Virgin Media O2 Adopt Trustly’s Pay by Bank Solutions for UK Customers
Broadband and mobile provider Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) has today signed a new partnership that will see them adopting Trustly’s “next-generation” Direct Debit account automation and one-off Pay by Bank solutions. The goal is to streamline payments and onboarding processes as part of the UK operator’s commitment to “making customers’ lives easier“.
Granted, this isn’t exactly one of the most exciting developments to cover, so we’ll keep it short. Trustly’s new payments technology is expected to be integrated over the “coming months“. The new Direct Debit account automation with Pay by Bank should make it faster to sign-up for VMO2’s services, while one-off Pay by Bank payments will simplify customer payment processes and deliver a seamless connection to their bank accounts via Open Banking services.
Christian Hindennach, Chief Commercial Officer at VMO2, said: “We’ve been making real progress with our plans to improve the service we offer our customers over recent months … This partnership with Trustly will do exactly that – providing our customers with quick and secure ways to sign up and even simpler payment options to access our services, and ensuring we remain at the forefront of digital innovation.”
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Pay by bank seems to be becoming quite popular. I’ve used it on various websites and wetherspoons on their app too.
Means they don’t have to pay card fees and the money clears instantly using the faster payment service so I see why!
Only option on Spoon app I can see is ‘PayIt’ by NatWest I believe, is that it?
Other options are Credit/Debit Card, Apple/Google Pay and Paypal
@Andrew
Yeah that’s it. If you choose payit you’ll then be given a list of banks so you can choose your one and then it’ll hand off to your banking app to complete the payment.
> Means they don’t have to pay card fees
But on the flip-side I don’t get any cashback from my credit card. It’s a shame that the reduced card fees can’t be passed on as a discount — I might consider using Pay By Bank more often if my credit card didn’t effectively give me a 1% discount everywhere.
MoneySavingExpert and a few other consumer advocates had a warning about these OpenBanking payments that have started popping up everywhere recently. The crux of it that it basically removes all protections you would receive from paying by Debit/Credit card, or by Direct Debit as they’re considered bank transfers.
Great for the company, terrible for the consumer. Makes sense why VMO2 are jumping on it!
So basically Virgin o2 want to use open banking so they can view your account balance and transactions.
So where will this information go.. to india for more scamming as the indians will have access to your bank account. This contains your family, friends and other details. Then what a mortgage or loans taken out under your name.. it is financial suicide for anyone does this.
As a customer of this firm, you would be better sticking with Direct Dedit for the banking protection it affords. Best not to deal with Virgin Media anyway unless you have no other option, in my humble opinion. I’m sure others may disagree.
*Debit
57% of the trust pilot reviews of trustly are 1 star. This doesn’t suggest a vast improvement in VMs customer service
It will never improve unless people stop joining VM and that may force them to improve their recognised poor customer svs offering.
People moan about it but don’t do anything
There is misinformation posted about this payment method. Direct debit mandates are set up differently with fewer errors likely due to automated system (and you still get whatever protection from DDs), and Pay by Bank is highly secure as you’re redirected to your own bank’s app or online banking (not a third-party portal) with authentication of the payment using Strong Customer Authentication (typically biometrics (Face ID, fingerprint). Note that Trustly does not store your bank login credentials and never holds your money – it’s a payment middleman between supplier and customer that triggers the transfer with the customer’s permission and that’s all.
So, it’s a good option for those who value the security, speed and simplicity provided by Trustly (registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a PSD agent under Open Banking rules (FCA Ref: 900247).
It’s not secure at all if O2/VM can see your account and transactions. Also as above, no consumer protection you get with card payment.
I’ll stick to card payments thank you very much and I wouldn’t even touch o2 or virgin media anyway.
Pay by Bank appears to be a problem looking to replace a working solution. I’m not being cynical, I can’t find one single benefit for the customer of using it and only additional complexity and risks.
Doesnt seem progressive to me as a consumer, it is more effort than paying by card, and also has less protections.
All these changes,now Virgin Media customers can’t log onto there account
Seems to me, it suits Virgin Media more than the consumer!