Tuesday 26 February 2013

A tale of secrecy and one narky bank lady


The other day my bank account was looking a little sad. Ok very sad.

I decided to cheer it up a little by stopping a couple of reoccurring bill payments that I've set up. I like to be on top of all bills so I pay some money on almost every bill that we have (the ones that allow it) fortnightly so that when the actual bill arrives we owe little or nothing on it!! Huzzah!






I digress from the story...


So some bills are well in advance so I log into internet banking to "skip" them this fortnight.

Now Mr Hausfrau and I have a joint bank account but the bill payments are set up on his internet banking login.

While logged in something went wrong and I couldn't see if the bills were skipped.

I rang the bank. Even though it's my bank account too she couldn't talk to me about it as the payments are on Mr Hausfrau's log in.

Mr Hausfrau came home from work and I rang the bank again. Mr Hausfrau had her on loud speaker with the laptop in front of him

Bank lady - Can I please confirm your name and date of birth
Mr Hausfrau - Mr Hausfrau and blah blah blah
Bank lady - Can I have your internet password
Mr Hausfrau - blah blah blah

Mr Hausfrau then explains the situation.
The bank lady tells him that he can see that online and explains how but says she'll check anyway.

I start to log on to check what she was telling us and we are locked out.
The bank lady hears us talking.

Bank lady - Is that your wife trying to log in on your internet banking?
Mr Hausfrau - yes
Bank lady - That is not allowed. No one is allowed to know your log in details.
Me - I'm just typing for him while he is on the phone.
Bank lady - Am I on loud speaker?
Mr Hausfrau - yes
Bank lady (insert narky voice)- That means your wife has heard our whole conversation and heard me ask you for your password. Your account has been compromised.

WTF? Are you for real lady?

So Mr Hausfrau took her off loud speaker (our phone is loud, I can still hear everything anyway) and the call continues without anymore issues. We have access to our internet banking again and the payments had been skipped. All is well in the world again....

image credit


So obviously she was only doing her job. The call was probably being recorded and she had to say that. The first lady I spoke to wasn't so narky though!

So I ask you...

Do you know your partners bank details, PIN, passwords etc. etc. etc. or do you keep them "secret" from each other?
 
Surely I'm not by myself with this? Geez Mr Hausfrau and I even changed our bank card PIN numbers so they're the same so we don't have to remember too many numbers!!
 
Tell me we're normal!
Or was the bank lady right to chastise us???






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15 comments:

  1. Oh wow, that's really going a bit far! But we have a joint account to solve those problems, and any utility etc he's every put in his name he just adds me as an authorised person. She will probably get employee of the week for her adherence to the rules.

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  2. totally the same in this house! we have a joint account, I have never even set up internet banking in my name because we've always used his! when we were at the bank opening new accounts for the kids, they said it is very common, but they're supposed to discourage it.

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  3. I do ALL the banking in our house and none of it is in my name. Try being just a defacto when dealing with all these big companies!! We tried to add my name to the main accounts but couldn't although the mortgage is jointly mine and I opened the kids bank accounts in my name and linked them to the other accounts, go figure!!

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  4. Our house is the same as Ann's. Everything in his name though I take care of it all. What gets me is how the different companies see it differently, like when the power company wouldn't let me get a balance so I could pay yet the bank would transfer money at the drop of a hat. Go figure

    Fairy wishes and butterfly kisses #teamIBOT

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  5. Yeah I know it all otherwise how would the bills get paid!

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  6. I used to work at a bank so I know that the customer service lady has certain stupid rules to follow, but she doesn't have to be snarky about it. I am in the process of taking over ALL our banking, so ALL the call center people will have to talk to me. I'm such a good wife. *sigh* And I can out snark an online teller any day. Bwahahahah!
    xx

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  7. We know each others passwords, undie size and pretty much all the essentials, it makes life much easier. But then again there are couple out there that don't share bank details. Bank lady was totally power tripping though! Em x

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  8. Wow... I'm guessing that woman's not in a relationship. We have joint accounts, but have our own passwords/pins. I don't know all of his, mainly because there are too many and it's too complicated - I have trouble keeping track of all my own. I do worry, though, what would happen if anything ever happened to him. I know, doomsday, but I saw it happen to my MIL and it wasn't pretty.

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  9. Wow... I'm guessing that woman's not in a relationship. We have joint accounts, but have our own passwords/pins. I don't know all of his, mainly because there are too many and it's too complicated - I have trouble keeping track of all my own. I do worry, though, what would happen if anything ever happened to him. I know, doomsday, but I saw it happen to my MIL and it wasn't pretty.

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  10. That sounds ridiculously OTT. Mr O and I have also changed our pins to be the same ;)

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  11. Oh, wow! That does sound out there! I agree with Kim. I reckon this lady's not in a relationship and doesn't understand we all know our partners' passwords and vice versa!
    Either that or she needs to get some bow chica bow wow. Just sayin'

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  12. I've had a similar experience. We only have joint accounts, but one bank in particular insists on giving us separate logins, and if we dare to use the other person's there is CARNAGE! CARNAGE!

    I know my husband's passwords to everything. And vice versa. Meh.

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  13. Were you speaking to "Barbara from Bankworld" by any chance? Becuase that's what it sounds like! Either that or your bank has employed Daleks to man their customer service centres instead out outsourcing them. I can confirm that my partner and I have exactly the same set up - it's his login details but I'm the one who mainly uses them. Hey there are so many logins, passwords and usernames in ourn lives these days I think we need to streamline things whenever possible!!

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  14. Actually I'd like to add that becuase his name is Brook I have successfully impersonated him when I've needed to call to our electricity provider (which for some reason is in his name only), and even his credit card provider! They just don't seem to notice the "Mr" prefix.

    And now I have a) admitted to committing fraud and b) hogged 2 comment spaces on this post I think that's probably enough from me :) Rach xx

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  15. How RIDICULOUS! I only ever use my husband's details for our bank accounts, I never remember my own. The world has gone mad.

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