Broadcasting your bank details to the world

Hello chaps,

Reading about how the UK Government has lost the bank details of almost the entire population of the UK makes me wonder why it is totally normal for German people and Companies to share their account details, on invoices, the telephone or on websites but in the UK everyone is so worried about identity theft, that you are encouraged to shred bank statements.

Does identity theft not exist in Germany or is the banking system not as open to abuse?

I hope that one of you bright sparks will be able to enlighten me

I know what you mean. Got these Nigerians running around trying to get your UK bank details and over here you can pick up the phone to any company and say "Can I have your bank details please?" or just read them off the website!!

The bank statement contains more information than the account number/sort code, like your address and all transactions. This gives far more information away. Ever been asked by your bank 'what direct debits do you have' as part of the idetification process when phoning them? Even here you should shred everything before putting it in the blue bin marked 'identity theft' directly outside your house for a week or two before it's collected. You would be very surprised how easy it is to gather enough information to pretend to be someone else.

The British are paranoid about security, as the palaver yesterday shows. But the fact is that having an account number and the account holder's name isn't enough to access the money. If you don't have your bank card and the PIN number, then to have any chance of getting to the money you would need your passport or driving licence. These are obviously not that simple to simply fake. And don't forget the humble signature as a form of ID – banks should always check your signature with the original application where there is any suspicion of foul play.

The other point to remember is that although being the victim of fraud is not a nice experience, it's not one that will affect you financially, since the banks cover the costs of any fraudulent activity.

I'm with you. People spend too much time worrying about shit that may or may not ever happen. We've had people on the forum that lock their car doors in case of "carjacking" at the traffic lights, and people that won't mention what town they live in etc.

Frankly if some bugger wants to get you they will. Obviously you need to be sensible, but some people are just paranoid.

Should indeed, but this is sadly not the case

The problem with ID theft is not so much someone emptying your bank account, but things like them taking out loans in your name and then defaulting. This really can ruin your life, as it is a) often difficult to prove it wasn't you and b) is even then difficult to eradicate bad credit ratings.

I.D. theft does exist seen a couple of cases about it in the papers but irs been done on the internet.Germans separate their rubbish more nad its harder to get hold of bank statements at the paper tip

I experienced this problem a little while back when I bought something from a UK seller on Ebay. I mailed him without thinking "send me your bank account number and sort code and I`ll transfer the money". I got back a mail saying "sorry, I never give out my bank details to strangers"! I thought well how the hell do you think I am supposed to pay you. I think he expected me to send him a cheque. But bank accounts here dont come with cheques as a rule.

Eventually did a paypal transfer and so all lived happily ever after. But it made me aware of how archaic the banking system in UK still is compared to Germany.

My parents answer the phone in Ireland with their phone number. They insisit its dangerous to give out your name on the phone until you know who's there.

I think its just a throw back to the days of the button A/B blackphones (an example of which was still recently to be found in Gunther Murphys), where you only pressed button A to release the money when you were sure you'de dialed the right number.

Yer kidding right?

This is all true enough, but shredding all documents that contain any personal data is sensible, and not paranoid. It doesn't take long and is enough to force the casual attacker on to an easier target.

France, Ireland, the USA, and the UK still run their banking systems based on cheques. It is indeed archaic. When I had an Irish company we used to get cheques drawen up in DutshceMark, and US$ to pay suppliers there. The German bank would then charge them DM 20 to cash the cheque.

The UK system is indeed archaic; an Überweisung takes 24 to 48 hours to be deposited into your account, whereas having a cheque posted to you and then waiting for it to clear takes about 10 days.

Can`t rememeber exactly whether it was here on Britboard or over on the mirror-equivalent for Germans http://www.deutsche-in-london.net there was a story about a German in London who was sent a cheque from someone. She put the cheque in a drawer and forgot about it. Then as the days and weeks went by she wondered why the money still hadnt arrived in her account. Someone then pointed out to her that she had to physically take the cheque to the bank, queue up at the counter, fill in another form and hand it over with the cheque to the clerk. And that that wasnt the end of it either, it would still take "up to five working days to clear". She had thought the cheque was just a kindly written confirmation "with compliments" to say that the money had been credited to her bank account! What a palaver...

Last time I had my passport renewed (back in the good old non-biometric days) the British consulate in Düsseldort wanted payment by DM check ("Euroscheck"). Had to go to the bank to arrange to have some sent to me so I could send one on to them.

AFAIK there are no such things as Eurocheques any more. You can however get cheques, I've got some at home, they can be useful for paying the finanzamt on the last due date (10th) if you have a bit of a cashflow problem, as a cheque is regarded as cash but still takes a few days to get cleared.

I just donated €181 to the Consulate in Düsseldorf for a new passport and I sent the money by Überweisung using the details published on their website.

Bloody hell I knew they'd gone up in price recently. but I didn't realise how much. I'm sure I paid about €90 about 3 years ago!

Egads, €180 is 360 DM. Definitely didn't pay anything like that (around 2001), certainly way less than 200 DM.

There's been a double-whammy of price increases; firstly the price in the UK has increased significantly to pay for the biometric passports and their wretched ID database, and secondly the Consulate has significantly increased their own cut in order to pay for their tea parties. They have a whole Q&A page on their website to explain the cost. The good news is we're only the 4th most expensive country in the world:

Wouldn't a simple "Hello" do?

IF and it is a big IF, the discs have been stolen by "Mr Big".
But the chances are that some teenager off his face on the UK's fabulously cheap and availeable drugs
cut his 10 quids worth of chaz off them and dropped them in the bin.

Interesting that some Tory knut now says we shouldn't trust the government with our details and ID cards are a bollocks.
I could almost go down on a blow up doll of Th*tcher.