I really despise the level of online banking here in the UK (or at least with Lloyds). Broadband access is so much more pervasive here than in the US, yet things like online banking here remind me of days long ago (late 1990s) when online banking was a new concept in the US.
At least with Lloyds, you get a silly string of random numbers as your user id. No nice memorable username. It's a useless string of 9 numbers (657832237...no, that isn't mine!). Yeah, you do get the option of storing that number in the browser of choice, but it's limited to that computer and that browser. If you happen to put in the wrong information, the number gets wiped, so then you'll have to dig through your paperwork to find the crappy letter the bank sent giving you your user id. Once you get through the user id and password (which isn't too bad if you don't make typos and you use the same computer), you then have this second screen of annoyance where it asks for three random characters from your "memorable information." So, if you have "extraneouscrap", the form may ask for characters 4, 8, and 12. You don't get to type these in but rather select them from a drop-down list of the 26 letters and 10 numbers possible (btw, that would be r, o, r). All of this to get to your online banking info, yet handing out the sort code and account number is perfectly normal! In comparison, our US bank let us choose our own username and requires the whole "memorable info" thing only when money is moved around.
Oh, and since I'm still ticked with these extra hoops to see how much friggin' money I have, it looks like most UK banks don't have any kind of dynamic connection for money software (i.e. Quicken). The best they have is the ability to download the last 30 days and hope that you don't end up with a charge twice on your side because of the overlap between this time and last time you downloaded your statement. Speaking of overlap, the banks (or at least Lloyds) doesn't show pending charges online. Heelloooooo?!? I'd like to know why my available balance is 100 quid short before a bogus charge goes through.
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