I have been banking online with Halifax for years and find its service problem-free, including when sending large sums to family overseas. For the past three years, I have also been banking with Santander but its online system has a serious shortcoming.
When trying to set up a new payee, Santander needs to send me a one-time passcode (OTP) but can only do this by mobile phone. Like many people in rural areas, we have no mobile signal. By the time I walk a couple of hundred metres and back to the one place in the village with a signal, the system has logged out and I have to start again.
When I explained this to Santander in 2013, I was offered two solutions: go to a branch when I need to set up payees, or use telephone banking.
My Santander branch is six miles away. When I tried to use the telephone banking service, I was told my passcodes had been deactivated because of lack of use. I was given £10 for the inconvenience and sent new passcodes, which I declined to use.
As I explained to the bank, I want to bank online, not on the phone or at the branch. I have spoken to three levels of supervisors/management and met the same brick wall. The fact that my wife and I have accounts totalling six figures with Santander cuts no ice.
BM, Devon
You make the point that if Halifax (and indeed Lloyds) can offer a landline OTP code, surely Santander can. We agree, but we were not surprised when Santander cited security issues as the reason for its stance. It said: “We apologise for any inconvenience BM is experiencing using our OTP. Our customers’ security is of paramount importance to us and we have certain measures in place to protect customers against fraud. With increasingly sophisticated scams, we introduced the OTP which is one of the trusted tools we use to protect customers. When making an online transaction, customers are required to input their OTP to validate and authorise the payment. While this is required for new transactions, we do not require the use of a OTP for payments to an existing payee.
“We offer our customers many different methods of making payments in addition to our online service, including telephone and in-branch banking. We have invested significantly in our branch network and encourage customers who cannot get online to give us a call or visit us in branch.”
But that’s hardly music to your ears. We suggest you vote with your feet – permanently – or, as Santander suggests, take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
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