TV4 News’ reporting on Josefine Roos, who had her accounts at Swedbank locked for 6 months without a response, has caused enormous reactions.
She was terminated as a customer and is now blocked from bank-id for a year.
– It is a further step for us to counter fraud, says Charlotte Pataky, press officer at bank-id.
On Monday, Ekonominyheterna reported on Josefine Roos who had her bank accounts locked by Swedbank for 6 months without being told why. Just a few days after TV4 asked about Josefine Roo’s case, she was dismissed from the bank, which also decided that she should not have access to a bank ID for a year.
– I need a bank ID. I need to be able to make a schedule for how my children will go to kindergarten, I need to be able to log in to the pharmacy and order home medicine, for example. You need a damn bank ID for everything. You are completely handicapped without it, Josefine Roos said then.
Blocking function
It’s simply that Swedbank has put a block on her at bank-id, which means she can’t get a new one issued at another bank either. It is possible since a change in the law a few years ago.
– It is a further step for us to counter fraud. Before, you could go from bank to bank and commit crimes. With this blocking function, it doesn’t work, says Charlotte Pataky, press officer at bank-id.
Bank-id as a company is not involved in making decisions about blocking, but it is the individual bank itself that decides about it. That block with bank ID always applies for one year.
Complaints are increasing
Being completely blocked from bank ID is a complaint that has increased, according to the Consumers’ Banking and Finance Agency. Josefine is simply not alone, which is also evident from the reactions that Monday’s feature gave.
How many customers are blocked at bankid each year?
– We cannot say that, because it is the banks that block bank IDs. So it is extremely bank secrecy between each bank, but it is the banks that decide when blocking takes place, so therefore we do not know exactly how many are blocked, says Charlotte Pataky.
The economic news has once again sought Swedbank for an interview, but the bank has declined. Previously, Josefine Roos was urged to appeal the decision to Swedbank’s customer ombudsman.