spiral
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Post by spiral on Oct 21, 2020 11:01:15 GMT
I have recently come across the above company which has only just received its banking licence that is offering best buy notice accounts and fixed term accounts. It is FSCS protected up to 85K so sounds alright except they have no web interface. You manage the account by email.
Considering all the loops I have to jump through these days just to log into some bank/building society accounts (One time passwords by phone, scanned codes and number generating machines) followed by further hoops if I want to make a transaction, it seems very low key to just accept withdrawal requests by email.
Anyone else looked into this company and have any thoughts?
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spiral
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Post by spiral on Oct 22, 2020 7:06:46 GMT
I have gone ahead and opened an account. I have 14 days to assess and commit funds before the account is closed.
After opening the account I received an email linking me to a secure email portal powered by mimecast. In here was my welcome letter with account details etc.
The bizarre thing is that it doesn't ask you to use this portal for transactions. It says "We don’t offer online banking just yet, so if you need to manage your DF Capital account or if you have any questions, please email us at xxx"
Presumably anything that is requested by standard email is responded to by secure email however if my email account is hacked, a request could be sent to change account details (nominated bank, email address etc) and the replying email could be intercepted and deleted before I see it.
I suppose some of this risk could be mitigated by logging into the secure portal weekly to see if there are any messages and this would probably be safe as they don't offer any instant access accounts so it wouldn't be possible to drain the account of funds between logins.
It does seem strange that they would have been given a banking licence and FSCS approval if their systems were insecure.
Its also mentioned in this article:
Still have my doubts though.
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 22, 2020 7:14:59 GMT
I have gone ahead and opened an account. I have 14 days to assess and commit funds before the account is closed.
After opening the account I received an email linking me to a secure email portal powered by mimecast. In here was my welcome letter with account details etc.
The bizarre thing is that it doesn't ask you to use this portal for transactions. It says "We don’t offer online banking just yet, so if you need to manage your DF Capital account or if you have any questions, please email us at xxx"
Presumably anything that is requested by standard email is responded to by secure email however if my email account is hacked, a request could be sent to change account details (nominated bank, email address etc) and the replying email could be intercepted and deleted before I see it.
I suppose some of this risk could be mitigated by logging into the secure portal weekly to see if there are any messages and this would probably be safe as they don't offer any instant access accounts so it wouldn't be possible to drain the account of funds between logins.
It does seem strange that they would have been given a banking licence and FSCS approval if their systems were insecure.
Its also mentioned in this article:
Still have my doubts though.
I know nothing re: DF but there have been a few very odd little banks with outdated mechanisms pop up on best buy lists from time to time. Providing you're sure you're registering for the same institution as covered by FSCS, then I *personally* would not worry on that front. Re: security you could ask them about it. Perhaps the new-ish name validation against bank accounts is their protection against someone trying that? unless the fraudster had access to one of your bank accounts or has the same name! Above said, I do also personally endeavour to try and limit my accounts just to 'normal' online systems/apps and consolidate to fewer providers wherever possible. Just for my sanity's sake, more than anything else.
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 22, 2020 7:18:29 GMT
By the way, just in case it interests you, I've just noticed that Atom bank have a 1 year fix at 1.18% which doesn't seem to have been added to MSE as of yet.If you're happy using only a smartphone for access, I think their app is quite nifty w/ face and voice validation. Also very easy to add new accounts when you're set up. edit: Either I was looking at a cached page or that rate has just disappeared before my eyes.
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macq
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Post by macq on Oct 22, 2020 8:48:15 GMT
The email thing is a bit/very strange and not for me(but maybe a modern type of postal account) but there was a write up on a couple of new banks on "This Is Money" website a couple of days back One of which was DF Capital described as a niche lender on another site - so seem legit if some what of a fintech company maybe? Also now a MSE thread about them so you may get feedback on using them
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Oct 22, 2020 10:42:52 GMT
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spiral
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Post by spiral on Oct 29, 2020 11:12:34 GMT
I contacted DF Capital to clarify one of their T&C’s that wasn’t clear. I received a response from their MD however it still wasn’t clear so I had to go back again. This time the MD confirmed my interpretation.
After signing up what I didn’t say above was that my wife then signed up using the same email address that I used. The way their secure mailbox worked was an email was received in my standard inbox informing me to log into the secure inbox to read their communication. Because we both signed up using the same email address this gave us a common “secure inbox” for which my wife didn’t have access because I had set up the password.
I messaged them again asking if this was correct and was there a way for my wife to have her own inbox to which their MD sent me user instructions for using the mailbox. As expected this didn’t cover my issue so I again got in touch. This time I received a telephone call (not from the MD) and the outcome was that the inbox was linked to the sign up email address so in our case there would only be one.
I was told that this secure mail would be where we would request withdrawals. When I asked how would they know what account we were talking about they said that we would need to include the account details in the communication because there were 2 accounts linked to the mailbox. They seemed totally oblivious to my comment that I could operate my wife’s account or vice versa.
Even joint accounts that we have elsewhere require us to have separate usernames and passwords. This isn’t even a joint account but we need to share a password to a common mailbox where we “manage” the account.
Although the company is FSCS protected, I think they have bitten off more than they can chew in a short period of time.
The fact that 3 out of 4 contacts I have had have resulted in the MD contacting me shows the company is either very small or cannot cope with their new found fame however the debacle with the shared inbox is a step too far for the extra few quid in interest that they are paying.
I will not be funding the accounts.
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