At this point they might as well close it, highly doubt I’ll keep jumping through hoops just for an RBS account with a Child & Co. debit card, wish I’d not bothered now.
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Patience is/was key I think – especially if it wasn’t urgent to get things set up due to a lack of other banking facilities
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True, it seems I need to have a card reader (which has been ordered) setup on the digital banking to unrestrict my account and then I need to wait 3 days for my “updated mobile number” to settle to setup the app.
If all this goes to plan I guess I might use it, if not I’ll end up leaving it dormant. 
The updated mobile number waiting game was a thing for me too if that’s any reassurance
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It actually is funnily enough! Not sure what to do with the card reader when it comes, doesn’t seem to be anything on my digital banking on how to use it to unrestrict.
There is a link to “enable card reader” in the security page of internet banking. You have to use that once and then everything should work.
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So there is, thank you!
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Well my mastercard arrived today and it works (including using the nationwide card reader as the only thing i now havent received is the rbs card reader).
Still not sure of why i received the digital banking card but as i say it works. I did receive everythinf else by text or email to enable me to set up the banking app and o line access straight adter applying.
Having to use a card reader to approve transactions over £1000 is a bit of an inconvenience but i do get the positive effect it must have on fraud.
As an aside i like the visual picture on the RBS card but so many different pins, passcodes, customer numbers just makes it a bit urrrgh for me personally. Just need to patiently wait for the £175 switching bonus and then ill be off somewhere else as i cant see myself wanting to use this account much due to the friction (even doing a transfer from the monzo app using open banking to transfer across from RBS required a card reader authentication code) so cant imagine trying to do that when out and about!!!
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You don’t have to if you enable biometric authentication in the RBS app (which you will be able to do about a week after installing and activating the app).
As @N26throwaway says, all of this (except for the authentication card, which I suspect was produced due to a delay in you having a debit card produced because of the manual nature of your application and, possibly, because Child & Co has only just switched to Mastercard so it may be precautionary in case of Mastercard-issuing delays or issues in the early stages) was standard back in the old days of circa 5 to 10 years - loosely speaking, the “pre-fintech age”! Back when I applied, the “old form” was just the standard application, because it was so long ago, and all of this stuff did happen.
Notifications for things like your mobile number “being changed” are just RBS setting up a customer profile and attaching your mobile number to it manually - which, once processed, automatically triggers a change notification notification text.
The idea of “activating” the card reader is also, actually, a good idea as it allows you to use basic functions of internet banking while you wait for the card reader to arrive - so it’s quite useful, in fact. Barclays are similar with security delays on setup.
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Just spotted the biometrics authorisation setting in the app but yes it wont let me enable at the moment. That is definitely a much easier experience than relying on a card reader.
I should point out i got a standard RBS card (not the Child & co branded one another user mentioned).
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So you didn’t go through the old form which others suspect might have been the reason for the online banking card? Interesting!
Or did you apply for one but got sent the beach hut?
Applied online via the rbs website for a switch to the rbs select account woth a beach hut branded card.
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What’s your sort code, out of interest?
16-24-06
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That is just a standard RBS England sort code (all Scottish sort codes are in the 80s), so to be expected. You only get a special branded card at Child & Co, Drummonds or Holt’s Military Banking as they are unique brands with their own sort codes.
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Been over “3 full days” and still can’t set up the app.
You have angered the RBS gods with your impatience and must now suffer 
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When RBS count “days” they really, generally speaking, mean “overnight runs of their batch processing” - and it doesn’t run on a weekend or, possibly, a Friday night.
Sometimes it also doesn’t run due to software updates or other issues, so processes are delayed.
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It seems like it! It’ll try again later and then leave it until Monday. Weirdly my digital banking is now fully unrestricted again even though I haven’t got the card reader yet. 
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Have you used any other bank’s card reader?
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