Owning a mobile phone will soon be compusory.

Squire_Fulwood · 21 July 2019 at 2:14PM

My bank (Santander) uses customer's mobiles as part of its security measures. I once questioned this and was told that if I didn't then I would get a reduced banking service. I bought a phone and they did not/do not contribute.

Now as part of their proposed security upgrade they say this ...

“Will I be able to continue using Online Banking without a mobile?

We require you to have a mobile phone because for some transactions we need to text you a One Time Passcode for authorisation. This is highlighted in our terms and conditions.”

So people with poor coverage or no phone at all will now get no service at all with this bank since it will be required in order to sign in. The title should have said compulsory.

Squire_Fulwood · 21 July 2019 at 2:33PM

I looked at their terms and conditions where they refer to both online banking and mobile banking but it seems that in either case they intend to use OTP.

"7.1 To login to your account, make payments and access many aspects of the services you will need to register your mobile phone number to receive one-time passcodes that we will send to your phone. You will need to input this code to verify and complete certain transactions. We will only send you a passcode when you have taken action to access the service."

Owain_Moneysaver · 21 July 2019 at 4:19PM

This is supposed to be two-factor authentication: something you know (password) and something you have (phone).

This fails as for the last ten years many people have smartphones where the text message and the password are received/stored on the same device.

Squire_Fulwood · 21 July 2019 at 5:39PM

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

This is supposed to be two-factor authentication: something you know (password) and something you have (phone).

This fails as for the last ten years many people have smartphones where the text message and the password are received/stored on the same device.

So not owning a mobile phone in the first place could be seen as a further security measure except that you can't receive the OTP.

Browntoa · 21 July 2019 at 6:22PM

I have mixed thoughts.

The sort of people that don't have mobiles for OTP are also not likely to online shop/bank or do anything else that requires OTP.

I can see the problem if you have no mobile signal

DigForVictory · 21 July 2019 at 6:36PM

So far, it's just Santander. Other banks are available & Barclays already have their little gadget that I believe could be used for the extra security.

Everyone living out of coverage will be taking up new & interesting forms of travel, local cooperatives & generally shifting to whomever cooperates best with their geography. Mobile banking, as in drive the truck in & park up, will be much more popular!

Squire_Fulwood · 21 July 2019 at 6:46PM

Browntoa wrote: »

I have mixed thoughts.

The sort of people that don't have mobiles for OTP are also not likely to online shop/bank or do anything else that requires OTP.

I can see the problem if you have no mobile signal

Can you offer examples of the "sort of people" that don't have mobiles.

I have been telephone/mobile banking for many years without the need for a mobile phone until now.

Squire_Fulwood · 21 July 2019 at 6:59PM

DigForVictory wrote: »

So far, it's just Santander. Other banks are available & Barclays already have their little gadget that I believe could be used for the extra security.

Everyone living out of coverage will be taking up new & interesting forms of travel, local cooperatives & generally shifting to whomever cooperates best with their geography. Mobile banking, as in drive the truck in & park up, will be much more popular!

Santander do not have a little gadget which I find irresponsible. From the outset they assumed that their security procedures assumed I had a mobile phone. They are arrogant in presuming that everyone has and that they can use it without contributing to its upkeep.

Browntoa · 21 July 2019 at 8:43PM

Squire_Fulwood wrote: »

Can you offer examples of the "sort of people" that don't have mobiles.

I have been telephone/mobile banking for many years without the need for a mobile phone until now.

My elderly mother in law , no internet , no mobile , no online banking and no online shopping

Squire_Fulwood · 22 July 2019 at 7:08AM

Browntoa wrote: »

My elderly mother in law , no internet , no mobile , no online banking and no online shopping

Yes I think that there must be a large number of people with various difficulties. I have elder sisters one of whom has on line banking but cannot operate something as small as a phone due to the shakes.

Santander appears to have started from the assumption that everybody has a mobile.

p00hsticks · 22 July 2019 at 12:29PM

Squire_Fulwood wrote: »

Santander do not have a little gadget which I find irresponsible. From the outset they assumed that their security procedures assumed I had a mobile phone. They are arrogant in presuming that everyone has and that they can use it without contributing to its upkeep.

If you don't have and don't want a mobile phone, I'm struggling to understand why you chose to bank with one of the few whose security procedures 'from the outset ' wanted you to have one.

Why don't you simply switch to another bank that doesn't assume you need one - the switching process is simple enough these days.
There's a thread discussing the various Stronger Customer Authentification measures the different banks are introducing here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=6021774

Of course, if you don't have a passport or driving licence (these days even more 'compulsory' than a mobile phone and costing considerably more to acquire ) you may struggle to pass the required identification checks, but pehaps that's for another 'campaign' .......

Owning a mobile phone will soon be compusory.

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