First the banks said — you don't need cheque books. So Alan and Glenyse Weir shrugged their shoulders and got rid of their cheque books.
Then the banks said — you don't need to actually visit a bank, you can do it all on an app, on your phone.
And again, the Weirs — a couple in their 90s — rolled over.
In fact, they found it was easy to get into the app — just a thumb press would do it. Peachy.
But then their bank updated their banking app to improve security, and they had to learn what was, for them, a much more complicated system to access banking — still on their phone, but this time, not through an app, but online.
Or, they could still use the same simple banking app — but not on Alan's old iPhone 6. They would need to update to a new, more expensive phone.
Did Alan feel he should buy a new phone just to operate the easier banking app?
Well no, Alan said. His grandson gave him the phone and he doesn't want — or need — a new one.
"Alright for them that are still on good wages but we're budgeting for things like that really," Glenyse said.
When it comes to longevity, the Weirs speak with some authority.
Their marriage has lasted 68 years. They have a 1982 microwave — it's still going, as is their decades-old mixer.
It's not that they don't embrace new technology, Alan said, they just can't stand waste. And while the banks call it progress, Alan reckons it's just "stupid".
Given there'll soon be more than 100,000 Kiwis over 85, we put the Weirs' concerns to five of Aotearoa's main banks.
But none of them supports using a simple thumb app system on an iPhone 6 like Alan's.
Their suggestions? Visit a bank — if you are lucky enough to have one nearby. Some 40% of the banks shut in the '90s and another 300 or so have closed in the last few years.
Phone banking? Yep, but we all know waiting to actually speak to a customer service person can be a pain. (Westpac though, said it has priority waiting for customers over 65).
Which just leaves what the BNZ is suggesting — online banking, using either a laptop, or, a phone — just not using Alan's old one-step thumb-app, but using the new more secure system.
The couple had already visited a BNZ bank, tried out the new system, and found it too complicated to remember.
Then Fair Go also went through the same steps and had to agree — it is a lot more complicated and time consuming than Alan's thumb app.
The BNZ has now offered to come and take the Weirs through the new system, step by step, and in person.
In the meantime though, Alan's grandson has come to the rescue again with an updated phone, so Alan's now championing this topic for his fellow residents at his retirement village, helping them to get to grips with how to do online banking on their phones.
But he'd still like to see BNZ simplify the process.
"That fat thumb of mine does a good job on that little app... it needs to be as easy as that."
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