Personal information and bank security

EssexExile

RG2015 said:

My issue is that I already have banks that invariably ask for specific characters from my mother’s maiden name. I do not believe that I can easily change my questions and / or answers.

Just tell them the information has been compromised, they will insist that you change it.

Olinda99

yeah, like i can remember my overdraft limit when asked on the phone out of the blue !

quick.poll - who knows the no. of payees on their current acvount (without looking)

kaMelo

I don't know the number of payee's as its probably around 50 but I know my overdraft limit even though I have never used it.

Just checking on the off chance I ever needed to know and I was way off as it's 64.

k_man

I suspect many people don't have nearly as many payees as MSE forum users, so have more chance of knowing.

Similarly, many people, who live in and out if their overdraft, know exactly what the limit is.

Answers to many questions are likely to be unknown, which is why they have a few (and can judge the responses).

But I would still rather these questions than DOB, mother's maiden name and full address!

Ideally, these should rely on secure mobile app for validation (as some banks do, even for telephone banking), but I fear an outcry from the mobile objectors.
Also doesn't help if the reason for the call is the app itself.

Fundamentally the problem is that users don't remember abstract things very well (passwords, security phrases, security answers) especially if not used often or if they do, they are more easily discovered.

Fine balance between

Why do banks make it so hard to do X, it's my money?

Why do banks let this fraud occur (to my money)?

born_again

Olinda99 said:

yeah, like i can remember my overdraft limit when asked on the phone out of the blue !

quick.poll - who knows the no. of payees on their current acvount (without looking)

Not me.
Would not know last DD, balance or last transactions despite checking pretty much everyday without opening APP to check 🤣

Sensory

Ever since my first hotmail account at the start of the millennium, I've never provided truthful information to prove my identity. My immediate instinct was to think: 'so anyone who knows my mother's maiden name or my favourite food can impersonate me and take over my account?' How ridiculous!

My security answers therefore started off as fake, and then evolved to become just as complex and uniquely random as my passwords where possible, and it's frustrating when answer fields can only contain letters because numbers and symbols aren't supposed to be part of 'names'.

p00hsticks

born_again said:

Olinda99 said:

yeah, like i can remember my overdraft limit when asked on the phone out of the blue !

quick.poll - who knows the no. of payees on their current acvount (without looking)

Not me.
Would not know last DD, balance or last transactions despite checking pretty much everyday without opening APP to check 🤣

There ar other questions they can probably ask about DDs though to verify your identity to their satisfaction. Many people wouldn't be able to remember the exact amounts or dates that they go out on, but they would be able to say who they go out to - e.g. who is your gas and electricty supplier, which council collects your council tax, what credit card bills you pay, whether you make any pension contributions and to what provider etc....

trient

Sensory said:

it's frustrating when answer fields can only contain letters because numbers and symbols aren't supposed to be part of 'names'.

Worth reading: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/

GaleSF63

I don't know why mother's maiden name is so prevalent as a security question. Apart from knowing it from casual conversation, social media etc. anyone born in England or Wales before 1983 is listed on FreeBmd showing the maiden name. Not that easy to pick the right John Smith or Jane Clark of course, but even common names can be identified if siblings names are known, for example. And then there's all the genealogy sites with their helpful information...

RG2015

GaleSF63 said:

I don't know why mother's maiden name is so prevalent as a security question. Apart from knowing it from casual conversation, social media etc. anyone born in England or Wales before 1983 is listed on FreeBmd showing the maiden name. Not that easy to pick the right John Smith or Jane Clark of course, but even common names can be identified if siblings names are known, for example. And then there's all the genealogy sites with their helpful information...

As an amateur genealogist I am indebted to you for this information.

As a private citizen I am concerned that my private security data is now even less private.