Save me your banking app outage outrage - there're good reasons we bank online

Given just how many of us bank online it’s perhaps not surprising to find outages making the news these days. Most days, in fact, it would appear.

Royal Bank of Scotland owner NatWest, Bank of Scotland parent Lloyds and Virgin Money are among the major financial institutions to have been afflicted with digital difficulties in recent days. The internet gremlins left some customers unable to view their recent transactions.

Cue the predictable stampede to X, that social media platform/cesspit formerly going by the name of Twitter. Well, if you can’t scroll through your latest bout of spending, what better way of utilising your digits than to tap out a quick rant on the ever-present mobile?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It’s yet another tribulation of the constantly-connected digital age that we all inhabit and for some a suitable stick with which to beat the big banks.

Consumers and businesses rely on online and mobile banking apps to check in with their financesConsumers and businesses rely on online and mobile banking apps to check in with their finances
Consumers and businesses rely on online and mobile banking apps to check in with their finances | Canva

But really, is that at all fair? It says a lot that a few minutes or perhaps hours, at worst, without being able to check on your balance or maybe confirm an online payment or two is a cause for panic and social media bluster.

Granted, it does feel as if these glitches are becoming more frequent, even if they rarely result in anything as serious as the halting or delay in a salary payment, for example. Typically, for most personal customers, it’s a minor inconvenience. Businesses dependent on online banking services and card readers that work 100 per cent of the time, every time, may have greater reason to get upset.

I was a late convert to online banking, holding out for as long as possible with the old paper statements and even preferring to use a cheque book (now a quaint museum piece) to settle credit cards and other regular payments. You can probably blame the emergence of the “invisible menace” in 2020 and the need to complete and track a lot of remote transactions for my conversion to the world of apps and paper-free banking. But, then, the pandemic changed a lot of things, for a lot of folks, I guess.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

So let’s not be too hard on the banks. I would argue that there is still a place for the physical branch and some of the closures in certain locations have been rather short-sighted. Ironically, it’s where many people now turn when the tech goes belly-up.

Yes, you may lose access for a short while, very often when the banking systems are being updated for good reason, such as a new security patch. But, just remember what an ordeal a trip to the bank used to be, even when there was one relatively close by. That journey into town, battling traffic and shoppers only to discover the branch was shut for lunch or closed for half-day trading.

Comments

 0 comments

Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.

Dare to be Honest
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice