How do we know it is you and why do you do this?

When you send or want to receive a payment through Shieldpay, we need to confirm that it is you, our account holder. One of the biggest problems in the payments market is that someone who wants to pay a third party does not always know who they are dealing with and then open themselves up to being scammed or defrauded. When you enter into a relationship with Shieldpay we verify both your and the other party’s identity and upon withdrawal the relevant bank account details. We also closely monitor the payments ecosystem within Shieldpay to ensure that our customers can transact with confidence with other people without the risk of being subject to fraud or other scams.

When you register with us, you will need to register with a password and a PIN. Creating a strong password and PIN is important and we recommend always using a mixtures of lowercase and capital letters, with a mix of numbers and symbols. For more information on how to create a strong password, see “What makes a password good?”

Logging in with your login credentials (including password or PIN) gives us basic assurance that you are the person logging in.  The security of this basic method depends on whether you maintain the secrecy of your login credentials, especially your password and PIN.  If you disclose your login credentials, you give up control over your Shieldpay account. Never share or disclose your own login credentials to anyone so that you always retain control over your account.  See “What to do” if you think your login credentials may no longer be known only to you.

A Shieldpay representative will never ask you for your password or PIN; they are recorded in encrypted form in our system and are not accessible to Shieldpay staff.  Do not disclose your password or PIN to Shieldpay staff or anyone else.  If you forget your password, you can reset this by clicking on “Having trouble logging in” link on the login page.  You can change your PIN yourself from your account Profile, once you log in with your password.

European laws on the security of internet payments require more than the basic level of assurance (provided through login) for certain activities.  Shieldpay may ask you for further assurance that you are the person performing an activity involving your money or account set‑up.  For example, ShieldPay may ask you to log in with your card issuer using 3D Secure in order to demonstrate that your card issuer recognises you as the holder of your card, or perform bank account validation checks that also confirms your identity. Sometimes we obtain further assurance less obtrusively such as by checking that the device that you are using is one that we associate with you. 

Although we sometimes use stronger than basic confirmation of your identity to prevent account takeover or fraud, Shieldpay will continue accepting the basic level of assurance (login with your email address and password).