How do couples manage shared logins and two-factor authentication?

[KomodoIsland]

Any tips for managing joint household accounts?

DH and I can both log into the joint banking - that works fine. But this week we had a wifi problem while my husband is travelling for work, and the account and passwords were all in his name. I had to impersonate him. The same is true in reverse for insurance - those are all logged in with my email account.

Now there is so much two-factor ID, this is harder to log in as someone else.

I am thinking of transferring all log-in addresses to a shared Gmail account we both access. But how to manage two-factor text messages? Has anyone cracked this?

I’ve honestly never had this issue. If we needed to do 2 factor authentication then whoever manages that account would do it. Doesn’t matter if we were away, we could still sort it. Or one would send the passcode to the other. But I honestly can’t think of a time when this has ever happened. We have our own online banking apps and logins which show all our accounts, individual and joint. If we needed to submit our meter reading and I was abroad, Dh would just send it to me and I’d do it.

But a lot of couples will have shared accounts (whether officially in one person's name or both) - not just shared ones that one takes control of and shared ones that the other takes control of. They may also have no way of getting hold of the other one on the phone for various reasons.

Also, if they eventually move to compulsory face or finger print ID scans, you can hardly lend the other person your face or your fingers if you're not in the same room!

Can you not understand that people have different lives from you ?

There are lots of times when dh isn't contactable, when I might need to do something with our joint bank account or something to do with the internet, and equally, he has tried to contact a company or bank when I've not been available.

It really is frustrating.

With difficulty, especially as our phone numbers end in same numbers

"we just know when we get a text with a code that we need to immediately send it to our spouse. It happens often enough we no longer ask."

This! Me and DW often have to impersonate each other (lesbian perks) or get the code sent to each others phones. It's a pain.

DH has a credit card on my credit card account. If he tries to buy anything which needs authorising, the authentication message comes to me to approve. Prior to all this 2 factor stuff he could use the card without my input. Fortunately he mostly uses it for holidays or large purchases when he's sitting on the sofa opposite me. But if he was elsewhere, he'd be stuffed unless he could get me to approve payment within the 8 minute time frame!

I have never come across this problem, but in 30+ years of marriage we have never had any joint accounts (except our long-ago mortgage), so perhaps that is actthhe solution? 🤷‍♀️

Why don't you have separate logins for the joint account? We do.

Not every company allows two account holders.

some like content providers have acquiesced to profiles, but still only have one main account holder who has to get the two factor authentication.

Even our puppy camera has this problem. Everyone in the household can access the monitor, but only two of us can have accounts. When someone needs to log in they need a two factor authentication and only the two account holders can receive those. We have 3 people who need access regularly.

@Ponderingwindow but if it's a joint bank account I'm very surprised they don't have dual login as an option. We're with Santander and they definitely do.

The system doesn’t assume a housewife… it rightfully assumes that a log in to an account is for individual use. All the things you describe - joint bank account, internet account, even things like utilities allow you to have two people’s names assigned to one account. Each individual is then able to make their own log in to that joint account. It’s a user problem.

Write down all passwords in a book - this is also helpful if one of you dies

keep meaning to do it someday

It’s not just bank accounts at this point. It’s everything. Banks, utilities, streaming services, our thermostat, even some of our light switches (because my husband is one of those people). Everything has an account and almost all of them require 2FA.

It really shouldn't be the case that utility companies deal with one householder only, if the property is owned or tenanted jointly then the utilities should be set up jointly, otherwise in the event of the death of one party the one who isn't on the accounts will have all kinds of issues.

So you have two separate WiFi accounts? Two separate water accounts? Electricity? Gas?

As more and more things require 2FA its going to become an increasing issue for things which are me essentially a "household" account.

Sometimes there is an option to send the 2FA to an email address.

All of the household bills come to my email address as DH is not at all organised with emails apart from ones about his hobbies and tends to miss them. Most of them have my phone no. also. I sent him a link so he could look at the Ring thing but he is just not interested in it so didn't bother to log into it. If he was in charge we would never change anything for a cheaper price and would probably pay a fortune, If I die I'm sure he will muddle through. Bills are about half and half with whose name is on them, we have separate bank accounts and would both have enough savings in them if one of us should die to pay the bills for a long while

They really don't.

The issue isn't the password @pimplebum , it is the fact that the password is no longer enough for more and more companies you have to deal with.
They want to send a text to your phone, with a passcode, after you have put the password in.
But if the other person isn't sitting next to you on the sofa, you don't receive that code.