When mobile banking was first introduced as an SMS service in the early 2000s, few could’ve predicted the rapid development that would follow over the course of the next 15 years.
These days, every major high street bank offers a responsive mobile banking app that allows their customers to access account information, statements, make payments and transactions within just a few shorts clicks. Providing you can connect to the internet this makes mobile banking extremely convenient, especially if you’re in a hurry to check your balance or transfer funds.
But what other good reasons are there for you to download a mobile banking app to your mobile? Let’s run through them now…
The ability for customers to check their balance at a moment’s notice is great for those who wish to get a tight handle on their daily, weekly and monthly expenditure. And although there may be certain aspects – such as viewing a list of all direct debits – that you may only be able to do with conventional online PC banking, soon we expect the functionality of both services to be more or less identical.
Many banking apps also offer a well-designed analytics function that allows users to see their main outgoings and how much money they have been spending in comparison to previous months.
The fact is that mobile banking is just as secure as traditional PC banking, and follows more or less the same login and password structure. And even if you log in to your banking app and immediately lose your phone afterwards, most apps will log you out after a very short period of inactivity.
The growth of the mobile industry is astounding when you look at the figures. A recent national forecast from Statista suggests that the number of smartphone users in the UK will reach just under 45 million this year, which is 70% of the British population.
And that figure is only going one way right now. As a natural development of this rise in usage, mobile banking will become more and more prevalent, and so banks will invest more and more into creating increasingly responsive mobile apps to seek out an edge over the competition.
Representative 22.93% APRC variable.
For a typical loan of £26,600 over 180 months with a variable interest rate of 19.56% per annum, your monthly repayments would be £484.00. This includes a Product Fee of £2,660.00 (10% of the loan amount) and a Lending Fee* of £763.00, bringing the total repayable amount to £87,030.00. Annual Interest Rates range between 11.7% to 46.5% (variable). Maximum 50.00% APRC. *Lending Fee varies by country: England & Wales £763, Scotland £1,051, Northern Ireland: £1,736.
Think carefully before securing debts against your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other loan secured against it. If you are thinking of consolidating existing borrowing, you should be aware that you may be extending the terms of the debt and increasing the total amount you repay.