Quarter of Brits admit to sharing their online banking login details
A quarter of online banking customers in the UK admit to sharing their login details with another person, with one in five (19.2%) giving this information to their partner, new research has found.
A surveyThorpe Park conducted on behalf of alternative account provider thinkmoney.co.uk has revealed that one in four (24.5%) online banking customers have handed their personal login details over to someone else. Of these, the majority (87.4%) have shared the information with their partner, while nearly one in eight (16.2%%) have shared them with another family member.
The survey also found that online banking login information was not the only sensitive financial data customers admitted to sharing with others. A third (33.2%) of current account/credit card customers revealed they had shared their PIN number with another. Of these, more than four-fifths (82.5%) had passed on the digits to a spouse, and a trusting 3.36% admitted to sharing their PIN with a friend.
A similar trend was seen among users of online shopping payment services like PayPal and Amazon OneClick. A quarter of people (24.4%) who make use of these facilities said that someone else is able to use their bank account details when ordering online.
Across the country, online banking customers in London were the most likely to hand over their login details, with nearly a third (30.6%) of these respondents doing so. At the other end of the scale, residents of Northern Ireland with online banking accounts appeared the most security-conscious; with just over one in 10 (13.8%) sharing their login details.
The main motivation for sharing this information appeared to be practicality. Of the respondents who admitted revealing their online banking details to their partner, half (50.4%) said it was so their spouse could check their balance for them. Meanwhile, just under half (43.6%) have also asked their partner to transfer funds or make a withdrawal for them, and a quarter (25.8%) asked them to check a transaction on their behalf.
When it came to handing over PIN numbers, the need for someone else to transfer or withdraw funds was the main motivation for respondents sharing these digits. Half (52.3%) of those who had given their partner their PIN had done so for this reason, while a third (35.6%) had asked them to check their balance.
Ian Williams says: “Sharing your PIN or online banking login with your partner may seem risk-free and convenient. Although you may trust them implicitly, the problem is that in most cases it is likely to constitute a break of the bank’s terms and conditions – which means that you may not be covered if you do fall victim to theft or fraud. While it may not be convenient, our advice is to keep these important personal financial details just that – personal.”