A World That Is Both Convenient and Inconvenient — Enough Already, Banking Apps!Saturday, October 24, 2026 Reiwa 8 ー　Hospital Day 58 ー　Two Days Until Discharge

1. The Bank I Had Used for Years Had Changed Before I Knew It

Since yesterday, I had been struggling with my bank account.

I had been using SBI Sumishin Net Bank for years. I cannot remember exactly when I opened the account. Was it around 2017, or even earlier?

I think either my husband or my son recommended it to me.

With an ordinary bank, you have to pay transfer fees. You earn almost no interest on your savings, yet you are charged just to transfer your own money. The advice was that an online bank would be a better deal.

That made sense to me, so I opened an account and had been using it conveniently ever since.

If you met certain conditions, such as maintaining a qualifying account balance, you could make bank transfers without fees. It was especially useful for everyday payments, including fees for acupuncture and moxibustion association activities.

Then, at some point, the banking service changed, and a new name appeared: a banking service associated with Docomo.

Where had the app I used before gone? Was SBI Securities separate from the bank? What had happened to my account?

I could not make sense of what had changed or how.

2. The Ordeal of Doing Everything on One iPhone

At some point, SBI Sumishin Net Bank stopped supporting the iPad for the operations I needed.

Yesterday, I kept trying to operate my bank account on my iPhone while consulting ChatGPT.

But I was using the same iPhone both to listen to the explanations and to carry out the banking procedures.

I kept switching between screens to check the instructions, then returning to the banking app. After repeating this over and over, the app eventually froze and stopped responding.

Yesterday, we decided it was time to stop.

Then came today.

After finishing rehabilitation and taking a bath, I started thinking.

Of course! Why not ask ChatGPT questions on my iPad while operating the banking app on my iPhone?

It seemed so simple. Why hadn’t I thought of that yesterday?

There was one problem, though. The hospital Wi-Fi barely worked in my room. It worked in other places, but I had no idea why my room was different.

In the end, I moved to a place where the Wi-Fi worked and tried again, using both my iPad and iPhone.

3. “You Already Have an Account”

I tried accessing the service through Safari and through the banking app.

I could get partway through the process, but then I would reach a point where I could go no further.

A message appeared saying, in effect, “You already have an account.”

Didn’t that mean I was already connected to the Docomo banking service?

That was what I suspected, but I had no idea what to do next.

It also seemed that I could not simply continue using my previous username and web login password.

Why wouldn’t my old information work? Was it a security measure, or was it part of the process of transferring services? I had no way of knowing the exact reason.

All I could do was read the instructions on the screen and proceed one step at a time.

4. The Records I Had Kept in the Past Came to My Rescue

What helped me at this point was a habit I had developed on my own over the years.

Whenever I was asked to remember information I knew I would struggle to retain, such as usernames and login passwords, I took screenshots and organized them into folders in my photo album.

Every few years, I would sometimes be asked to change my login information.

So I had made a habit of recording the necessary information each time.

My son had repeatedly told me that this was dangerous.

But as we grow older, we forget things. No matter how risky it might be, if something is beyond our ability to remember, we are going to forget it. Who is going to help us when that happens?

I could have written everything down in a paper notebook. But in my case, I worried that I might forget where I had written something or lose the notebook itself.

At the time, organizing screenshots in my photo album seemed like the method that worked best for me.

And today, those records proved their worth.

I set up new login information, made a note of what I needed, and finally managed to move forward.

I also entered the requested identity verification details, including my name and date of birth.

At last, I was able to log in.

My bank account was still there, intact.

What a relief!

I cannot describe how relieved I felt.

5. It Should Be Convenient, Yet It Is So Difficult to Keep Using

Looking back, I have benefited greatly from online banking.

When I made an enormous transfer to pay for my move into Eden, a retirement residence, I was able to do so without paying transfer fees.

I prepared the necessary funds and transferred the money in several installments. Given the size of the expense, avoiding unnecessary fees was a real help.

That major task is already behind me.

I have some ideas about how I want to use the money that remains in my account, but there is no immediate urgency. I can think about that another time.

What I absolutely needed to confirm this time was where my remaining savings were and whether I could continue managing them myself.

Now that I have confirmed that, I have at least achieved my immediate goal.

Still, the whole process left me thoroughly exhausted.

Banking services have become more convenient. They can save us money on fees, and we can transfer funds without having to visit a bank branch.

On the other hand, whenever an app changes, we have to learn how to use it again. When the login system changes, we have to find the necessary information, verify our identity, and sometimes create new passwords.

Because money is involved, making a mistake is not an option.

To continue using a service that is supposed to make life easier, customers themselves are expected to keep learning and making an effort.

6. Will I Be Able to Keep Up in the Future?

A thought crossed my mind.

This time, I somehow managed to get through it.

But if something similar happens again, will I be able to struggle through it all over again?

Learning new technology might be good brain exercise.

But it is exhausting if every new change requires this much effort.

Even as I grow older, I want to manage my own money. I want to avoid unnecessary fees whenever possible and choose methods that make sense to me.

Perhaps that means I must keep learning to use new technology.

By consulting ChatGPT during this process, I learned to read the instructions on my iPad while operating the banking service on my iPhone. I also started using a new password manager.

I do not have to abandon every method I have relied on until now. I can keep the methods that work for me while gradually improving security and making things easier to manage.

Even so, what a world of convenience and inconvenience this is.

Banking apps, enough already! Get your act together!

That is what I feel like saying, at least.

Still, today I finally reached my own bank account, so I suppose I should count that as a victory.

Two days until discharge.

My banking brain workout is officially over for today.

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