Perils of online banking

Cahoot: sometimes rather 'out-of-focus' after a night on the town

At least 1,000 customers daily contact the internet bank Cahoot after midnight to check their account details, a new study has revealed.

Cahoot, the online arm of the Abbey National, said there were 'numerous' examples of customers carrying out financial transactions that they later regretted.

When I next went to check my balance, I'd forgotten all about it and thought I'd completely overspent

Andrew, London

"There have been instances when our helpline has recorded sheepish calls from people who carried out late night transactions while under the influence of alcohol," said Tim Sawyer, the business development director at the online bank.

"They wake up in the morning and find they've forgotten what transactions they carried out," he added.

Meanwhile online banking is growing in popularity, according to latest figures from UK internet Bank Smile.

On Sunday it followed its rival Egg by reporting that 350,000 people have been persuaded to sign up to its service since its launch 18 months ago

On Friday UK internet bank Egg said it had seen customer numbers rise by almost 40%.

The bank won 223,000 new customers in January-March compared with 140,000 in the previous three months.

Tipsy transactions

One 29-year-old man from Manchester admitted to Cahoot that after a night out on the town he enjoyed buying items online - usually CDs and books.

"It can mean it's quite a shock when I check my statements online, or of course, when the things arrive," he said.

Another 27-year-old from London said he once "shuffled a whole load of money around" from his current account to savings accounts in error.

"When I next went to check my balance I'd forgotten all about it and thought I'd completely overspent," he said.

One customer contacted the Cahoot call centre at 3am from a London nightclub, after his credit card had been declined.

He claimed the incident, in front of Japanese clients, could lose him a lucrative £100m contract and demanded £50,000 be put in his account immediately.

He claimed to have been a company director for nine years, but call centre records showed him to be 22-years-old.

Not surprisingly his request was declined.

The call centre survey for Abbey National also showed that most of Cahoot's customers are aged 25 to 44, with about a third being female.

The number of pensioners, or so-called 'grey surfers', had also doubled in the past few months.

'Customers smiling'

Meanwhile Cahoot's rival, online bank Smile released figures on Sunday showing that 350,000 people have been persuaded to sign up to its service, in the 18 months since it was launched.

"With these numbers taking up our services, there are a lot of customers smiling," said Smile chief executive Bob Head.