Online account access

[RIP - VTEnviro]

This whole internet thing looks like its here to stay, so I've gotten pretty big into managing my accounts, investments, credit card, etc. online. It's nice to be able to check balances or make a payment whenever without having to wait until your statement comes.

So it's early on a Sunday morning, and I've got a couple bills to pay, and a payment I want to check to see if it's gone through. Seems easy, right? Of course not!

***RANT ON***

Could they make it any more difficult on the customer?!? I understand the need for security from loser hackers and all, but they make it so it's nearly impossible to log in legitimately. Your user name can't just be your first initial and last name, your password must contiain a non-repaeating algorithmic series of 8 characters including no less than 2 numbers, blah blah blah.

And its obvious that a couple months later, when you go to log back in, you'll have no clue what your info is. So they make you answer these ridiculous questions you previously gave answers to in order to get in.

What was your uncle's third grade teacher's childhood pet's favorite sports team's maiden name? Uhhhhh....?

It's like the more these people overthink it, the worse it gets.

***RANT OFF***

 

[Guest]

VT --

I do most of my 'management' online as well - it is a lot easier to keep track of all of my accounts in one place that way. I recently had to go through a secured closeout of all of my credit card and other accounts (bank, car note, mortgage note, etc.) and it was a HUGE pain-in-the-***. I am STILL responding to correspondence as to why it was necessary to securely close out those accounts.

Sapper --

That security idea sounds awesome - a pain yes, but wow if it works !!

JR

 

[Slugger926]

VT --
I do most of my 'management' online as well - it is a lot easier to keep track of all of my accounts in one place that way. I recently had to go through a secured closeout of all of my credit card and other accounts (bank, car note, mortgage note, etc.) and it was a HUGE pain-in-the-***. I am STILL responding to correspondence as to why it was necessary to securely close out those accounts.

Sapper --

That security idea sounds awesome - a pain yes, but wow if it works !!

JR

A lot of the sites I log into are requiring the same sorta additional security Sapper mentioned.

What I love is the credit card websites are down the day before the bill is due, or other BS in order to try to force late payments.

 

[ktulu]

I still go the snail mail route, mainly because my mother-in-law is a mail carrier, and their salaries are based on mail volume.

 

[FusionWhite]

My wife handles most of our bills and she does snail mail also. I kept all my passwords and usernames written down on a piece of paper back when I paid the bills. If anyone had stolen that piece of paper I would probably be in deep trouble.

 

[Ritchie503]

One banking site I use looks at the IP address or something, the first time logging onto the account you have to go through the dumb questions that VT stated, after that from the same computer its just username and password.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

My stupid bank won't let me log in by something like a user name or social security number. It's some obscure number I've had to call 5 times to get them to tell me again.

I kept all my passwords and usernames written down on a piece of paper back when I paid the bills. If anyone had stolen that piece of paper I would probably be in deep trouble.

That's the thing. I don't want to have a magic piece of paper with all that written down for just that reason. Just something easy enough to remember that someone else probably won't guess.

 

[Ritchie503]

My stupid bank won't let me log in by something like a user name or social security number. It's some obscure number I've had to call 5 times to get them to tell me again.That's the thing. I don't want to have a magic piece of paper with all that written down for just that reason. Just something easy enough to remember that someone else probably won't guess.

Yeah that really sucks... and I know what you mean with the paper, I don't have mine written down and I don't want to have to write them down.

Sapper: The on screen keyboard wouldn't be that bad if it looked like a standard Qwert keyboard, but the letters always rearranging would drive me nuts.

 

[FusionWhite]

Ive always used the same password for everything. Its not anything anyone would ever guess, has numbers and letters and is long enough to usually get me registered most places. Plus its easy to type and remember. Double win!

 

[grover]

The sad part is that even with all the crazy security measures they put into it, the hackers can still break it.
The Army is doing something new called a virtual keyboard. Everytime you log into some sites, you have to use your mouse to click on a keyboard (that randomly places the letters in different places on the screen) in order to enter your password. It is an attempt to stop key logging software from determining your password. It is probably a good security measure, but it is a pain in the ***.

I'd like to laugh, but this sounds like something that may eventually get pushed onto all of us...

 

[TouchDown]

I still go the snail mail route, mainly because my mother-in-law is a mail carrier, and their salaries are based on mail volume.

Sadly enough, I haven't used a stamp in 6 months, now they are changing to 0.41 each and I'm left with a roll of 0.39 in my drawer. I'm probably saving $100 a year by doing electronic stuff.

 

[jeb6294]

Sadly enough, I haven't used a stamp in 6 months, now they are changing to 0.41 each and I'm left with a roll of 0.39 in my drawer. I'm probably saving $100 a year by doing electronic stuff.

I'm in the same boat. Our bank has a bill paying service that I have set up to pay all our bills. You can even have it send a check to an individual. A few months ago I bought something on ebay but didn't notice until after the auction that the guy didn't use Paypal. I just had my bank send him a check. No post office hassle, no charge for postage, did it all from desk at work.

 

[grover]

I'd like to laugh, but this sounds like something that may eventually get pushed onto all of us...

:Locolaugh: I go to log in and check my electronic paystub this morning and make sure I was paid? VIRTUAL KEYBOARD! ARGHHHHH

Sadly enough, I haven't used a stamp in 6 months, now they are changing to 0.41 each and I'm left with a roll of 0.39 in my drawer. I'm probably saving $100 a year by doing electronic stuff.

There are still a couple bills that I can't set up electronic bill-pay for, and it's a pain in the ***. Especially since all I have are 37 cent stamps! Last 8 bills I've paid have cost me 74 cents apiece. It's a post office conspiracy- they don't want 2 cents more per letter, they just want to screw over everyone who already bought stamps. I want to buy the new forever stamp, but I can't find them anywhere. Are they even in circulation yet?

 

[Ritchie503]

. Especially since all I have are 37 cent stamps!

I just used my last 37 cent stamp up about 2 months ago... Suppose now I need go buy the stupid 2 cent ones again.. From what I understand they postage increase isn't because the post office is in the red, its because our elected officals need more postal excess profits to spend on other things.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I'm holding out for these stamps.

Star Wars Stamps

 

[frazil]

All this extra security is a pain -- I can never remember the answers to my own questions!

On the other hand... I just got a call yesterday from a place I worked 6 years ago. Apparently a list of employees that were on the books as of Dec 2001, with information such as SSN, birthday, address, etc was stolen. 40 employees from that list have already been victims of identity theft. Last month 2 guys were arrested with the list in their possession which is how they knew who was on it.

I've checked my credit reports and they're clean, but this information is still floating out there, right? It could be used at any time. So I guess I'm a glad that they ask a few more questions these days.