Wells Fargo effectively kicks me from online banking

[Dennis S]

The mother's-maiden-name question is stupid, because a family member could easily get in.

[M A V I C]

[quote incognegro]A dozen bank acounts? may i ask why, without sounding nosey or anything?
A variety of things. Businesses, loans at different banks that require an account there to have the loan...

[quote $tevie]These web sites all use basically the same questions. Make up three factoids about yourself and write them down and use them again and again. First pet = Spotty. HS mascot = Spotty. Mother's maiden name = Spotty. Boom done.

Not to mention, I have like a zillion bank accounts myself and if you do forget the answers, they have ways for you to get in anyhow.
Yeah, but the questions at this one are different. And lives aren't as simple as these people think. For example, my wife lived in 25 different states growing up. So when the question is "what elementary school did you go to?" she's got about a dozen to choose from. "Or what was the name of the street you grew up on?" She doesn't remember.

And questions like "What was the name of the city your high school was in?" - there's too many assumptions in that one. First their assuming you went to high school, and that there was one (or I could pick one) and that it was in a city. I went to three different high schools and was home schooled for part of it. One high school was part of one city but then got annexed by another city. Another high school wasn't in a city.

Sure I could pick an answer, but then I'd have to remember how I answered it. Did I go by my freshman year, where I graduated from? Sure I could pick where I graduated from, but you can find that with google so what's the point of it being a security question?

[Harbourmaster]

Sometimes you make simple things a lot harder than they need to be Franx.......

[M A V I C]

[quote Harbourmaster]Sometimes you make simple things a lot harder than they need to be Franx.......
See, I was thinking my issue with this is that they took a simple thing and made it a lot harder than it needs to be.

[Racer X]

[quote incognegro]A dozen bank acounts? may i ask why, without sounding nosey or anything?
I've got at least that many as well, scattered across 4 banks and a credit union. One bank with a single account is just for Paypal.

[davester]

Karsen has the answer. 1password works like a charm.

[Dennis S]

My best friend from childhood guessed my bank password after having not seen him for several years.

[$tevie]

That's why I suggested the Spotty solution. You will always know the answers. Just pick an answer that is totally nonsensical and has nothing to do with your life -- say, Pride of Malabar or Dingo Ate My Baby -- and you will be fine.

[Black Landlord]

I have a similar frustration with passwords.
My pet peeve is when they have an obscure set of rules (first character has to be a letter, must be a combination of letters and numbers, must be between 11 and 14 characters, etc.) that messes up my usual system.

[M A V I C]

[quote davester]Karsen has the answer. 1password works like a charm.
Except, I don't want to keep my passwords in an application that can be hacked. I'd rather have them in my head. Otherwise it's a treasure trove of passwords and personal info.