Do banking apps help?
Comments
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No, I really haven't. Please identify where in my posts I have promoted this. (N.B. You'll find this difficult because I haven't).
I actually meant that you have not promoted this, so was agreeing with you.
No it doesn't. Correcting logical flaws in thinking is how people learn.
It's not your business to try and 'correct' what you perceive to be 'flaws' in the thinking of others, though of course you are perfectly entitled to argue points logically, something you appear to be utterly unable to do without resorting to defensiveness, false accusations and sneering.
No, you are not entitled to your own facts. Facts are indisputable.
That is not what I said. Please do not twist people's words. I said that everyone was entitled to their own opinion about 'facts'.
This kind of wooly thinking is at the heart of all that is wrong with modern discourse.
Nonsense. (And it is 'woolly', as in the extinct species Woolly Mammoth, not 'wooly'.)
Engaging with you is unpleasant due to the tone of your responses (and lack of ability to discuss opinions you disagree with). It is therefore best if we part company here.0 -
No, I really haven't. Please identify where in my posts I have promoted this. (N.B. You'll find this difficult because I haven't).
I actually meant that you have not promoted this, so was agreeing with you.
No it doesn't. Correcting logical flaws in thinking is how people learn.
It's not your business to try and 'correct' what you perceive to be 'flaws' in the thinking of others, though of course you are perfectly entitled to argue points logically, something you appear to be utterly unable to do without resorting to defensiveness, false accusations and sneering.
No, you are not entitled to your own facts. Facts are indisputable.
That is not what I said. Please do not twist people's words. I said that everyone was entitled to their own opinion about 'facts'.
This kind of wooly thinking is at the heart of all that is wrong with modern discourse.
Nonsense. (And it is 'woolly', as in the extinct species Woolly Mammoth, not 'wooly'.)
Engaging with you is unpleasant due to the tone of your responses (and lack of ability to discuss opinions you disagree with). It is therefore best if we part company here.
Whatever.
You can't handle being wrong. If you don't want to face being corrected then either make sure that you are right, or don't post.
Please accept my most humble apologies for a typing error!0 -
Please could we refrain from tit for tat arguments please.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and interpretation of 'facts' please let this be the end of this matter and we can move on from this.
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ValiantSon wrote: »"Shopping" is a pretty large and diverse category. How useful is it to know that you spent £XXX on "shopping", which could easily have included, food, toiletries, alcohol, books, furniture, clothes..... It may be more useful if they could break it down into all of these categories, and then you may be able to identify that you are spending way too much on alcohol, or clothes, but as it is, it is just a gimmick, and of no real value in burrowing down into your spending. There are various pieces of software that will do this for you, if you enter the data, including a simple spreadsheet.
The whole "groceries" categorisation is a real and, largely, intractable problem. However, this does't render the whole exercise useless as it still works fairly well outside of supermarkets. People still find it useful to know how much they're spending in coffee-shops, or pubs or on gambling etc.0 -
One of my main issues was that a financial institution suddenly provided this analysis of my spending without asking permission to do so. I consider my spending to be a private affair, not one that I wish a bank to analyse.
They don't need your separate permission to do this as it's just a part of them processing your transactions. You have given the bank permission to process your transactions by the very act of opening an account with them and using it. Providing you with the labels attached to the various merchant category codes for the transactions that they were already processing for you (because you asked them to) isn't some kind of witchcraft, it's just providing you with some additional information that they already had. If you're not interested in that additional information then don't use it.
If you don't want your bank to know where you're spending your money, use cash, because they *have* to know where you're spending it if you use debit cards in order to service your transactions (which you asked them to do).
To try to attract customers with what they think is a useful feature.Why would a bank provide such a facility to customers? How is it in its interests?0 -
BillyBills wrote: »Hi guys,
I've recently opened a starling bank account and started to use the app to see my expenses. I was always a classic bank statements by post kind of guy, so it's quite odd to have all my outgoings in real time on my phone. It groups everything too, so I can see where I spend on "shopping" etc. Does this kind of stuff help people or just make them more stressed and on edge about what and where they're spending!
It will be great for people that don't budget and just spend till their money runs out.
if you budget properly you know what "will" be in the account in the future anyway so won't need the running commentary.0 -
The whole "groceries" categorisation is a real and, largely, intractable problem. However, this does't render the whole exercise useless as it still works fairly well outside of supermarkets. People still find it useful to know how much they're spending in coffee-shops, or pubs or on gambling etc.
That's fine, but my point was that it is a blunt tool, and that anyone who is serious about tracking their spending can do so more effectively with a spreadsheet and a modicum of effort.0 -
BillyBills wrote: »Hi guys,
I've recently opened a starling bank account and started to use the app to see my expenses. I was always a classic bank statements by post kind of guy, so it's quite odd to have all my outgoings in real time on my phone. It groups everything too, so I can see where I spend on "shopping" etc. Does this kind of stuff help people or just make them more stressed and on edge about what and where they're spending!
I find the instant notifications and real-time transaction history to be useful, yes. I don't really make any use the categorization features but not sure why these things would make anyone stressed. I wouldn't want to go back to the standard way.Not only Starling, but all the fintech apps, Monzo, Revolut, Loot, N26 etc, give instant notification of any transaction, usually with the location, globally. (Tandem is also giving such notifications, but not reliably in my experience.) I find this helpful, to be able to check that everything is correct before leaving the location, and to be confident that if there's ever any fraud on my account I will know immediately.
I feel the same. I used to loathe checking my statement at the end of every month. With instant transaction history and notifications I now effectively check on the go and have no concerns about fraudulent transactions as I'd be able to notice it immediately.The whole "groceries" categorisation is a real and, largely, intractable problem. However, this does't render the whole exercise useless as it still works fairly well outside of supermarkets. People still find it useful to know how much they're spending in coffee-shops, or pubs or on gambling etc.
If digital receipts could be pushed to your bank account, highly granular categorization would be possible. There is at least one startup trying to facilitate such a thing, although only in a small way so far: https://www.tryflux.com/0 -
I feel the same. I used to loathe checking my statement at the end of every month. With instant transaction history and notifications I now effectively check on the go and have no concerns about fraudulent transactions as I'd be able to notice it immediately.
But only if you receive a notification of the transaction. If someone has the capability to make a fraudulent transaction and supress the notification (if they can't already it is only a matter of time until they can) then you are reliant on spotting something in the transaction history which I'd suggest could be manipulated to allow the fraudulent transaction to slip through - or at least for long enough to ensure the money had vanished."In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"0 -
But only if you receive a notification of the transaction. If someone has the capability to make a fraudulent transaction and supress the notification (if they can't already it is only a matter of time until they can) then you are reliant on spotting something in the transaction history which I'd suggest could be manipulated to allow the fraudulent transaction to slip through - or at least for long enough to ensure the money had vanished.
My point is having notifications and real-time transaction history make you less vulnerable to fraudulent activity. It's not that it makes you immune.
I suppose suppressing the notification is feasible as it could probably be done at the phone level and phones are vulnerable to hacking/manipulation. However, I'm confident in the security of my phone. But even if notifications were somehow suppressed, I open the app at least once a day and glance at my recent transactions so I'd spot any odd transactions within 24 hours.
Not sure how you suspect the transaction history could be manipulated. It seems to me something like this would require high level hacking of a banks IT systems. Furthermore, if someone capable wanted to commit such a sophisticated crime, I'd bet they'd be more likely to go after a traditional bank than a bank with real time transaction history as the manipulation would be spotted less quickly at a traditional bank (it would probably take customers at traditional banks longer to query why their balance and transaction histories didn't seem to be in sync).0
This discussion has been closed.
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