Security

[shewhomust]

I had a phone call from my bank this afternoon. They've been calling every other week, to tell me that my fixed term savings account has matured, and is not currently earning much interest - and I've been thinking that I should call in and open a new account, since what they are offering looks a pretty good deal. I hadn't got round to it, partly because they encourage you not just to drop in but to make an appointment, which is a good idea in theory, but an excuse for procrastination in practice.

Sp when the woman on the phone asked if I had time to talk to her, I said yes.

Right, she said, then she'd take me through security, and could I give her the second number of -

No, I said. No, I wouldn't give security information to someone who'd called me, whom I hadn't called.

I think she'd heard this one before. In that case, she said, would I confirm that this was my date of birth? And she told me a date, and I said yes, that was my date of birth. As it happens, it was, though I don't see what she expected to learn from the procedure.

We agreed that she would send me the paperwork to open a new account. durham_rambler points out that this may or may not include the actual forms. We shall see...

Comments

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

This security stuff is such nonsense. I've lost count of the number of people who call me and then expect me to give them security information.

I keep vowing to retaliate and ask them some meaningless questions...what's your favourite colour, what's the capital of Bhutan, can I have the 2nd and 5th letters of the name of your first school.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

What a splendid idea!

[cellio]

She'd actually heard that challenge before; I am rarely so lucky. People act surprised when I explain it to them; shouldn't this be common knowledge by now?

The canned security questions, with answers that can easily be looked up on the internet, are another source of frustration. I now lie about these. It can be challenging on the phone -- "why yes, my mother's maiden name is Xha8fajf@a, at least as far as you're concerned -- what of it?" is not always met with the best of reactions.

[durham-rambler.livejournal.com]

Also, there are a growing number of people out there whose mothers were not married when they were born (currently over 50% in Sunderland) and whose surname is therefore their mother's "maiden name". My good friend C, now in her forties, is a case in point.