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Original poster

What are the chances of this being a coincidence?

32 replies

EmmaGrundyForPM · 17/10/2021 10:32

Years ago I got a credit card, along with a PIN, and so have had the same PIN for ages. I don't use it very often as I use my debit card for most things.

DH also has a credit card, with a different bank. He uses it a lot, more like a debit card.

We were talking this morning about the increase to £100 for contactless payments and DH was joking that I could now "borrow" his card as I wouldn't need to know the PIN, but then told me the PIN anyway - and it's the same as my card.

The number is not a "special" number, doesn't correspond to any significant date etc. Its not a number either of us would have chosen as easy to remember. It's along the lines of 8372.

DH thinks this is complete coincidence. He's adamant that this was the PIN. that came with the card. I don't think it can be, and that at some point one of us must have changed the number to be the same as the other one, although I cannot imagine why. Neither of us have ever used each others credit cards, we do have a joint bank account with debit cards and the PIN. for those isn't the same.

So is DH right, and this is just complete coincidence? I do realise that, with 4 digit PIN codes, there are a maximum.of 9999 combinations so there will be repeats. But what are the odds of the repeat being with different bank cards for a married couple?

OP posts:
firstbabyworries · 17/10/2021 10:37

Got to be honest, I usually don't agree with coincidences. Think you said the credit cards are with a different company but last year by DH forgot his debit card pin(joint account) and when they sent him a new one it was my pin. Very strange, and did make me wondered what was going on!

LaBellina · 17/10/2021 10:41

It could be a coincidence.
Do you wonder if your DH has deliberately changed it without your knowledge?

Afoxtail · 17/10/2021 10:48

Could be a coincidence.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General money
Fangdango · 17/10/2021 10:53

Could be a coincidence. Won't happen to vast majority of couples. Will happen to some.

That is all coincidences are - improbable occurrences that aren't impossible so happen rarely, not never.

Did you ever have a joint account though. I have a habit of changing all my PINs to be the same so something like that would explain it.

Original poster
EmmaGrundyForPM · 17/10/2021 11:04

@LaBellina

It could be a coincidence. Do you wonder if your DH has deliberately changed it without your knowledge?
I never knew it in the first place, so no reason to do that. Dh and I are completely open with finances, but I wouldn't have any need to use his credit card so I've never had his PIN. He still gets paper statements for his credit card and they are filed in his study so I could always look at those if I wanted to check his spending.

We do have a shared bank account, for all household bills etc. We also have our own bank accounts and our own credit cards. I know the PIN. for dh's debit card on our joint household account.

OP posts:
JoyPeaceHope · 17/10/2021 11:05

Synchronicity... you are a couple. Your minds work in harmony.

LookItsMeAgain · 17/10/2021 11:05

There are more combinations than 9999 for a 4 digit pin when you're allowed to choose numbers between 1-9 but I just wanted to clear that up.

veryouting2021 · 17/10/2021 11:06

Name change because my husband will recognise this, but on our first date we discovered our debit cards were the same PIN but nudged on one. So if mine was 1234 his was 2341.

We took that as a sign we were meant to be together...

LookItsMeAgain · 17/10/2021 11:07

Not many more but more Grin

clockover · 17/10/2021 11:07

I do realise that, with 4 digit PIN codes, there are a maximum.of 9999 combinations so there will be repeats.

More like 10,000 so the odds of getting the same as him are less

Fangdango · 17/10/2021 11:12

The odds of any particular couple getting the same numbers are v low.

But the odds that no couples have this are far far lower - it has to happen to some people.

Like winning the lottery - really unlikely to happen to anyone in particular. Quite often happens to someone.

Original poster
EmmaGrundyForPM · 17/10/2021 11:15

Thanks all. Interesting to hear it happens to others as well.

I guess we're meant to be together Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
EmmaGrundyForPM · 17/10/2021 11:18

@LookItsMeAgain

There are more combinations than 9999 for a 4 digit pin when you're allowed to choose numbers between 1-9 but I just wanted to clear that up.
Well, I guess 10000 if 0000 is allowable as a PIN. I can't see how it could be more than that though? or am I being thick?
OP posts:
SprogletsMum · 17/10/2021 11:21

My mums pin is one digit different to mine where I have a 3 she has a 4. I wonder if it happens quite a lot but you wouldn't know as you're not supposed to tell people your pin.

dworky · 17/10/2021 11:22

Of course it's a coincidence.

TeenMinusTests · 17/10/2021 11:28

1 in 10,000.

How many married couples are there in the country?
A awful lot more than 10,000.
So at least some of them would be given the same PIN.

Namechangenumber23 · 17/10/2021 11:32

In the last twenty years me and my OH have; on meeting found we had same birthday, conceived a child whose due date was our birthday, had the same PIN once, given sequential PINs, have had sequential mobile numbers and twice were given the same lucky dip lottery numbers (different shops). Grin

Upwardtrajectory · 17/10/2021 11:40

I once got sent a pin for the card for a new account I had opened, and it was the same as my very first pin I’d been given years and years previously with a different bank.

Perhaps it was a sign that I’m destined to be alone 😂

blairresignationjam · 17/10/2021 11:41

You are not understanding combinations. there are four numbers, the total number of possible combinations is 10 choices for each of the four numbers. That is, the number of possible combinations is 101010*10 or 10^4, which is equal to 10,000.

HopeYourHighHorseBucks · 17/10/2021 11:47

I dont know really, my DPs pin is my pin number backwards. So mine is 1234, his is 4321 but to have the exact same one is quite a coincidence. Unless you think there is something to worry about I would just put it down to a coincidence.

burnoutbabe · 17/10/2021 11:47

i assume people think more than 10k as they are thinking what are the odds of Person A having xxxx AND person B also having XXXX (which is 10k*10k i think)

but this is just what are the odds of person B being the same as you which is 1/10,000.

(its like the birthday thing - to find 2 kids in a class of 30 to have the same birthday is 50% chance - not the 1/365 you may first think).

BeMoreQueer · 17/10/2021 11:49

Id love to hear your rationale for not a coincidence…

What sort of weird shit do you think is going on that your different banks have sent you the same pin ten years apart?

Fangdango · 17/10/2021 12:09

@HopeYourHighHorseBucks

I dont know really, my DPs pin is my pin number backwards. So mine is 1234, his is 4321 but to have the exact same one is quite a coincidence. Unless you think there is something to worry about I would just put it down to a coincidence.
That's exactly as likely or unlikely as the identical PIN - no more or less of a coincidence.
ThatLibraryMiss · 17/10/2021 12:15

I do realise that, with 4 digit PIN codes, there are a maximum.of 9999 combinations so there will be repeats. But what are the odds of the repeat being with different bank cards for a married couple?

If 0000 is allowed, the odds that one of you chooses a number and the other subsequently chooses the same number are 1 in 10,000. So very remote but not impossible and, given how many couples there are in the UK, it's going to happen to some of them.

Fangdango · 17/10/2021 12:15

@burnoutbabe

i assume people think more than 10k as they are thinking what are the odds of Person A having xxxx AND person B also having XXXX (which is 10k*10k i think)

but this is just what are the odds of person B being the same as you which is 1/10,000.

(its like the birthday thing - to find 2 kids in a class of 30 to have the same birthday is 50% chance - not the 1/365 you may first think).

It's a little bit different from the birthday test - assuming OP has only one husband. We aren't asking whether anyone shares the OPs PIN from a group, or any of them share each other's PIN. But same principle - unlikely for specific couple, pretty certain to happen to some couples - applies.

We're just saying, if we allocate two random numbers between 0 and 9999, what's the chance of them being identical.

Answer: 1 in 10,000

Do that for 100,000 couples

On average 10 of them will have identical pins.

When the odds are smaller, it's even clearer. It's unlikely you'll throw the same number on a dice twice in a row. Not that unlikely though - 1 in 6. Keep throwing the dice and it will happen within minutes.