Who do you feel more loyal to?

[simonrockman]

I work in mobile money and there is a significant debate over whether mobile banking should be led by the operators in co-operation with the banks or the banks in co-operation with the operators. I'm interested to ask a relatively non-partisan group their views.

[nomisesor]

I suspect that most people stay with their bank, for good or bad, far longer than they stay with any one mobile provider. Though I'm fully aware that banks are in business to make money from their customers any way they can, and some will feel resentment towards them for some of their practices (reducing credit interest to negligible levels when possible, excessive charges for those in debt etc. etc.) these are, IMO, nothing compared to the opaque tariffs, dodgy cashback deals, broken promises (like "unlimited" data) etc. that the mobile providers have become known for. Furthermore, you can get a "standard tariff" of free, relatively competitive banking with mobile internet access from any of many banks and it won't go out of date. Your phone will either become obsolete or break down within a couple of years, forcing you to keep changing equipment and either sign new, increasingly long contracts, or buy your own handset and then have to buy a sim-only package which is not competitive or suitable for your needs - a crusty old codger like me doesn't need unlimited texts or seven billion minutes......

Am I in a minority of one, or do others like their bank and despair of mobile providers?

[Stevenj214]

I've been with O2 since I took out my first contract - they've always been helpful, there's always a "deal to be done", I've never had an issue.

Banking:

Lloyds TSB had me through my teens because they had the closest branch. They lost my custom by refusing me a student account when I went to university (apparently I didn't meet their "criteria" with regards to money going in and out of the account etc. - I was 17, at school, hadn't had a job!).

RBS got me at the freshers fair with the promise of a lovely student account with a large overdraft. They lasted 7 years, then recently refused me a mortgage.

Halifax stepped in with a decent mortgage offer, with the stipulation that my banking moves over to them. I'm more than happy to oblige.

[Stevenj214]

In saying that, I wonder if you are asking the correct question. Although my 'loyalty' lies with O2 to provide me with mobile connectivity, I would 'trust' each of the 3 banks I've been with to manage a mobile money service more.

[simonrockman]

You are more likely to get divorced than change bank.
20% of mobile customers churn each year.

Simon

[CaptainSlow]

I would say this should be bank led.

[hyperblue]

No loyalty to my mobile phone network, I just go for the best deal when it comes to renewal time (anyone except Orange since I get no signal in my house). Been with O2, Vodafone and Orange and found the service pretty much the same across the board.

Never changed my current account bank, although I do have accounts (savings etc) with other banks.

[simonrockman]

So I'm unusual in having loyalty to Orange?

[jon-]

In my experience:

- Banks create systems that work
- Mobile operators don't

Given that Orange can't even bill me correctly most months, there's no way I'm going to trust a mobile operator to handle my money.

[cocopop]

I don't feel loyalty to either my banks or my mobile network.

However, I trust my bank much further than my network provider. As mentioned already, banks systems tend to work better than network providers.

[The Ben]

Well working within the mobile phone industry, I havent got a clue... Probably people have more loyalty to banks., The only reason I changed from HSBC to LLoyds was that HSBC kept refering me from call centre to in branch to call centre all day until I sacked them off and lloyds have been great (not to mention the tasty blonde who works in my branch next to shop)... Its not supprising people are sooo disloyal to networks as their call centres are crap including the company I work for... for what its worth I get the crap that customers do its just I know when they are feeding me BS and I then have to explainj to them how to do their job... its crazy, but I hear all the complaints form all the networks customers so its not just mine....

Perhaps the reason it may be more hastle to change banks, ie waiting for the new account number, bank card, changing dd and standing orders etc(although I know some banks offer to do this for the customer.)





if this is all bks, Ive had 5 glasses of wine now starting my sixth

[Bullett]

I voted bank, but that's just inertia really. I've used every phone network going but only every banked with Natwest and Midland! A big difference is probably that a mobile always costs money where as a bank often doesn't (but when it does, it pisses people off).

What's mobile money?

[V8mate]

simonrockman said:

So I'm unusual in having loyalty to Orange?

Some companies I'll try not to use unless there's a fantastic benefit to be gained. Orange, however, are on my 'will never do business with again' list, no matter how much of my nose ends up removed. Ditto 'Three'.

[simonrockman]

Bullett said:

What's mobile money?

It's my day-job. I run The Mobile Money Exchange, not quite 'Greed matters' but close.

In particular there is a Banks Vs Operators thread

[Bullett]

Um, still not really that clear.

Paying for stuff with your mobile? IS that it? How does that work, some form of rfid/micropayment type thing or more like paypal? Or is it like sending a text to pay for parking?

[munky]

2 things:

1) mobile network operators make billing errors many times more frequently than banks make statement errors
2) UK banks are fully regulated by the FSA, and are used to being regulated, with heavy fines for mistakes. Mobile network operators are not, but presumably would become regulated by the FSA if they handled transactions. Which is a huge amount of work to comply with.

So maybe it's a moot question, as surely the only sensible way is for the bank to handle all transactions and balances as they do now, with mobile phones offering simply an interface/conduit? Unless we're only talking about making purchases with a mobile and it being added to the subscriber's mobile phone bill. In which case maybe it wouldn't come under FSA regulation, but maybe the consumer credit act - would there be the same cover as there is on credit cards?

How is it done in Africa? Mobile banking is already very big over there; mobiles vastly outnumber landlines (let alone fixed internet connections) even though they are often shared.

Interesting..