I'm so glad I bank with HSBC. None of this card reader, pin number-generating shit everyone else seems to have to use.

If you rob it, can I have some of the money? :D

Tell him to get his own bank, this one's ours! :@

Yep, and all that online hackage loveliness is yours, all yours.

Yeah, people hack in to my online bank account constantly, just because I don't have one of those shit calculator-looking but not actually useful like a calculator pin-generator things.

I don't really understand how it makes it any safer? I have a unique account number to log in, and then it'll ask me for my date of birth and 3 of the characters from my passcode. I can do that anywhere I like, without needing to remember to carry about extra shit with me.

(Nor do I, but it's whizzy technology that all the hip dude bankers are using)

It requires that the person logging in physically has the account's card with them.

If you have spyware on your PC, the owners of that can copy the information you send and then use that to login with and transfer money and stuff.

This makes that far more difficult (maybe impossible) because they would need the physical card (and pin number) to login with.

It's also used sometimes for online payments - again, it means that the bank can be more comfortable that the payment is being made by someone who possesses the physical card and knows its pin.

It's certainly annoying having to carry the thing around to do (useful) online banking, but I can see why the banks do it.

For NatWest you don't need it for logging in, you only need it (from what I can remember) to set up a payment. So I can add a payee to my account and need the card reader to do that, but I don't need the card reader to make the actual payment, I don't think so anyway.

With Barclays, you kinda (kinda, because I think you can still get in without, but it's preferred that you use it) need it for everything. You should've seen me the other day when I needed to pee and I didn't have it with me :C

I love it when its the emphasised words that are wrong :D

Damn it...

Wot you said plus you need it to change payee details and some payments will always ask to use the reader.

I have three monthly payments I make with NatWest, one never needs the reader, the other keeps changing the payee reference so I need the reader (to both change the ref. number and make a payment) and the third always asks me to use the reader.

What does PIN stand for Peter? What did you just say then? (wrong)

I didn't say "PIN", I said "pin".

I have the four digits used to access my card inscribed on a thumb tack. :P

*groans*