Online Banking No No: Um, what's going on here?

By Donovan Myers
Posted on Aug 23, 2008

Last week I had the displeasure of applying for a new credit card and it's accompanying 0% balance transfer offer on the Internet. Now, I can't say that the whole process was horrible - and don't worry, everything worked out in the end - but one single thing could have made the process a lot more enjoyable:

Confirmations!

Read on to hear about my experience.

Step 1 - Applying for the card

I filled out the usual information and supplied the code from my printed application. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

Step 2 - Application approved, submit transfer requests

Rather than giving me a confirmation screen that told me my application was approved, I was taken directly to the balance transfer request input screen. I never received an email confirmation to my application's approval.

This is not an actual screen shot, this is an artists rendition of the form.

So, I ventured forward and entered my first balance transfer request: a transfer to my checking account. I entered my checking account number and the site told me that it couldn't automatically locate my bank and that I needed to enter the address information. I decided that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do so I hit back and tried to transfer to a credit card.

I entered my credit card number into the form and hit submit, this time it worked - I guess. The screen was just updated with another input form and a brief message saying that the transfer request was accepted. I never received an email confirmation that the transfer was even requested.

This is not an actual screen shot, this is an artists rendition of the form.

I continued on with the same process until I was done with my balance transfers and hit the complete button to, I guess, complete the application. I then was taken to a screen that thanked me for applying.

Step 3 - Wait and worry

I never received any reference numbers for my application or balance transfers. I never received any email confirmations of my application or transfers. I never got a record that what I had done even actually happened.

So, for a week I waited. Nothing from that credit card company, but I was actually notified by my other creditors that the balance transfers had gone through. Then one day I finally got my card in the mail. The card was (as usual) attached to a sheet that told my credit limit. Nothing about those balance transfers was included.

I had to sign-up for online access to my credit card (a usability nightmare in itself) before I was actually able to confirm that everything had gone through properly.

What can you take away from this?

1. Give your applicants a reference number
2. Send your applicants email confirmations for transactions
3. Send your applicants email confirmations for any action, no matter how trivial

Sure, people may get tired of getting an email from you every time they check their email, but at least they aren't worrying about their money because of you.