Hot take: that new account creation flow might actually be worse than the old one

I swear my bank's app used to let me open a new checking account in about 3 minutes last year. Now they added a 4 step identity verification with a selfie and a scan of my driver's license that takes 15 minutes and still fails half the time. I get they wanted more security after that breach in 2023, but did they have to make it so tedious that I almost gave up twice? My credit union down the street still does the old email plus phone code method and it works fine for them. So which is the real bad UX here: too many steps that annoy people or not enough that let fraud through? Has anyone else noticed a redesign that went backwards like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_chen1d ago

A selfie AND a scan just for a checking account?

max3881d ago

Yeah I gotta admit I used to think the whole selfie thing was just a cash grab by some identity verification company. But then last month my brother got hit with identity theft because someone opened a credit card in his name using just his email and phone number that got leaked in a data breach. It took him weeks to sort out. Now I'm starting to see why banks are adding these annoying extra steps. The old way was definitely faster but it clearly wasn't working anymore. Maybe the real problem is these systems are designed by people who never have to actually use them.