An all-right if not particularly secure source of internet banking services (halifax-online.co.uk)

Member Name: worst_trip

Product:	halifax-online.co.uk
Date:	11/09/09 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You avoid bank tellers and phone banking operators trying to sell you other Halifax products

Disadvantages: The Halifax internet banking service has been classed as 'not very secure'

Halifax's online banking service is all right I suppose, but they recently performend very poorly in a security poll for internet banking sites which was widely reported in the newspapers. (If memory serves they came about 4th out of the top five most popular banks, and together with one of the other banks, received a special notice for their lack of online safeguards).

Accordingly I find there is always something of a frission of poor-mans' Russian-roulette-style tension when I log on to my online account with them....will what remains of my current account suddenly turn out to have been stolen by internet fraudsters and / or identity thieves?

The problem as I understand it is with keystroke recognition programmes that may or may not have illicitly installed themselves on your computer. Because, with the Halifax, you have to manually type in a selection of letters / numbers from your chosen password in order to log into the account, there is a possibility that if your computer is infected with a keystroke recording virus "some hackers" could over time - if they record enough keystrokes - gain access to your full security details. Internet banks like, say, Cahoot, which let you select letters from your password from a drop-down menu on the computer screen are apparently much more 'secure.'

Apart from this (probably quite real) potential security issue Halifax's online current accounts work quite well. The over-riding advantage with internet banking that I find is that by operating my accout on-line I avoid having to deal with any Halifax personnel whatsoever. In recent years the Halifax have taken to making their staff 'hard sell' other Halifax products to their customers; this invariably happens now whenever I visit a branch or phone their customer service line - if I've gone in just to cash a cheque someone will always try their damndest to sell me card protection schemes, or home / car insurance, or a meeting 'to come into the branch for free a savings review' etc. etc. etc. (They even cold-call me in the evenings sometimes in their attempts to get me to take up some of this superfluous stuff.) When I did want to look at new mortgage deals, I had an 'informal chat' with a Halifax advisor which led to her setting up an acutal mortgage for me (!) (!!!) that I hadn't wanted or in any way even agreed to in the first place! So, even if their internet service isn't the best available, anything that means you can avoid dealing with Halifax staff in person is in my book, a good thing.

I have had my internet account with the Halifax for several years and although they are a slight pain to set up if memory serves - as you have to apply to the Halifax for an online account and then wait for 'set up details' to be sent to you by post which takes about a week at least - once you are registered with the bank you can operate your account in the same way that the operators who you speak to on Halifax's telephone banking service do. You can set up one-off payments, standing orders etc. to other accounts inside and outwith the Halifax, and you gain detailed information on incomings and outgoings from your account. Like all internet bank accounts, this is a very handy service to be able to access indeed.

Personally I prefer to manage my bank account myself so internet banking in general is a good option for me; however I know that other people - eg. family members of mine - are terrified about internet security surrounding their accounts and prefer to use telephone banking, or even to operate their accounts in person from high-street branches of their banks. I can't understate the element of human error that can surround relying on bank tellers - if, say, you are unfortunate enough to have a local branch that employs only incompetent half-wits. A close relative of mine for example has had years of trouble with a branch-operated account, from relying on 'that nice man from the Abbey National' - who consistently cocks up all their transactions. And despite having lost considerable amounts of money due to bank charges incurred as a result of standing orders etc. not having been correctly set up at the right times, this person refuses to take responsibility for their own banking activities by taking the obvious step of setting up an online account. It's craziness, in my opinion.

Summary: Works all right once you get it set up but be warned of internet security issues