Help needed

A good friend of mine emigrated to New Zealand last month. He's got a new
PC and broadband. We're Skyping no problem. He's browsing the web no
problems until .... he tries to log on to a secure page - e.g. his online
bank account in the UK. He gets to the homepage for his bank OK but when he
tries to log on to his account, the log-on page refuses to load - nothing !
Tried several other banking type sites - all OK until he tries to log on to
a personal account and then nothing happens.

pmj...

Sounds like it's something to do with the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
stuff.

He's got Norton anti virus on his new PC and I think this could be causing
the problem but not sure.

Any suggestions ?

MCC...

Dunno which bank your friend is using, TH, but my bank (First Direct) used
to have a thingy on its home page stating that it was for UK residents
only.
I've just had a look and that warning has disappeared, so maybe they've
changed things to allow log ins from abroad.
Just a thought.

Michaelangelo...

I just checked with my bank's (RBS) online banking conditions. It
states very clearly that the internet banking site is intended for use
by customers within the UK only and cannot be accessed from any other
country.

If your friend's UK bank operates in NZ, or has an affiliation with a
NZ bank, he should probably seek advice from them BEFORE messing with
his AV, connection settings etc.

It seems to me that this is a cautionary tale for anyone travelling
abroad and assuming that, if necessary, they can pop into any
convenient internet cafe should they need to transfer funds from, say,
a savings account to their current account. Assuming all UK banks
regulations are much the same they probably won't be able to do that.

Michaelangelo...

Further to that I've just read some more on the RBS site and found that
they have a seperate, global, internet banking service called
'Bankline' which is described thus:

"Our Internet-based cash concentration service designed to optimise
your international cash management by automating the movement of funds
('sweeping' and 'topping') between overseas accounts and accounts in
the UK."

This is a different service from normal UK-based internet banking and
has to be signed up to seperately. Your friend's bank probably operates
in a similar way.

Two solutions spring to mind:

1) Consult UK bank for advice on accessing UK accounts, online, from

pmj...

Sounds sensible!
:-)

abroad.

or

2) Return to live in the UK. :)

pmj...

I can't think that anybody who has decided to Emigrate from the UK
recently is likely to be in much of a rush to come back!!!

Food for thought!

Jeff Gaines...

Do the bank allow logging on from abroad? Banking regulations differ from
country to country and it may be you can only access a UK bank from the UK.

pmj...

Yep, plentty!...
:-)

pmj...

What Operating System is he using?
& what Web Browser (Make & Version Number)

Many banking type Sites seem to insist that you use Internet Explorer
to access them.

If it *is* Internet Explorer that he's using, then there are several
Settings & Options which will affect whether or not (& how) any Sites
using SSL (Secure Sockets layer) - that's ones which have a URL

When you say "the log-on page refuses to load", how long have you
left it for?

I ask, cos there's a Setting

[/] Check for Server Certificate Revocation

Which (if you have it Enabled, which is the Safest, most Secure way),
can *sometimes* lead to probs with some Sites, cos if it can't Contact
the Server that has the CRL (Certificate Revocation Lists) on it,
then that can slow things down a lot.

You need to let it timeout if that happens & then Click [Continue],
when it (eventually) says that it "can't check the Server Certificate"

Since you both have Skype, how about getting him on M$ NetMeeting
(as well, at the same time)? - You can use the Skype for the Talking,
but with M$ NetMeeting, he can *show* you what he's actually seeing
on the Screen of his PC!

That way, it's *much* easier to sort the probs out, rather than trying
to rely on him relaying to you, what he (says he) is seeing - cos many
people actually look at completely different things, when they are
looking at a Web Page or Window on a Computer Screen & they don't
always see the bits that they need to see!

jackie...

When I started internet banking I had to have a CD from my Bank before I
could log-in.
That was a very long time ago and I only had to use it the once.