Mash Report star hopes bank app can stop people buying bad Christmas presents

Christmas can cause financial trouble for some so it is great to see someone is doing something about it.

Barclays have updated their mobile banking to let customers block certain types of spending.

It’s a setting in the app that lets you select the types of retailers you can spend in.

This is great news if you know you have a problem with gambling, set it to not allow you to spend in the bookies and you’ve gone a long way to taking control of your problem.

I personally would benefit from banning my money from being used in stationery shops.

I just can’t help myself and it’s only when I get home that I realise I didn’t need another desk tidy and 100 pens.

They say it will make customers less vulnerable to scams, although if you have to select ‘scammers’ as a category they shouldn’t let you spend with it – that should come pre-selected.

Hearing about this app has made me want to hire some Russian hackers, which I could afford to now I can kick my Ryman habit.

I could get the team who were after Hillary Clinton’s emails to break into the apps of friends and family and put a block on money being spent in socks and aftershave shops.

Suddenly the selection of gifts I’ll get this year looks a lot more fun.

If Wayne Rooney could put a block on any joint accounts he has, he’d never have to work again.

While I am giving credit to Barclays for making this app, I realise they nicked the idea from TSB.

For a lot of the last year, their bank accounts didn’t let you spend any money.

Steve N Allen’s eBook Lasted Another Year is available now on Amazon Kindle for 99p.