Comments on: Why I might leave my bank: The NatWest Card Reader

By: Johnny

Johnny — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:17:51 +0000

Whether this is good because of extra security or bad because of inconvenience., the fact is we have been kept in the dark about this with little or no prior warning. I tried to set up a new payee today and had no idea of this new system and am fuming. Whos going to pay the late payment charges now! Natwest will not be getting my bussiness anymore and i advise you all to do the same.

By: Angrymob

Angrymob — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:32:17 +0000

Greetings,
Having moved abroad for a year as a student, I am shocked at Natwest’s decision to make it so difficult to transfer money… to myself. Not wanting to pay the 2.75% charge of withdrawing cash in Europe Ive tried transferring my loan to a Nationwide account (at least one bank is on our side when it comes to international cash withdrawals) to find that the only way of completing a SWIFT transfer… is to go into the nearest branch. This is a great idea considering this is currently 1700 miles away. The other option is this stupid card reader, which no doubt they will send to my home address, again… 1700 miles away.
Its the monkeys making these decisions that are gambling billions on corporate ventures that cannot be paid back, and then giving us the bill as the taxpayer for their increasingly inherent gambling addictions. Bye bye economy. Stupid.

By: dicky

dicky — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:42:31 +0000

well my card stopped working in july 08 so i rang the help centre …. they tod me they had updated some of the cards and and new cards had been sent to me 3 weeks prior … well i had not recieved a new bank card so after they checked my address, they said they will send out another replacement card

Now today (sept 11th ) i wanted to set up a new payee but still not recieved a new card …. so rang them again i explained that the previous 2 cards had not arrived … the operator then enquired with her supervisor about it … she came back to me and said that she was sorry about me not recieving the new cards … but a batch of cards during july and august had gone missing from the company that distributes them …..

GREAT ….. obviously these cards are for enhanced security ……. NOT

By: John Matthews

John Matthews — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:59:59 +0000

Natwest online banking is CRAP. It’s the very worst online banking I have used and doesn’t have a candle to most other banks. It has limited options, provides limited information and should be put in the bin. I can only imagine you have not tried other banks offerings…

By: peter

peter — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:19:55 +0000

i agree, bloody useless and is not a practical security measure.. i ‘m not going to carry this thing around!
natwest will have to change their policy soon

By: richard kimber

richard kimber — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:17:24 +0000

Ihave been with my branch of Nat West for 40 years,and online banking for 5 years.Today i go to make a single payment to a relative and i need a card reader.Have they sent me one NO.Idid not know they existed.On there website i ask how i can get one.Can they tell me No.Maybe i should change banks.

By: Dan Barnes

Dan Barnes — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:10:47 +0000

I got this anal retentive thing aggggggges ago. This evening I need to urgently transfer my little bro some money. To add him to my list of individual Payees I need to use the reader. Where the hell is it? Ive not used it since I played with it 9months ago…… Misses hasn’t seen it either…. she says “I dont have one of them with my bank.” “You should leave Natwest are crap anyway.”

Yet another Irrate soon to be Ex Natwest Customer.

By: Random Miser

Random Miser — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:29:52 +0000

As an RBSG employee involved in the implementation of this device across the group’s brands, I’d like to extend my gratitude for the endless LOL’s abounding in this blog and the responses. Thank you. It humours me to no end that of all the ridiculous and atrocious services and products NatWest have to offer, it’s the card reader that is causing so many of you to uproot and join another bank where you will undoubtedly be greeted with exactly the same crap.

By: Simon says.

Simon says. — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:11:43 +0000

It’s the card which holds the pin counts. So swapping another card for the 3rd attempt makes no odds at all.

Although this debate has dried up a little it should be said that every bank will ultimately do this, sadly the general populus are too stupid or too trusting to safely use online banking services and whilst that is the case banks need to do all they can to protect themselves and their customers.

Those in the know will understand the factors of authentication and will be aware that simply having “something you know” will always leave you at the mercy of who else knows it, either via compromise (keylogging malware), deception (phishing) or simply having chosen bad passwords. Due to this inherent threat many companies be they web based or corporate hardware are introducing 2nd factor authentication “something you have” and yes this does make life a little more complicated and banking online a little less convenient but security and convenience seldom coexist.

I was pleased to see that RBSG only use the card reader authentication on high risk transactions rather than login and personaly welcome the enhanced security for a slight tradeoff in convenience.

Just wait until we hit 3rd factor “something you are” then things will get really interesting.!

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:47:08 +0000

NatWest just sent me a card reader to Guatemala, where I am based.

Trying to replace my Natwest Credit Card, though, appears next to impossible.

Different priorities.