If you are someone who spends most of your time on social media, you are definitely up to date with the using relevant hashtags for your social media posts. But what if hashtags could improve your banking experiences?
Aiming for utmost banking convenience, Hashtag Banking is a financial service that allows you to make transactions via your favorite means of communication: social media. This means that while you browse through your social media feed, you can also make payments by using the correct hashtags. Thus, hashtag banking allows you to carry out unlimited activities in the split of a second.
Hashtag Banking made its debut through Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd in 2015, allowing people to bank through social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Following its motto of being technologically driven and highly innovative, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Hashtag Banking product definitely fits the bill of being a groundbreaking financial product.
You can now pay your bills and check your account balance all with just simple hashtags. For example, for balance inquiry, the hashtag you need to use is #bal and #ATM400001 to locate the nearest ATM. All you need to do is ‘follow’ your bank on social media. Hashtag Banking only works over private or Direct Messages (DMs), which will only work if you and your bank are following each other.
Moreover, you can also recharge your mobile and DTH. Another plus point, you need not enter your card details every time you make a transaction. Tweet the required hashtag and your account will be debited automatically. Importantly, as responses are generated over Direct Messages (DMs) so need not worry about your transactions becoming public knowledge. All you need to do is follow the bank on twitter and make the needed hashtag request.
One word: Convenience. Since all live in a fast paced world with no room for rest, we always need to search for the easiest and most convenient way to perform our work. So, why not kill two birds with one stone. You can browse through your social media feed and pay your bills at the same time.
Allowing account holders to use their social media accounts as financial instruments is definitely a great service, but its security is a common question among experts. More specifically, security of sensitive information over Direct Messages (DMs) is the more pressing concern as compared to general information that is publically accessible on all social media accounts. Technological advancements come with its fair share of problems namely, Cybercrime, which is real and very much happening around us.
On the flip side, banks claim to have found a way to deal with the obvious security issues of hashtag banking. Security is said to be a primary priority.
Browse through the below list, weigh the pros and cons and check whether social media banking is for you:
Conveniently fulfilling your banking and social media duties at the go is a definite win for Hashtag Banking. This form of banking also means that you need not download various applications for different facilities. Moreover, your phone’s performance definitely weakens if you have way too many applications for different services and social media is a definite priority app.
If there is any reason for the uproar for social networking sites, it is this- it helps create network of people across ages and borders. Thus, you need not waste time waiting for your cousin abroad to send his/her bank details for you to transfer money, you can do it whilst chatting with them! Banking across borders has never been more #easy.
Still, we suggest that you reel this point in with a pinch of salt. Most of us may have the habit of accepting fried requests from those who we do not know well. Especially with twitter, people register with handles that are not easily recognizable. Thus, it is very much possible that you may accidentally transfer money to the wrong person, which can be quite devastating in dire situations.
As previously stated, it is definitely possible that by opting for hashtag banking, you unknowingly could be giving your bank personal details like your friends list, status and messages. As an enforced rule, all financial transactions take place over a secured https protocol. But, your transactions take place over DMs, an unsecured http protocol.
Believe it or not, you could easily miss out on important notifications regarding your bank account through hashtag banking. Since most of us receive a good amount of notifications from our social media on a daily basis. More importantly, most of us do not pay attention to such notifications.
A final box to tick off before going for hashtag banking: is it really necessary for you to opt for a more convenient way of banking? Or #tbt to the already very easy Net Banking or Mobile Banking facilities provided by most banks? We suggest that you think long and hard before opting for this super cool facility.
Know about the other modes of banking:
Tags: banking, hashtag banking