My bank asked me some strange questions today.
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This morning I logged into my bank's website to do some stuff. Nothing unusual, I do on-line banking all the time. But it said it had to reconfirm my identity by asking me some questions. I've been through this before. I chose some "security" questions years ago and supplied the answers. But this time the questions were very different and all were multiple-choice.
The first asked me to check the street address I had used recently. It presented a list and none rang a bell, so I ticked none-of-the-above.
The second asked me to check a company I had dealings with. Again there was a list, one of which was a former employer. I ticked it.
The third asked me to check an automobile I owned. One of mine was listed so I ticked it.
At that point I was granted access and everything proceeded normally. Later I got to thinking about the questions. My bank has known my street address for 25+ years - why wasn't it on the list? With that former employer, my salary was direct deposited so, technically, they might remember the name two years later.
The car thing floored me. I paid cash, there was no loan, and I can't recall even mentioning that car to the bank. How did it know about it?
I have spent the last few hours feeling ... violated. Has anyone else experienced anything like this recently?
I went through the same thing recently. One of the questions was which car is a car you have owned in the last year. All the ones listed are cars I have owned, but not in the last year so I checked none of the above.
They asked me which employer is one I have worked at in the past year. They listed four I have worked for in the past 25 years, but not anybody in the past year.
There were 7 questions on my list.
There was only one question that had anything that I had done in the last year. Maybe that was the point. You won't point out the ones that are wrong, you will only point out the only correct one.
Yes, I've had this happen before. It's done to confirm your identity. That's why your correct address wasn't on the list. An imposter may not know your address. Information about your former employer and auto are on your credit report, the bank can access your credit report, hence they have that information. And yeah, I sort of felt violated when I learned how much of my life information is contained in those credit reports.
I would add that the reason the car you paid cash for appears on your credit report is the insurance company shares that information with the credit agencies.
Yes, the same thing has happened to me too. It is to confirm your identity. I think they will do it if your credit card, bank account, etc. has had one of those announced breaches. You know, the ones where they say "today our website was hacked and our customer information for 200 million people was released, but we don't think it will cause any harm".
I look back fondly on those days long ago when it took two days for a check to clear.
charlie
Which banks?
I would always stop and place a call to your bank before answering the questions to verify it is legit. Call from a number you have not one on the site, while this is probably legit, some sophisticated id theft rings provide a number and staff it.
That brings up a whole other area that each person will have to decide individually how to proceed. Personally, I would tell my bank to pound sand and probably threaten to move my account. If they insist on the gestapo tactics, I'd definitely move my account.
By the way, depending on your balance, your bank might give you a hard time withdrawing your money asking all sorts of questions about what you plan to do with your money etc. - again the phrase "pound sand" comes to mind.
It was true the last time I got a Maine driver's license and it's been true x 2 In WA state: They no longer let you out the door with the permanent license. They'll tell you they do that to confirm that the address you're using is correct/valid. What they don't tell you is that it helps to maintain the premium fee they are paid for "address confirmed" when they sell your information. Your bank, as most do, has just done the same thing.
If you are concerned with security breaches or possible identity theft, I highly recommend LifeLock which immediately reports to you any inquiries into your credit report, any attempts to change your account addresses and any attempts to use your personal information to open credit cards etc.
I would have answered none of them and would have been on the phone to the bank, asking them to verify that those questions are legit. Check your account very carefully every day until you get a confirmation from your bank that it was them asking for that info. And use a phone number off the bank's website.
When you log on to the bank's website, does it send you a photo of some object that YOU selected when you signed up for on-line banking... before it asks you to enter a password? (This photo serves as a confirmation, to you, that you are looking at the bank's website and not some stand in website that some perp has crafted to think you are on the bank's website.)
There are some incredibly clever schemes out there now. Google "man in the browser" to see a very clever scheme.
"By the way, depending on your balance, your bank might give you a hard time withdrawing your money asking all sorts of questions about what you plan to do with your money etc. - again the phrase "pound sand" comes to mind."
Just tell them you are going to put it a safe place like a jar buried in the back yard or invest in precious metals like lead and brass.
I'm pretty sure this was my bank asking the questions, not some bandit. I had already logged in and performed a couple of simple transactions - all was well. The interrogation began when I tried to do something I hadn't done before.
My bank's web-site allows me to transfer money between my accounts. Yesterday I was looking into the possibility of adding an external account with another bank. Yup, they can do that. When I clicked "submit" after entering the routing and account numbers, the questions began.
OK, the questions are definitely for good reasons.
Good luck.
Do me a favor, IAC. Could you call your bank and confirm that it was them asking the questions of you?
Strange. I've dealt with the same bank for over 30 years and I've had an online account for about five, and never ran into this scenario. I am always skeptical about unsolicited online personal questions. Chances are I would not have responded, logged off and called the banks' customer service rep.
The last time I looked I was the customer of the bank. Therefore I would make a rather hasty call to the bank and voice my loudest objection to that kind of service. If they cannot devise a better security system I guess I would find a better bank.
We are all becoming robots to technology and it needs to be brought under control. One of the things these tech kids fail to realize is that we who are in our eighties have the most wealth and are getting darned ticked off by apparent oversight regarding who they need to serve. How on earth did we get this far without all these gadgets, yet now we are expected to jump through hoops just to satisfy some wet nosed gen-xer generation.
I sent a summary by email to the bank's online "help" address. The reply assumed that I had not answered the questions right and had locked myself out of my accounts. It helpfully listed an 800 number to call to straighten things out. It went on:
The questions are all of public record and may not be directly about you. The questions may be about a sister, parent, spouse, etc.
The questions were directly about me and, you lummox, I wrote to ask politely why you are scraping the internet for "public record" info.
Several AMGers advised me to change banks. OK, can anyone suggest a bank that doesn't do this sort of thing, and won't ever, and also provides a robust and secure online facility?
If you have one, can you suggest a convenient way to transfer a slew of automatic transactions from one bank to another?
It's easy to move money from one bank to another, not so easy to contact a few dozen companies to change transaction info.
I went for a loan, and my bank asked me some strange questions, too.
They asked me what my income was. Then they asked me what assets I has, and what other debt I had.
I don't know why they asked those questions of ME.
I don't think they asked those questions of the 5 million people who took out the Barney Frank NINJA loans (No Income, No Job or Assets) if they had any of those.
It must be a new bank policy or something.
OK, can anyone suggest a bank that doesn't do this sort of thing, and won't ever, and also provides a robust and secure online facility?
Of course, no one can guarantee that a bank "won't ever" pull this caper, but I've always dealt with Maine-based financial institutions on a personal and business level (Franklin Savings, Skowhegan Savings and Bangor Savings Bank). And I've been very happy with service from all of them and never felt my privacy was violated.
What would you think of a credit union that has a user use their SSN the first time they log in?
We are very pleased with Bsth Savings
While this does not concern a bank's web site it does tie in with becoming less user friendly. We are in Florida for the winter and have our mail forwarded by the Post Office. Shortly after arriving here I got a call from a bank saying that our 1099 form had come back. They have a "do not forward" policy. I told the person who called that we would not be home until April. She said that she would change the address to Florida as a seasonal location. That was in January and we have not received the 1099 yet. Apparently they follow up every change of address with a letter confirming the same and then another. The way this is going we will be back home by the time the paperwork gets done. I was able to get the figures off the 1099 over the phone. I understand that these policies are adopted in the name of avoiding identy theft and other types of fraud but they can be a P.I.T.A.
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OK, can anyone suggest a bank that doesn't do this sort of thing, and won't ever, and also provides a robust and secure online facility?
Nope. With the ever increasing amount of government intrusion into personal affairs, this is only going to get worse. And the smaller Maine banks will be doing the same thing. They'll have to, in order to comply with so-called anti-money laundering rules and OFAC regulations, etc. And there's no such thing as secure.
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My bank has known my street address for 25+ years - why wasn't it on the list? With that former employer, my salary was direct deposited so, technically, they might remember the name two years later.
Your current address was not on the list because an identity thief would likely have access to your current address. The question was designed to throw off someone who isn't you.
As to your direct deposits from several years ago, banks keep financial transaction data stored for 7 years. They could have asked you the amount of a transaction on specific day at a specific time at a specific store.
For the auto question, is your auto insurance company owned by your bank? There are no longer walls between the data of bank holding companies and their subsidiaries.