Tesco Bank halts online payments after money was taken from 20K accounts • Hacker News Board

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

#141

Post by DanBC » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 10:28 PM UTC

thesimon wrote: post #140

threesixandnine wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to the UK in June this year. Both me and my wife moved because of the job. We are from another EU country. What's interesting is that I signed us up for Tesco bank account but we were both rejected. Probably because we didn't have any history in UK yet but it still kind of sucked - now I am glad they rejected us. Ultimately the next day we went to red and blue US bank on the high street and got it all sorted w…

Luckily EU regulation now requires most banks to open a (basic) bank account. Just need an ID and a proof of address. Some banks even allow opening the bank account over the internet if you are a EU resident. (I know your pain though, opened a UK bank account a year ago, from the EU as well. The most difficult thing for me was actually the proof of address. Metro Bank required 2 plus 2 proofs of ID, a different bank…

The UK seems to have pretty stringent "know your customer" regulation. Or maybe the banks are copper-bottoming the regulation.

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

#142

Post by smcl » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 10:34 PM UTC

mjpa wrote: post #126

smcl wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but until that insurance pays out you're maybe faced with a bill you cannot pay in the meantime.

One would hope Tesco would cover any costs incurred by customers that are a direct result of this. I know banks in the past have cancelled non-arranged overdraft fees when they've screwed up, but that's easier to do as it's cancelling a charge rather than actually paying money out.

One would hope, but again time is a factor. I've had a weird "I'll be OK soon but for now I'm in trouble" situation before with Bank of Scotland back when I was a student. BOS randomly decided overnight that instead of having an agreed-upon student overdraft limit of GBP 2000 I had none whatsoever and needed to start paying them the full balance immediately. Eventually this was resolved, but for four days I was unable to pay rent or buy food. I was extremely lucky I had friends/family I could rely on in the meantime and that it was resolved so quickly, others may not be so lucky.

I am astonished how many people in this discussion are completely unaware of the idea that some people aren't as lucky as us and work paycheque-to-paycheque. I know HN/SV is a bubble, but surely we're not so out of touch with reality...

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

#143

Post by matthewcford » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 10:37 PM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #131

threesixandnine wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to the UK in June this year. Both me and my wife moved because of the job. We are from another EU country. What's interesting is that I signed us up for Tesco bank account but we were both rejected. Probably because we didn't have any history in UK yet but it still kind of sucked - now I am glad they rejected us. Ultimately the next day we went to red and blue US bank on the high street and got it all sorted w…

Note that Metro Bank is a British bank, though there is an American bank with the same name and the better Internet domain. As far as I know, they're not related.

Although the founder of Metro Bank, Vernon Hill is also the CEO of an American bank - Commerce Bancorp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce_Bancorp

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

#144

Post by thisone » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 10:43 PM UTC

tankenmate wrote: post #41

AlphaSite wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe their forex is via Hsbc?

I think you might mean SWIFT (wordlwide) or SEPA (euro area + other EU). Forex typically means buying or selling currencies, not transferring money between parties.

It's a moot point, but forex's are also used to move money internationally. It is ultimately buying and selling currencies, but you get much better rates than through the bank because the forex isn't actually moving your money. It's receiving money into accounts which are in the senders country, and then, using its accounts in the receivers country, it pays the receiver.

Also means the receiver doesn't get hit with fees to receive an international payment.

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

#145

Post by mino » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 10:49 PM UTC

nextos wrote: post #138

threesixandnine wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to the UK in June this year. Both me and my wife moved because of the job. We are from another EU country. What's interesting is that I signed us up for Tesco bank account but we were both rejected. Probably because we didn't have any history in UK yet but it still kind of sucked - now I am glad they rejected us. Ultimately the next day we went to red and blue US bank on the high street and got it all sorted w…

UK financial policies are very weird, and in some cases I'd argue they go against the right for freedom of movement as granted by EU. I guess that doesn't mean much with Brexit, but still... I've been working in a variety of EU countries, with no issues at all. In Denmark, I was even able to secure a mortgage within my second week in the country. I always work for very reputable employers, with long-term contracts. A…

Few months ago I was denied a 10£/month mobile contract (SIM-only) from Carphone Warehouse because of inexistent issues with my credit score.

I escalated this to the Ombudsman, just to piss them off for the poor treatment... magically they offered me a SIM and an (half-)apology.

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

#146

Post by johansch » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 10:49 PM UTC

martinald wrote: post #139

johansch wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, (brits), why did you downvote this without commenting? (It went from +3 to 0.)

I would guess because the UK economy is worth ~£2tn. £150bn of imports raising at 20% isn't a huge impact (around 1-2% - not a huge deal in the grand schemes of things). PS: I didn't downvote you.

That's because of the London banking. Which is now moving th Frankfurt.

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

#147

Post by guitarbill » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 11:10 PM UTC

jackweirdy wrote: post #94

pjc50 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Gov will enforce GPG level encryption for every bank interaction - 2FA with Time based OTP for example I don't think that's going to happen just yet. UK bank regulation is famously light touch and the government is extremely preoccupied at the moment. (The loss applies to the bank, not the customers, so they've got plenty of incentive to fix this. And it's quite possible it's a backend hack from the sound of some o…

What's surprised me in moving to the US from the UK is just how effective the light touch approach has been for the UK from a consumer perspective. In effect, banks are told to get in a room and ensure they're not worlds apart technically. The outcome of that has been Faster Payments and the SMS transfers that followed it, and soon a read and write open banking API. In the US I still get charged for withdrawing from…

If memory serves, the fees UK banks were charging were outrageous compared to other EU countries. Only recently via government pressure have fees got more reasonable. Make no mistake, UK banks are also scum.

The only time it works without regulation is when banks' interest align with customers, e.g. contactless payment. For the bank, less PIN exposure so less chance of compromise and liability. For customers, quick tap-to-pay. Win-win for once.

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

#148

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 11:18 PM UTC

thesimon wrote: post #140

threesixandnine wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to the UK in June this year. Both me and my wife moved because of the job. We are from another EU country. What's interesting is that I signed us up for Tesco bank account but we were both rejected. Probably because we didn't have any history in UK yet but it still kind of sucked - now I am glad they rejected us. Ultimately the next day we went to red and blue US bank on the high street and got it all sorted w…

Luckily EU regulation now requires most banks to open a (basic) bank account. Just need an ID and a proof of address. Some banks even allow opening the bank account over the internet if you are a EU resident. (I know your pain though, opened a UK bank account a year ago, from the EU as well. The most difficult thing for me was actually the proof of address. Metro Bank required 2 plus 2 proofs of ID, a different bank…

[deleted]

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

#149

Post by scoot » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 11:18 PM UTC

thesimon wrote: post #140

threesixandnine wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to the UK in June this year. Both me and my wife moved because of the job. We are from another EU country. What's interesting is that I signed us up for Tesco bank account but we were both rejected. Probably because we didn't have any history in UK yet but it still kind of sucked - now I am glad they rejected us. Ultimately the next day we went to red and blue US bank on the high street and got it all sorted w…

Luckily EU regulation now requires most banks to open a (basic) bank account. Just need an ID and a proof of address. Some banks even allow opening the bank account over the internet if you are a EU resident. (I know your pain though, opened a UK bank account a year ago, from the EU as well. The most difficult thing for me was actually the proof of address. Metro Bank required 2 plus 2 proofs of ID, a different bank…

> The most difficult thing for me was actually the proof of address.

You don't need to prove a UK address, just an address. Depending on the bank, you can open a UK bank account with an overseas address, and change it after you move.

If you haven't planned ahead, then anecdotally Barclays will open an account in branch with only a passport.

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

#150

Post by joering2 » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 11:21 PM UTC

laumars wrote: post #77

alex_anglin wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't that be covered under deposit insurance?

He'll get the money back. There's no doubt about that. The stress is more about not knowing how long it will take nor whatever complications may arise while this is all getting sorted. Also Tesco Bank's (understandably) busy customer services aren't helping peoples stress levels either.

In terms of your first $100k insured in US bank via FDIC (above that you have to have personal insurance which is very expensive), it might take even 15 years to recover your funds, depending on complexity of claims and number of different instruments that bank has offered to its clients.

For example, there are still open and active claims in case of NextBank that has been shut down in 2002, and had some updates on status done in early 2015, some 13 years later [1]

Personally I suggest keeping 70% of your financial assets in cash in safe at home, preferably split into 20% in low-volume silver coins (80% silver) and 20% in foreign currency (EUR) and the rest in USD.

[1] https://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html