Lack of mobile phone makes banking in France too difficult
Reader queries why banks send SMS codes instead of using other alternatives
To the Editor,
Is everyone sick of being treated like a criminal in France?
I recently came across one of your previously published reader letters covering the difficulties of banking without a mobile phone in France — an issue I too am struggling with.
Similar to the original reader, I do not have a mobile phone so I am now shut out of my Crédit Agricole (CA) account.
It is the same with online purchases, which they have previously rejected outright but now want at least two codes to verify that it is me.
They could have told me this in answer to the three emails I sent them asking why I could not log on.
However, they only replied to one email, telling me to change my browser, and eventually I was forced to have a meeting with them to be told this again.
I then received a letter with a strange code but see nowhere to put it in or a number on the CA website.
Other options are more secure
What I do not understand is surely a landline is more secure than a mobile number to confirm my identity?
The use of SMS verification is surely laziness of the bank.
All I can say here is they need to take a leaf out of Wise's book [Editor's note: formerly TransferWise, Wise is a multi-currency payment institution, offering many similar products to a bank and available in both the EU and the UK].
They always ask for a passkey or send an email instead of sending a text.
Other companies will ring a code through on a landline, so it is possible.
I am not happy at all.
Yours sincerely,
K.M. (via email)
