"A few months ago while opening a new deposit account, I got the now customary spiel about how advantageous and convenient it would be to do my own banking online. I let the banking lady run through the script, then said: "There's one thing that really worries me. If you make a mistake transferring my money, it's your fault and you pay it back. What happens, bearing in mind that I'm not a professional banker, if the mistake is mine?"
She looked puzzled. "You mean if you pay the money into the wrong account?" she asked. Exactly. There was a pause in the otherwise faultlessly persuasive pitch. Then she admitted: "I don't really know." End of conversation.
Only weeks later came the case of Clare Logie, a young woman who typed in the wrong digit (again, don't type...swipe...) and sent £2,000 who knows where. Her bank refused to tell her where it had gone, citing the Data Protection Act. The recipient's bank asked them nicely to give it back but they, within their rights, refused. Here's the quote of the day!
"Online banking is the craziest, most ill-thought-out wheeze ever. Not for the bank, of course. It absolves them of any responsibility and a great deal of work. They don't give a hoot if we make a mistake and lose our savings. If they did, they would have worked out a recovery system before they set us adrift in an online financial sea without a life belt, in order to save themselves a buck. I apologize if I insult any online banking reader but anyone signing up to this has to be weak in the head or caught up in the mad, internet thrall of being able to do anything from the convenience of their home PC. The banks have done a "good" enough job of messing things up so far without us colluding with them in yet another disastrous ploy at our expense.
