{"id":9386,"date":"2023-09-20T07:43:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T07:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/?p=9386"},"modified":"2025-03-03T09:07:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T09:07:52","slug":"money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/","title":{"rendered":"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Money Mole is here to expose bad behaviour from financial firms and fight for your right to better treatment for you and your money.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"woman on a call with bank\" class=\"wp-image-9388 lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-225x150.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-20x13.jpg 20w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-144x96.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br><em>This week in our first edition of Money Mole \u2013 our insider looks at why banks make it so damn hard to contact them on the phone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve ever had the misfortune of needing to phone your bank, you\u2019ll be all too familiar with how painful the experience can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prepare to set aside at least an hour of your day just to get through to someone, and that\u2019s after going through several rounds of automated messages and apologies for \u2018unusually long wait times\u2019 that have become the norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But before all this hassle even begins, if you need to phone one of these firms now, you\u2019ll encounter a new and even more frustrating problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Banks have quietly buried their phone numbers on obscure pages of their websites, presumably to deter customers from ringing for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a way, it\u2019s genius &#8211; you can\u2019t have long call wait times if no one can call you. But for their customers, it\u2019s an infuriating nightmare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I looked at some old versions of bank\u2019s homepages on the internet archive <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/web\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wayback Machine<\/a> and found most banks&#8217; \u2018contact us\u2019 pages had their phone number in very obvious places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the pandemic hit, banks replaced these with messages saying call volumes were high and wait times long and encouraged people not to ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, those messages have been removed &#8211; but phone numbers haven\u2019t returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even finding the \u2018contact us\u2019 button anywhere on the homepage can be a miserable game of Where\u2019s Wally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Where\u2019s your number?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Using Wayback Machine I was able to look at the major banks contact pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lloyds is not playing fair. In 2019 it had a central contact number on the home page, but that is now long gone, replaced by a complicated menu on the contact page. Lloyds\u2019s website has a particularly tiny \u201ccontact us\u201d button on the homepage too.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"735\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/6-March-2019-Lloyds-1024x735.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9395 lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/6-March-2019-Lloyds-1024x735.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/6-March-2019-Lloyds-300x215.png 300w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/6-March-2019-Lloyds-450x323.png 450w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/6-March-2019-Lloyds-225x162.png 225w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/6-March-2019-Lloyds-900x646.png 900w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/6-March-2019-Lloyds-20x15.png 20w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/6-March-2019-Lloyds-134x96.png 134w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/6-March-2019-Lloyds.png 1056w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">On <em>Lloyds Bank&#8217;s homepage in 2019. Please note these numbers may not be the same today.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"772\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-1024x772.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9396 lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-1024x772.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-300x226.png 300w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-80x60.png 80w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-1536x1159.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-2048x1545.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-450x339.png 450w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-370x280.png 370w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-225x170.png 225w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-900x679.png 900w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-1350x1018.png 1350w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-20x15.png 20w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Lloyds-127x96.png 127w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Lloyds Bank&#8217;s contact page today<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Santander used to have a super clear list of important numbers on its contact page in 2019, but in 2023 you\u2019re forced to use a fiddly menu instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"797\" height=\"1024\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-797x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9398 lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-797x1024.png 797w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-233x300.png 233w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-1195x1536.png 1195w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-1594x2048.png 1594w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-450x578.png 450w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-20x26.png 20w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-225x289.png 225w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-900x1156.png 900w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-1350x1735.png 1350w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander-75x96.png 75w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/26-March-2019-Santander.png 1958w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 797px) 100vw, 797px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Santander&#8217;s contact page in 2019. Please note these numbers may not be the same today<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"898\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-1024x898.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9397 lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-1024x898.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-300x263.png 300w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-1536x1347.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-2048x1796.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-450x395.png 450w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-225x197.png 225w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-900x789.png 900w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-1350x1184.png 1350w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-20x18.png 20w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19-September-2023-Santander-110x96.png 110w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Santander&#8217;s contact page today<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Barclays and HSBC are even worse \u2013 they don\u2019t appear to have had an obvious contact number on their home or contact pages and have had annoying clicky menus since 2019 at least. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But worst of all is the NatWest page, which is so obfuscatory about how to contact the bank they may as well not have a phone number. It took us multiple clicks and dead ends before we got to a telephone number and was extremely unclear throughout the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in 2019 it wasn\u2019t much better with several clicks needed to get to a phone number list, but at least that list used to exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bank even tries to foist an AI assistant upon you as if it weren\u2019t bad enough (something they were already doing in 2019 too).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"859\" height=\"1024\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-859x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9399 lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-859x1024.png 859w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-252x300.png 252w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-1288x1536.png 1288w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-1718x2048.png 1718w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-450x537.png 450w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-225x268.png 225w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-900x1073.png 900w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-1350x1610.png 1350w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-20x24.png 20w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019-81x96.png 81w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-02-June-2019.png 1892w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 859px) 100vw, 859px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>NatWest&#8217;s contact page in 2019 (which still required several clicks to find)<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"994\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-1024x994.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9400 lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-1024x994.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-300x291.png 300w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-1536x1492.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-2048x1989.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-450x437.png 450w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-20x20.png 20w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-225x219.png 225w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-900x874.png 900w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-1350x1311.png 1350w, https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NatWest-23-September-2023-99x96.png 99w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Natwest&#8217;s contact page today, including its digital assistant &#8220;Cora&#8221;.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The point here isn\u2019t that the numbers aren\u2019t available at all \u2013 they are if you know where to look or are prepared to spend some time digging around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is that it should be the simplest thing in the world to get hold of one, especially for customers who might be in a vulnerable, a victim of fraud, or who might not be technologically savvy. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact though is it is far from simple. And it is made worse by the swathes of bank branch closures we see in the news every month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At least, the Money Mole thinks they should provide one easy to find central contact number for those who aren&#8217;t comfortable navigating the websites looking for the &#8220;right&#8221; number. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Worrying business trend <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>And banks aren\u2019t the only ones who have gone down this route &#8211; telecoms firms are also nigh-on impossible to contact, which is ironic, given the nature of their business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We don\u2019t have the time or inclination to dig through every major company in the UK but it appears to be a worrying trend in many businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m sure these firms are inundated with calls and need to filter out some of the simplest requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But hiding their phone number is just sneaky and a huge disservice to loyal customers who want to speak to a human in a time of need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Worse \u2013 it can drive people to search for numbers in other places such as search engines, which might yield straight up scam results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A chatbot isn\u2019t going to reassure you if your card has been stolen or you think you\u2019ve been scammed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s time for these companies to stop shirking their responsibility to be contactable by their customers and get their phone numbers back on the home page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><strong>What the banks say<\/strong>\n\nMouthy Money has approached the banks about the lack of phone numbers on their home pages. \n\nBarclays, HSBC and Santander were quick to point out they have general customer service numbers on the back of their bank cards. This isn't that helpful if you've lost your card though. \n\nThe banks say their customer contact pages are designed to help people find the right customer service line for their needs. \n\n<strong>Here's what they've told the Money Mole<\/strong>\n\n<strong>Santander:<\/strong> \"The previous version of our contact pages (pre-2020) displayed a range of phone numbers, which often led to customers calling the wrong line and needing redirection. \n\n\"The current online experience for those searching for a contact number ensures that the right number is provided, within a few clicks, and in line with the customer\u2019s needs. \n\n\"The objective is&nbsp;to help customers get to the right place to address their query sooner \u2013 and provide options including digital and automated support (such as our chatbot) as alternatives to the phone for the many customers who choose to interact with us this way.\"\n\n\"Our customer research in 2019 showed us that a significant number of requests coming into us over the phone could have been resolved with the information provided on our website.\"\n\nThe bank also said it now has a \"voice in branch\" initiative where branch employees assist on customer phone lines.\n\n<strong>Barclays:<\/strong> \"Regarding the \u2018contact us\u2019 page itself: We have specialist customer service teams for different products and types of enquiry \u2013 the triage options on our \u2018contact us\u2019 page help customers find the right number for each team, so they can get their enquiry resolved more quickly.\"\n\n<strong>HSBC: <\/strong>\"The HSBC UK homepage features a help and support section that contains answers to popular customer queries, including how to contact us by phone, online chat and in branch.\n\n\"Some customers, including those with certain vulnerabilities or access issues, prefer not to contact us by phone so we also offer the opportunity to talk to us via online chat, as well as visit us in branch.\"\n\n<strong>Lloyds Bank:<\/strong> \u201cOur Contact Us and Help Centre hubs are linked from our Lloyds Bank home page and, once on these hubs, customers can access dedicated and extensive information about customer support, including the phone numbers for our teams.\u201d\n\n<strong>NatWest: <\/strong>\u201cWe offer a range of ways that customers can contact us, on the phone, through our website, mobile app and in branch. Our online chat is often the quickest way a customer can receive help. We also clearly print our phone number on the back of all our bank cards.\u201d<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Money Mole is a new insider column brought to you by personal finance blog Mouthy Money. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Written anonymously by an experienced financial media personality working deep inside the money sector, the aim of this opinion column is to call out what we think is bad behaviour and general shithousery from financial firms and other businesses in the UK. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Have you got something you want to dish? Email us at <a href=\"mailto:moneymole@mouthymoney.co.uk\">editors@mouthymoney.co.uk<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Photo Credits: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/woman-in-black-blazer-holding-smartphone-3727469\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pexels<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Money Mole is here to expose bad behaviour from financial firms and fight for your right to better treatment for you and your money. This week in our first edition of Money Mole \u2013 our insider looks at why banks make it so damn hard to contact them on the phone. If you\u2019ve ever&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":9388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1341],"tags":[145,309,65,446],"class_list":["post-9386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-budgeting","tag-banks","tag-financial-advice","tag-money","tag-personal-finance"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.3.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number - Mouthy Money<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week in our first edition of Money Mole \u2013 our insider looks at why banks make it so damn hard to contact them on the phone.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number - Mouthy Money\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week in our first edition of Money Mole \u2013 our insider looks at why banks make it so damn hard to contact them on the phone.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mouthy Money\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mouthymoney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-20T07:43:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-03T09:07:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Money Mole\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mouthymoney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mouthymoney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Money Mole\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Money Mole\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/79b8f9fcf3f3d42ac8c41572737845cd\"},\"headline\":\"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-20T07:43:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-03T09:07:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/\"},\"wordCount\":965,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"banks\",\"financial advice\",\"money\",\"personal finance\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Budgeting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/\",\"name\":\"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number - Mouthy Money\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-20T07:43:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-03T09:07:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"This week in our first edition of Money Mole \u2013 our insider looks at why banks make it so damn hard to contact them on the phone.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Mouthy Money\",\"description\":\"Build wealth\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mouthy Money\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Facebook-Profile-Picture-4.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Facebook-Profile-Picture-4.png\",\"width\":361,\"height\":360,\"caption\":\"Mouthy Money\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mouthymoney\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/mouthymoney\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/79b8f9fcf3f3d42ac8c41572737845cd\",\"name\":\"Money Mole\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Image-from-iOS-e1695135564776-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Image-from-iOS-e1695135564776-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Money Mole\"},\"description\":\"The Money Mole is a true personal finance insider - working in the financial media to expose and castigate companies that treat their customers badly and call out general shithousery from businesses in the UK. Have you got a story you want to dish? Email moneymole@mouthymoney.co.uk\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/moneymole@mouthymoney.co.uk\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/author\/money-mole\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number - Mouthy Money","description":"This week in our first edition of Money Mole \u2013 our insider looks at why banks make it so damn hard to contact them on the phone.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number - Mouthy Money","og_description":"This week in our first edition of Money Mole \u2013 our insider looks at why banks make it so damn hard to contact them on the phone.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/","og_site_name":"Mouthy Money","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mouthymoney\/","article_published_time":"2023-09-20T07:43:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-03T09:07:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Money Mole","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mouthymoney","twitter_site":"@mouthymoney","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Money Mole","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/"},"author":{"name":"Money Mole","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/79b8f9fcf3f3d42ac8c41572737845cd"},"headline":"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number","datePublished":"2023-09-20T07:43:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-03T09:07:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/"},"wordCount":965,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg","keywords":["banks","financial advice","money","personal finance"],"articleSection":["Budgeting"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/","name":"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number - Mouthy Money","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-20T07:43:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-03T09:07:52+00:00","description":"This week in our first edition of Money Mole \u2013 our insider looks at why banks make it so damn hard to contact them on the phone.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pexels-anna-shvets-3727469-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/budgeting\/money-mole-hey-banks-stop-making-it-so-hard-to-find-your-phone-number\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MONEY MOLE: Hey banks \u2013 stop making it so hard to find your phone number"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/","name":"Mouthy Money","description":"Build wealth","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#organization","name":"Mouthy Money","url":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Facebook-Profile-Picture-4.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Facebook-Profile-Picture-4.png","width":361,"height":360,"caption":"Mouthy Money"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mouthymoney\/","https:\/\/x.com\/mouthymoney"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/79b8f9fcf3f3d42ac8c41572737845cd","name":"Money Mole","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Image-from-iOS-e1695135564776-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Image-from-iOS-e1695135564776-96x96.jpg","caption":"Money Mole"},"description":"The Money Mole is a true personal finance insider - working in the financial media to expose and castigate companies that treat their customers badly and call out general shithousery from businesses in the UK. Have you got a story you want to dish? Email moneymole@mouthymoney.co.uk","sameAs":["http:\/\/moneymole@mouthymoney.co.uk"],"url":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/author\/money-mole\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mouthymoney.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}