Not using cashpoints or online banking- normal?

[SeekingClosure]

I just want to get some idea of how usual this is.

Dm will not use cash machines or sign up to online banking because she thinks she will be a victim of bank fraud. I think this is rather paranoid as long as sensible precautions are taken with passwords, checking there isn't anything around the cash machine slot etc. Ironically Dm ridicules another relative who won't buy anything online because she might get "robbed".

Dm is only 63, and it concerns me how she seems old before her time in some ways. She refused to use chip and pin for ages and insists her bank issue her a card that is not contactless.

My mum is exactly the same.

Instead, she takes large sums of cash out the machine and then hugs her handbag closely to her chest wherever she goes.

This is all because once in about 1996 my auntie dropped her debit card and someone used it for about £10 before she could cancel it.

Yes! She always has quite a lot of cash in her purse - she will get cashback at the till (not at all shops though, just big supermarkets).

I agree with non contactless cards. Someone stole money from me using a wireless card machine and managed to get close enough to my bag so connect to my card!

As for the rest, it may just be the fear of doing it. Could she have a meeting with her bank to discuss them and ask questions?

My parents/grandparents are the same for varying reasons.

My grandmother is old/ frail-ish (OK to get around on her own slowly but no good in a fight!) and won't use public cash points for fear of being an easy target.

My grandfather has a poor memory (early dementia but again fine in day to day living) so won't use chip and pin/cash points because he forgets the PIN.

Neither use online banking because they are not computer literate and are not interested in learning at their age. Most of their friends are the same.

My parents won't use online banking/shop on line because of risk of that data being taken/used for fraud. It isn't actually that irrational because credit card fraud by stealing of data is common. Plenty of places are secure and don't store the full number but plenty of places aren't.

I think the insistance of online for everything is a huge problem - because there are still a substantial number of people who aren't computer literate. PINs are also a big issue for elderly people who would be able to sign their name and are otherwise mentally competent, but can't remember a PIN.

It's reasonably common in the older generation, although 63 is quite young to feel that way.

Money and banking has changed enormously over the past few decades and it takes some getting used to. I've always used online banking and cash machines etc, but what I'm only just getting used to is that it is acceptable now to pay for small amounts by card instead of cash as for most of my life, cards were only for larger amounts and most shops would refuse or charge extra on transactions under £5/10. I'm using contactless more, but I still carry cash because I prefer to make some small payments in cash and some places are still cash only.

But then some people now never carry cash and make all their payments, no matter how small by card. I couldn't do that because every so often there is somewhere that doesn't take cards, so I don't want to be stuck or alternatively, go through the rigmarole of registering my mobile to pay for parking at somewhere I'm likely to never visit again.

My Mum is the same.. she's 70. Refuses to use online banking, and is sure that everyone can steal her details. It stems from my brother having his paypal account hacked years ago. She is computer literate and uses it for everything except banking.

On the contactless tho.. it's a fair point. My DD2 dropped hers on a busy street and by the time she had realised it was missing, someone had spent £150 in £30 limits in the space of an hour! The bank refunded but it was a pain!

I use case machines and contactless, but am still highly dubious about online banking. I am 50.

My DGM is the same. She used an ATM for the first time last year and I had to show her how to use it. She also thinks she will be a victim of fraud and only withdraws cash directly from the bank.

I'm only 46 and I'm not a fan of the contactless cards - they have a low spend limit BECAUSE they're easy to defraud. I don't know why they were brought in, not hard to do chip n pin or even swipe n sign.

My mum (early 70's) doesn't trust online banking or shopping. It's partly not understanding the tech completely, partly not wanting to learn, partly the pita of having to remember passwords and usernames (I feel the same on this point - seriously getting fed up when creating a password 'include a lower case, upper case, number and symbol, don't use one you've used before or one remotely resembling it oh and make it fucking dance too 😡)

To be fair there is a lot of fraud goes on - that's why there's those annoying "did you see what I did there?" Ads.

My gran got taken in by a scammer just before she died too, asked her to pay for something by cheque and altered the cheque amount! 😡😡

So they're not entirely wrong.

My mum is a decade older but is a proud Luddite. She won't use anything online and is stuck in about 1984 when it comes to technology. She's the only person I know who would look up a number in the phonebook rather than on Google.

it's not that she can't - she would be more than capable of doing banking online or using Google. But she sees it as a bit of a badge of honour that she is "above" all that sort of thing. It's very frustrating. She's always been like this, as a child she used to write cheques to "cash" and present them in the bank as she refused to use the cashpoint.

as a child she used to write cheques to "cash" and present them in the bank as she refused to use the cashpoint

Obviously SHE was the one writing cheques to cash when I was a child.

On the contactless tho.. it's a fair point. My DD2 dropped hers on a busy street and by the time she had realised it was missing, someone had spent £150 in £30 limits in the space of an hour! The bank refunded but it was a pain!

Curious how for all the talk about "putting the customer first", there's very little action.

Why don't banks allow the customer the ability to setup limits and stops on their accounts ?

My parents are in their mid 80’s and do this. Terrified of being scammed so won’t buy online/ online bank. Dad goes into the bank once a week to draw out cash,and pays all his bills while he’s there.

I use a rfid protector for my contactless card (like a foil sleeve) as I’ve heard about contactless scams.

I just think my folks like to stick with what they know, they’ve always been the same, although as they become more infirm, dad does appreciate how he might have to change his habits. They’ve only recently started to use direct debit as they couldn’t get around the notion that the company had the ability to change the amount that they withdrew from your account every month.

I’m not sure I want/will be able to keep up with the various ways of paying for things now. Tapping watches and phones to pay for stuff?! What’s that all about!

@CurcubitaPepo what's the card sleeve? Can you share a link please?

FIL switches his broadband router off at night because he thinks people will sit outside his house and steal all his internet.

FIL switches his broadband router off at night because he thinks people will sit outside his house and steal all his internet.

Not quite as loco as you'd have thought ...

www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/06/wpa2_wifi_pmkid_hashcat/

The folks behind the password-cracking tool Hashcat claim they've found a new way to crack some wireless network passwords in far less time than previously needed.

(contd) ...

@MrsSnootyPants2018

This kind of thing

My dad loves internet banking now. There was a slow start, but now he thinks it is great.
Same with Tesco shopping and Amazon.

My mum supervises my dad ordering stuff online. But doesn't do it herself. She doesn't use computers at all.

They're 75.

My purse is contactless theft resistant. So I'm happy enough with that.

I use the cash machine sometimes, but I'm only early 30s and don't have online banking! I've never needed it?
I still pay a lot of tradesmen etc by cheque as a lot of the independent guys don't have chip & pin machines round here and are happy with a cheque. I also take lessons in an instrument, and the only way to pay there is cash or cheque! So a cheque it is as I don't generally have that much cash on me. Use my debit card for online purchases and other shopping.

I can't say I blame them.

My DM doesn't do online banking as she isn't comfortable using anything on the web. She's happy going to the bank and getting cash out for the week.

I don't think she used a cash machine until a few years ago.

iklboo my router goes off at night and switched back on when I get home from work. I don't think people are stealing it, but don't like the thought of the "waves" going round the house unnecessarily, and I'm not using if I'm not there. (Yes my paranoia can be quite strong at times, and I rest easier this way)

Most tradesmen now like to be paid online. Even my window cleaner accepts payment into his bank.
63 is not elderly, she could be working and using IT every day at work.
DH is 68 and does all our banking and investment online. I don't think we even have cheque books any more.

Well I don't know how much electricity a wifi router uses, but it does make sense to turn it off when you're not using it.

If you work full time, you are probably only awake and at home about a third of the time, so you can cut down the electricity it uses significantly if you turn it off when you're either asleep or not there.

Sorry it's not getting encrypted passwords & data - he thinks as in actually steal his internet so he won't have any anymore (like a physical object).