Our Wonderful Banks

Sunday 20th September

I have just had another problem with my bank.  We are living in surreal times where we can never be sure just what is happening or what you think is happening.  In order to save money (not ours incidentally) the banks are forcing us to go on line.  Of course everyone from Government down is forcing us all to do everything on the internet.  We are sold the idea that it is more efficient, that it is more convenient but the real reason is so that the banks can employ far fewer people so that we do the transactions, or press buttons so that computers do the transactions.  But what does it really mean?

Back to reality – I had to pay my builder who repaired a roof for me. Cheques are old-fashioned and take too long so we are persuaded to go on-line and pay people electronically.  And supposedly a BACS transaction is the electronic equivalent of signing a cheque.  In order to verify my identity I had to put in selected digits from both a four digit number and an eight digit password, both of my own creation and told to no-one and never written down.  Then I had to put my debit card into a card reader, enter another four digit code (my pin number) and press OK, and then the card reader displayed an eight digit number generated by an algorithm which I had to key into  my computer.  I then recived a confirmation that the payment had been confirmed.  As far as I understand it this is the equivalent of my signing a cheque.  It is pretty unlikely for anyone to forge this process as they would have to have stolen my debit card and my card reader and know all my passwords and pin number.

I e-mailed the builder and told him I had paid him,  He e-mailed me later that evening and said he the money wasn’t in his bank.  I went on-line and the money had gone from my bank.  24 hours after making the transaction that appears not to have been made I received an e-mail from the bank asking me to phone a number because of suspected fraud.  The bank had not made the payment.  I phoned up, confirmed my identity and that I wanted the payment made and they promised to pay the builder.  All they could say was sorry for the inconvenience…

Inconvenience is not the word for it.

So what does it all mean?  The bank does not trust it’s customers.  When we do something on the internet it really means nothing at all?  All the security checks were for nothing as was the confirmation.  You cannot believe anything.  I preferred the real world where a cheque meant something, when my signature was my word.  Has the whole world gone crazy, or is it just me?