly laughable for any serious banking organisation.

In the course of my testing, on checking the Apple app store reviews and on other forums, complaints on these issues go way back to **late 2020!**. So they've managed to neither fix nor improve anything in over 3 years. Wow, how embarrassing.

For a so-called mainly 'internet' bank (that must be some kind of joke surely!), why on earth Cynergy Bank's management hasn't realised these issues are bad enough, to order the most basic of fixes for any of these points, along with making them appear bad in the whole UK banking marketplace they compete in, is anyone's guess. 🤷‍♂️

reviews: 

apps.apple.com/gb/app/cynergy-bank-authenticator/id1497728953?platform=iphone&see-all=reviews

phonek

(can a moderator fix the double line spacing, please.)

EDIT 2021.11.21.Tue: got editing rights, so edited-out myself. 

mebu60

TLDR.

I point the authenticator thingy at the screen, key in the code and get on with doing whatever I've come on to do.

I'd prefer a more straightforward keyboard only login but as with their habit of bringing out new issues it's my choice to use them.

Plenty of other providers are available with similar rates. 

EthicsGradient

I'm very impressed by someone who works in tech, but can't fix double line spacing in their own posts.

B0bbyEwing

Hmm. Fills me with confidence. Just opened one of these after Ulster took 100 years to get past the 1st stage. 

Can't wait. 

The_Unready

I can only echo your frustration. A rubbish logon process and a continual need to apply for new 'issues' of their ISA allowed me to make the easy decision to bin them off several months ago.

Life is just too short to deal with all that!

The_Unready

I can only echo your frustration. A rubbish logon process and a continual need to apply for new 'issues' of their ISA allowed me to make the easy decision to bin them off several months ago.

Life is just too short to deal with all that!

Notepad_Phil

EthicsGradient said:

I'm very impressed by someone who works in tech, but can't fix double line spacing in their own posts.

A new poster can't edit their post until they've been around for a little while, so how do you expect them to fix it? Note I don't think they've put in the double lines themselves, it looks like some extra formatting has been added which I doubt they were expecting.

PloughmansLunch

Some posters here have probably had over 25 accounts with Cynergy alone due to the way they don't update interest rates on existing accounts. Despite the quirky login I don't mind using them myself, although at the moment I only have a smallish balance there.

phonek

EthicsGradient said:

I'm very impressed by someone who works in tech, but can't fix double line spacing in their own posts.

Notepad_Phil said:

EthicsGradient said:

I'm very impressed by someone who works in tech, but can't fix double line spacing in their own posts.

A new poster can't edit their post until they've been around for a little while, so how do you expect them to fix it? Note I don't think they've put in the double lines themselves, it looks like some extra formatting has been added which I doubt they were expecting.

^This. Thanks for explaining, Phil! ;-)

Zaul22

It works fine on just a phone. It's weird but it works.