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Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

nytimes.com

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Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#201

Post by Semaphor »

visarga wrote: post #93
germanier wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it still that slow? Since a few months 95% of my transactions between Germany, the Netherlands and the UK (EUR account) happen the same day. It's not like banks actually can earn interest right now anyway. If anything it costs them to hold money currently.

It probably happens same day only if you send the transfer early in the morning.

Yeah, lately my international transfers (Germany -> UK -> South Africa) have been taking less than a day all in all if I send the money before noon.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#202

Post by nickjj »

I always thought security questions were a ploy to get you to take surveys without explicitly being told you were taking a survey.

If your bank (or any company who has your gender and birthday) asks you what your favorite color is, they could now come up with stats such as "83% of women in between the ages of 23 and 38 prefer purple". That type of data could be sold to and be used by clothing vendors and other businesses.

It's also 1 more data point collected on your private life.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#203

Post by tonyedgecombe »

ascorbic wrote: post #157
Aardwolf wrote: post #4

Does anyone know the cause of the large and long standing difference in banking in US vs Europe? In europe: -for 15 or so years already, web banking has been with 2nd factor authentication (since its inception I assume). In previous decades we would get devices where you need to type numbers from its lcd screen into the webpage login. Today mobile auth apps are taking over. -I have never seen a bank have security que…

I'm pretty sure all UK banks use multi factor now (mostly card readers and mobile apps), but they certainly weren't like that from their inception. I didn't encounter multi factor for at least five years after my first web-based account. They were all terrible combinations of passwords, secret questions and entering three characters from another password. I remember being fascinated by the multi factor token that my…

TSB are still lagging, presumably Lloyds is as well as I understand they share systems.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#204

Post by Amezarak »

henrikschroder wrote: post #142
zkms wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> maybe a slow cobol mainframe somewhere Inter-bank money transfers in US are handled by a system that needs multiple "business days" for a transaction to be finalised so you're on the money here: https://engineering.gusto.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-pers...

> Inter-bank money transfers in US are handled by a system that needs multiple "business days" I wired some money from my US bank account to my Swedish bank account. The US bank obviously operates on a batch process basis, because around 6AM EST I got an email from my US bank saying that they've sent the money, and I should expect it within three days in my destination account. It was already available in my Swedish…

Well, most Americans aren't doing international wire transfers.

I've never had an issue with my American credit union. I draft loans directly out of my account and I can send money to anyone for free (instantly to people with the same bank.) For everything else, I use my credit card for the fraud protection and rewards points.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#206

Post by blisterpeanuts »

nickjj wrote: post #202

I always thought security questions were a ploy to get you to take surveys without explicitly being told you were taking a survey. If your bank (or any company who has your gender and birthday) asks you what your favorite color is, they could now come up with stats such as "83% of women in between the ages of 23 and 38 prefer purple". That type of data could be sold to and be used by clothing vendors and other busine…

Possibly, but at least some people don't actually give real answers. It's better to have a set of nonsense words for these "security questions". Much safer to say your mom's maiden name is Zxxxxxy6ghjki.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#207

Post by Amezarak »

jdietrich wrote: post #146
DrJokepu wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don’t have cashier’s checks or banker’s drafts in Germany?

Germany is a very cash-oriented society. Many independent businesses don't take credit cards and most consumers prefer to pay in cash. Germans are very privacy-conscious, and there's a latent suspicion of debt and intangible money because of Weimar-era hyperinflation. https://www.german-way.com/germanys-cash-culture-geld-stinkt...

A cashier's check is effectively a cash equivalent - it's a check guaranteed by the bank, wherein they basically freeze the funds in your account at the time you write the check. The only real purpose of it is to save people from carrying around huge amounts of cash. So that doesn't really answer his question.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#208

Post by nickjj »

659087 wrote: post #86
ademup wrote: post #3

Every time I'm confronted with these types of questions I just roll my eyes and add a 'Mothers maiden name' text entry to my password manager with a 16 digit random string.

I go out of my way to come up with particularly ridiculous answers to these questions in cases where I know someone might eventually want me to answer them over the phone. Birth city: Octopus Mainframe Z7X

The next time I need to answer a secret question that might be used over the phone I'm going to write the answer in as:

"No thanks, that information is private and I'd rather not share it over the phone. I know, you're probably going to say that you can't help me without this information and you're doing this to help prevent identity theft but I stand by my choice to not partake in answering your question. Can I speak with a manager?"

That should make for a fun conversation.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#209

Post by Amezarak »

hocuspocus wrote: post #199
tnolet wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paper cheques are still super common in at least France and Germany.

In France yes, they are an exception (with the UK too maybe). But in Germany banks don't issue chequebooks anymore.

They don't issue checkbooks at all, or you just don't get a bunch of free ones when you sign up? Most American banks that I know of don't give you any either, anymore, just a debit card, but you can get them if you want them.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#210

Post by Amezarak »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #158
johnnyb9 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- We don't use 2FA authentication, I guess because there are more cost effective ways of verifying our identity (probably not going to last much longer with all the breaches) - ACH in the USA is free and fast (one business day)... and that's the main way of receiving salary, paying bills, etc. Is Europe really any better in this regard? - No one uses paper checks here either...

> No one uses paper checks here either... Source on that one? I've found that people outside of the tech bubble use a paper check at the very least once a year and most likely once a month. I have seen plenty of apartments, renters, even a mortgage company just a few years ago that required payment still in paper checks in the USA. I'm going to assume your suggestion is anecdotal. It is certainly in decline but it's…

That 38-per-year number seems ludicrously high. The last time I wrote a check was five years ago, for an earnest money deposit, and I don't know anyone who writes them much more often than I do other than a few elderly people, who still use them as their primary means of payment.
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