Santander stopping alerts - why would they do that?

GeoffTF

UncleK said:

Theleak250 said:

Is this a text message? RBS stopped this years ago. Although I understand banks are still required to inform you if you enter your overdraft and it’s going to charge you. 

No - these are emails. The great thing I like is that the amounts that trigger the messages are configurable.

I get both text and email alerts on my 123 Lite account. I have not had an email saying that any of them will go.

UncleK

My bad - text is also available. This is the whole set - the numbers you set yourself:

Theleak250

It does make more sense then in that case, text and email are old technology. However they should have a working replacement in place before they switch it off. 

Section62

Theleak250 said:

It does make more sense then in that case, text and email are old technology. However they should have a working replacement in place before they switch it off. 

For some people texts and/or email are all the technology they have.

Cheques and ATMs are much older technology, yet they haven't been dumped yet.

(for those who don't know, you can get text alerts without needing to use either online or mobile banking)

Lightning360

Section62 said:

Theleak250 said:

It does make more sense then in that case, text and email are old technology. However they should have a working replacement in place before they switch it off. 

For some people texts and/or email are all the technology they have.

Cheques and ATMs are much older technology, yet they haven't been dumped yet.

(for those who don't know, you can get text alerts without needing to use either online or mobile banking)

Cheques and ATMs are actually still used by a lot of people/businesses. I doubt these sorts of alerts through text and email will be.

People need to accept that the world is moving forward and that technology is here. The world isn't going to stop for the few people who don't want technology. They need to catch up with the rest of the world.

crumpet_man

Theleak250 said:

It does make more sense then in that case, text and email are old technology. However they should have a working replacement in place before they switch it off. 

Old does not mean out of date or useless.  I have these text/email notifications setup and they often arrive faster than the in app push notifications!

MarkFromCornwall

This is a big thing for me.  I find these alerts very useful and I was surprised when Santander emailed me to say they were stopping.  Clearly these alerts help to bolter security as they would quickly alert me to unexpected activity on my account.  I won't be closing my account at present but my feelings towards Santander have definitely nosedived. 

peter021072

Banks make profits from people going overdrawn, bills bouncing and other 'mismanagement' of accounts, so it may not be in their interests. One facility from Santander I currently find particularly useful is a warning if a bill is expected on the day which will send me OD. Of course if they were really working in my interest why not just automatically top up the current account from a linked interest earning account if that happens?  That would take out much of the need for managing the account at a stoke.

Many of the texts they send me are superfluous though. If the warnings are withdrawn, I would like to see web accounts without 2 factor authorisation just for viewing, albeit with this  type of security for changes & withdrawals. 

Will they keep 'alerts to help you avoid charges' near the bottom of this link? 

I always frown at the move to 'apps' if that means operating accounts via a mobile. Financial transactions should ideally be carried out in a comfortable environment on a large screen, mouse and keyboard to avoid mistakes, not crouching over a tiny display, faffing about sliding a finger around and trying to type out characters.

GeoffTF

My biggest risk is probably losing my debit card and not noticing until it is too late. I have set the contactless limit to £5 (the smallest limit that I could set without using the app), which should make it difficult to drain my account. I also keep the card well hidden away, in case my small payments in person card with another bank fails. That card has only a small amount of money on it, and does not have an overdraft facility.

Theleak250

The text costs a bank money, my company has a similar thing and it costs 10p a text. Technology comes and goes, how did people survive before these texts? I think people need to adapt away from them as they adapted into them. I stand by that this is an old technology and perhaps a compromise would be to charge customers who still wish to have them.