Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 174 posts

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#51

Post by fredkingham »

elcct wrote: post #42
dan1234 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> personally doubt a wealthy person would use that bank and yet they seem to think their customers are pissing gold. Actually they give a decent interest rate (relative to the competition) of 3% on the first £3,000[0] so I know a few people who have multiple accounts with them just to reap the interest. [0] http://www.tescobank.com/current-accounts/

3% minus inflation of 0.6% that would be 2.4% of £3000, which is £72 a year, which gives £6 a month. Is it worth the hassle?

because a lot of accounts provide an interest rate that's below inflation

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#52

Post by dan1234 »

elcct wrote: post #42
dan1234 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> personally doubt a wealthy person would use that bank and yet they seem to think their customers are pissing gold. Actually they give a decent interest rate (relative to the competition) of 3% on the first £3,000[0] so I know a few people who have multiple accounts with them just to reap the interest. [0] http://www.tescobank.com/current-accounts/

3% minus inflation of 0.6% that would be 2.4% of £3000, which is £72 a year, which gives £6 a month. Is it worth the hassle?

There aren’t many other options when it comes to low risk, short term money storage. Certainly beats any cash ISA rate atm (some of which are actually below inflation).

There’s a website[0] dedicated to helping with this style of saving, so I think it’s a fairly popular thing with people who don’t want to leave money on the table.

[0]https://www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#53

Post by laumars »

elcct wrote: post #24

> Tesco Bank is stressing that relatively small amounts were taken from 20,000 accounts If someone is living month to month, said £500 missing could be very serious complication of life and £25 "emergency fund" is a joke. I personally doubt a wealthy person would use that bank and yet they seem to think their customers are pissing gold.

In many instances the amount taken is significantly more than £500 too. One colleague has had £800 taken. He's quite stressed right now.

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#54

Post by fweespeech »

maxerickson wrote: post #47
Taek wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep a lot of money in cryptocurrency in my cold wallets. Those can't be seized, no run on the banks there, and thus far the appreciation has been great.

Your cryptocoins can be tainted by a government though. That is, the addresses can be published by whatever entity with a threat to taint addresses they send value too unless the target addresses turn the value over to the government entity.

If the threat environment involves a Government vs. You, anything that is not physical currency is dead.

They can freeze your bank accounts too.

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#55

Post by Pitarou »

elcct wrote: post #27
coldcode wrote: post #20

The worst thing that can happen for any bank is to have its customers' money taken away. No one will ever do business with that bank again. You can screw up everything else but lose people's money is unforgivable.

People have short memory and they don't care. Offer like £50 sign up bonus and they'll be flocking like crazy sheep.

TalkTalk's recruitment drive is a good example.

I would consider taking the £50, but I would make damn sure not to put ALL my funds in there.

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#56

Post by mcintyre1994 »

elcct wrote: post #42
dan1234 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> personally doubt a wealthy person would use that bank and yet they seem to think their customers are pissing gold. Actually they give a decent interest rate (relative to the competition) of 3% on the first £3,000[0] so I know a few people who have multiple accounts with them just to reap the interest. [0] http://www.tescobank.com/current-accounts/

3% minus inflation of 0.6% that would be 2.4% of £3000, which is £72 a year, which gives £6 a month. Is it worth the hassle?

Think of it as a savings account and it's fairly competitive in the current climate. No monthly pay-in required, no direct debits etc. required, just 3% interest no questions asked.

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#57

Post by dwightgunning »

tome wrote: post #35
mstade wrote: post #22

And this right here is why you should have accounts with at least three separate banks, ideally in at least two different countries, and emergency funds in all of them. Also – get a couple of credit cards! Even if you never use the credit beyond what's necessary to keep it, it's good to have for when the proverbial shit hits the fan. Cash is also useful for solving the basic needs like getting food, but for paying bi…

> ideally in at least two different countries Is it generally easy to open accounts in countries you are not resident in?

I'm an Australian expat in The Netherlands with accounts in AU, here in NL, and an additional account I had setup in the US.

Both the NL (even when has temp residency / work visa) and the US account were a major PITA to create.

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#58

Post by to3m »

elcct wrote: post #42
dan1234 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> personally doubt a wealthy person would use that bank and yet they seem to think their customers are pissing gold. Actually they give a decent interest rate (relative to the competition) of 3% on the first £3,000[0] so I know a few people who have multiple accounts with them just to reap the interest. [0] http://www.tescobank.com/current-accounts/

3% minus inflation of 0.6% that would be 2.4% of £3000, which is £72 a year, which gives £6 a month. Is it worth the hassle?

What hassle? If you need a current account, open a Tesco one, and you're getting free money.

(If you opening multiple ones, and juggling money between them or whatever, you're probably just the sort of person who gets a kick out of doing this sort of thing, and so the exact figure is beside the point...)

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#59

Post by hiou »

mstade wrote: post #22

And this right here is why you should have accounts with at least three separate banks, ideally in at least two different countries, and emergency funds in all of them. Also – get a couple of credit cards! Even if you never use the credit beyond what's necessary to keep it, it's good to have for when the proverbial shit hits the fan. Cash is also useful for solving the basic needs like getting food, but for paying bi…

Thanks Dad. You realize that for every single bad thing that happens there are always additional steps that could have been taken to prevent it? Unfortunately there is a trade-off most people make between living their life and prepping for the end times.

Re: Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts

#60

Post by brador »

elcct wrote: post #42
dan1234 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> personally doubt a wealthy person would use that bank and yet they seem to think their customers are pissing gold. Actually they give a decent interest rate (relative to the competition) of 3% on the first £3,000[0] so I know a few people who have multiple accounts with them just to reap the interest. [0] http://www.tescobank.com/current-accounts/

3% minus inflation of 0.6% that would be 2.4% of £3000, which is £72 a year, which gives £6 a month. Is it worth the hassle?

With Brexit uncertainty the current GBP inflation is over 20%. 3% is a drop in an ocean on that.
Post reply on HN