Rant: Banks that only let you see the last few transactions online

[Phil Addison]

Just logged onto my low usage Barclays account and I'm greeted by an empty statement saying "there are no transactions for the period you selected". WTF.. I haven't selected any period ... oh, it says "in the last 30 days", true I haven't used them for over 30 days but I want to update by spreadsheet from April. There is no way to view a statement of any kind, all that's on offer is 'export' but all attempts to coax that with various date ranges give the same error "there are no transactions in that period". I have to resort to phoning their helpline where (eventually) I'm told "only 60 items or 6 weeks [whichever is less] are available online [so any of my stuff from April has timed out!]. They say if I change from paper statements to online statements I can read them online, yeah right, as if I'd trust them not to suddenly curtail that and/or make then non-cut'n'pasteable pdf's. Fortunately I do have the data as paper statements but that's not the point of online banking is it. I think I would agree to having online statements if they would email them to me, that way I am sure to get them rather than having to remember to fetch then every month.. oh its not even every month now, they don't generate them if there are no transactions!

On the other hand Bank of Scotland allows exporting from 1st Feb. 2005 (although it used to be 2002 and they seem to have arbitrarily changed it) with limitations of max of 150 entries and 3 months timespan at a time, but you can make multiple downloads to get anything and everything from 1/2/2005.

Lloyds have exactly the same rules but go back to 1st July 2002.

So which banks do give decent access to your past transactions, and what is the idea behind Barclays making it such a pain? And which are the badies - name and shame them!!

Phil

[Bob Eager]

NatWest appear to let me go back to 2005.

[Davey]

I don't know how far back HSBC will let you go, but I have never had a problem going back into the previous month, certainly more than 30 days. I'll check next time I'm online to them.

[geoff]

In message , Phil Addison writes

There is a facility to view old transactions online, but you have to sign up for it, you can't do it retrospectively AFAIK

Somewhere near the free kaspersky AV offer

[Phil Addison]

Can't see any of that. Have you been on lately, they've redesigned the site since I was last on?

The export facility seems to be screwed... "Export my data: we'll download all the information we have about your accounts ? so we won't ask you for a date range. But please be aware that it may take some time to download." and invoking it produced "You can type in dates for any period between 26/09/2012 and 26/09/2012 for this account."

Wankers! 'all my data' should go back over a decade!!

What with the hassle of their pin sentry, extortionate overseas atm fees, and now this, I might have to ditch them.

Phil

[Nightjar]

On 26/09/2012 23:20, Davey wrote: ...

HSBC let you selectively view back to the date of the last statement, which can be up to three months, then view complete statements prior to that.

Colin Bignell

[Ian Jackson]

In message , geoff writes

Barclays used to let you go back several (at least six?) months, but now it's only about six weeks. [The oldest transaction in my current account is 15 August.] On the other hand, Halifax seem to let you go back 'for ever'.

[Bill]

In message , Phil Addison writes

Just another rant or warning.

I have a Smile (Co-op bank) account, which deals with a credit card and current account. Both accounts appear to be directly with them, rather than any third party. The cc is paid off automatically by them from the current account on a monthly basis, which usually works pretty well.

But during a recent period, mentioned here in times past, where we had to fund air fares to South Africa, the transfer was made by them during a weekend. On the statements, the cash left the current account but failed to appear in the CC account, leaving me apparently a few thousand pounds down overall.

When I eventually got through on the phone, I was told that this was because the cc department only updated its transactions each weekday evening, whereas the current account was updated as it happened. So in theory the money was "missing" for two days. I was told the statements would be amended on the Monday night, with the dates of the transaction altered to when the transfer was initiated.

I don't think this is satisfactory, and suspect it is of borderline legality to alter statements after the fact. It certainly caused panic here.

[Mark]

---snip---

I've swapped banks several times in recent times and I have concluded they're all just as bad.

[JTM]

Just checked; RBS go back to 2005 Nationwide to 2009 (might be when I opened a/c) You have to click an 'archive' option for the older ones

John

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'll add a rant about Barclays online banking. I don't need to pay things very often via that - perhaps no more than about half a dozen times a year

- and usually to someone I've paid before.

But a couple of months ago wanted to pay someone else as it were. And it informed me I needed a card reader. Great - but why didn't it send me one before introducing this? Or inform me it would be needed? Got one - and what a performance to pay a bill.

[Tim Streater]

Could you explain what you mean by "hassle"? Do you mean having one at all or the need to use it for some particular action?

[Tim Streater]

How can you be using Barclays online banking *without* a card reader?

[John Williamson]

Just use it to pay regular recurring bills or pay into accounts you've paid into before. You only need the PIN sentry device to set up new payees on the account.

This information has been on their website now for over a year. However, I have recently set up accounts on Amazon and Paypal without using the PIN sentry device. The rules may vary, though, according to what sort ofaccount you're paying out of.

[Mark]

When Nationwide introduced a similar feature it was well publicized and the readers were automatically sent out in advance. It's a shame they couldn't get much else right.

[Ian Jackson]

Not so. With my Barclays account(s), I have to use the PIN sentry just to 'get in'. My wife's account(s) don't have PIN sentry access protection (just password etc).

[Reentrant]

OTOH ...

We're in the departure lounge about to go on holiday and remember we've not notified Halifax we'll be using our Clarity card abroad.

Phone them up on the mobile, wade through the various automated prompts, eventually get a human and start on the security questions. Final one is "What did you spend most recently at Tesco?"

Not surprisingly we don't have printed statements to hand, so I log onto the website with the smartphone, find the right account, scroll to the bottom Tesco entry and read the amount. "No, that's not right" she says.

Huh? I happen to scroll sideways and see the date column, and (unlike all our other online accouns) Halifax list the most recent transactions from the top downwards. So I read out the top - ie most recent - Tesco amount.

"Sorry", say Halifax, "Once you've given an incorrect answer to any question you have to hang up and dial in again". She wouldn't budge.

[Tim Streater]

But you can't even login without one, AIUI. I got mine before the deadline after which you need to use it to login. Username/password is not that secure, although US banks seem to think it is. But too many folks use their DoB, or their spouse's maiden name, or other easily guessable thing. Of course, too many folk also use 0000 or 1234 for their PIN, but at least with a card reader, you don't have that going out over the internet.

[Tim Streater]

And so are less secure.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Eh? Have done for many years without.