Would you have passed security on this phonecall?

[DongDingBell]

So, I've just failed security to renew the broadband account.
Could you have answered these questions? - edit for your own accounts. I wouldn't expect you to get my answers!!

Name on account
e-mail address
Exact amount of last bill (to the nearest pence, it changes each month)
Date the money comes out of the account (it changes each month)
Last 4 digits of your bank account (not the card number)

I failed the last 3. Would you have got them all? Or am I spectacularly useless at this stuff?

My answers were: 23-25 pounds - answer 24.97
Just after the first - answer 2July
Not a clue.

Yes because I would generally be on the phone but using my iMac (most preferable) or iPad to look at the banking stuff. I would find it a bit of a faff if I only had a phone

I open my banking app on my tablet before I make the phone call, so I have less to think about and I'm ready for questions.

Were you trying to do it all on a phone, I hate phones and just use mine as a vehicle to use my iMac and iPad as it connects up to those and I can just fill the passcodes in automatically, basically I use my iPhone for calls and the camera, no banking apps are on it at all.

Can you set up the codes to autofill to make it easier for yourself OP

a few months ago I kept failing the security questions to set up my pension, it took me a fortnight before I was told I had passed the questions .In the meantime I was being sent a letter from the pensions people urging me to get on with setting it up .Eventually a lady asked a different set than any of the other people and she told me I was fine.Iappreciate OP's issues.

I think the point is that you pass the test if you have access to the documentation either on paper or online. Most people would not have the information in their heads.

Id have been OK if I was on my computer or had access to my iPad but otherwise no.
25 years ago I had my card declined for no apparent reason on a work trip, and was trying to sort it out on the train, I was asked the exact amount of a transaction in Tesco five days previously which obviously I had no clue about, no online banking then, and they wouldnt give me access to my account, still remember that as I was in tears as would have been unable to get from station to work venue with no taxi money (first job, very young) and a kind gentleman gave me £20 to cover it.

I've recently had to learn the hard way. I now know what questions get asked so I have the answers at hand. With some companies, if you get the answer wrong, you don't get a chance to correct it, and have to go through the whole system again.
I am a pro now!
Telecommunications companies are the absolute worst.

Yes I would have logged on bank app whilst on phone.

Maybe it's my bank but neither my phone or laptop will allow a bank passcode to be remembered. I guess a security measure and one I'm very happy to have even if takes a few moments longer to login

Maybe it's just an Apple thing then but when I get a passcode it pings up on my iMac and I just autofill it, I did set this up though so it's all linked, I doubt it's a bank thing as everything does it.

Obviously this is when I am in my bank on the Mac, I don't just have random passcodes keep popping up

Not everyone uses the fingerprint.

I'd have to hunt out a paper statement because I don't have online banking.

Same here, I wouldnt have known it off hand but generally places are happy to hold whilst you have a check.

I’d just say bear with me whilst I check on banking app I’m sure they hear it all the time. My app is simple to access, my face is my password so I’m only a few clicks away.

I think we must be talking about different things, to me passcode means the code that never changes that you use to log into your bank account. It sounds like you're talking about 2FA codes that can be copied

Not off the top of my head but easy to check on my banking app.

It would have taken me a while.
I'd have to crank my laptop up. Open the BT website. Forget my password, wait for PIN code to arrive on mobile when we have very little reception, reset password and look for recent bill.

I would have struggled, too, OP. Last 4 digits of bank account is only easy one. I'd feel pressure, get panicky & confused trying to scroll thru bank account & find the right direct debits to quote to them, because the names of the debits are often cryptic and everything comes out around 1st of month so I'd be reading off each one in order tosay "Well this can't be it because it says xxxcompany and the amount is £(not about £25) so the next one is on xdate but not it because it says yadayada and amount is wrong because it's ££££ and so on until they begged me to stop I suppose.... Probably the phone connection would drop out at that point ime.

Worse problem: will they ask you same questions next time or entirely different difficult ones? Irk.

I'd have just looked it up on my banking app. Can use password or finger print. Have voice thing set up for the more complex stuff. I'd have just said bare with me and if I accidentally get cut off will call back. It's easy to use though and would be ok I think.

I realise that, what I meant was that it is a choice to have to do that. Other options are available.

If you’re ringing your broadband provider, surely you would check the payment information before you call them? It’s fairly common to be asked that sort of information to pass security checks. I can’t imagine not knowing my bank account numbers!

I know all of that information without looking but in the future maybe get things like cost/dates/passwords/account numbers/bank numbers ready so you're prepared.

I could do this easily (and I don't know my bank account number because I switch every couple of years and gone are the days of filling it on direct debit forms etc, if I want to tell my friends I open the app and there's a share details function so I use that and whatsapp it). But my adult DS who is ND almost certainly couldn't he'd find it too many things to think about all at once and get flustered, but he does tell them and they are patient or allow him to get help from me.

So you mean you know the amount of date of a DD even if it changes a small amount each month? For all your outgoings?

sounds like you went through alternative validation as you didn’t have your account number (for your broadband handy)
calls have to be validated and they only have so much info about you to be able to set up questions so have to go with things like bill amounts or last 4 digits of your bank account (as that’s all they can see)

i would have done the same as others and checked my bank for the stuff you were asked though