First Direct ceasing text service.

[Kryten1958]

Hi everyone, even though I am very tech savvy, I still don't want or trust banking apps, even though FD is always nagging me to use theirs rather than the telephone banking service. As a compromise I use the free weekly text (SMS) mini statement service.
They are stopping this service from August, again I believe as a way of converting customers over to the app.
Successful companies all have one thing in common, they provide the customer with the service/product they want, not try to force the service they want to provide.
All I want is an electronic statement (SMS PDF whatever) pushed to me on a regular basis from the bank.
This would be much safer and low maintenance than logging into an app.
BTW I know I can access PDF statements online, but I have to log into the app and fetch them....again we are back to the App, potential hacking etc.
Ironically I would be happy to pay a reasonable fee for such an SMS service, but this has never been offered to me.
I have been with FD for over 30 years but now I am looking for an alternative.
Am I alone in being fed up of big companies that try to impose solutions on customers rather than try to meet the needs of as many as possible?

How does FD know that a fee based SMS would not be profitable at a high enough rate if they have never polled their customers or market tested it

Almost no-one would pay for that. Why would they? Which would mean that the charge per customer for those who do want it would be prohibitively high, which would further reduce demand.

Plus there could be security/privacy issues in sending banking information by text. What if someone is in an abusive relationship, their partner checks their phone and sees a text from a bank detailing their incomings and outgoings and they see something that the recipient doesn't want them to see? Banking information should only be visible after logging into the account.

OP you need to catch up with this. There is no logical reason to 'not trust' banking apps and you're making life more inconvenient by refusing to use them.

Clydesdale and Yorkshire bank bought out the virgin brand a few years ago. Now Nationwide is buying Virgin Money brand. It’s not a merger,it’s a buyout.

A business has no obligation to consult customers- they make business decisions daily. Just like some banks have made the decision to close branches, or stop offering cheques as a payment option, etc. Customers are able to stay or move to other businesses if don’t like it.

Text messaging is insecure and prone to hacking/fraud. It's also highly likely that the SMS text messaging service will be turned off in the next 5-10 years as more and more people move over to the more reliable/better features of internet messaging systems. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that the old mobile phones will cease to operate within a few years as the mobile networks move from the old 2g/3g systems to the new 4g/5g systems which means that SMS texts will probably disappear at that time as they, I believe, use the old 2g/3g systems. The mobile phone companies won't use parallel systems forever, i.e. old fashioned mobile network AND a broadband network. A bit like how the landline telephones are moving over to broadband from the old "pulse" wiring in the next few years. I think we need to accept that broadband based Smart Phones, Apps, etc ARE the future and stop trying to hold onto the past. If people don't move over now, when they're younger and more able to cope with change, they'll suffer in 5/10 years time when they HAVE to move over and are probably less able to cope with the change!

Thanks. I’ll start to pay attention.
I like nationwide. Gave me a mortgage when v few other ex would Incl first direct!

⬆️When v few other providers wouldn’t Incl FD