This past weekend, they unveiled a new "digital banking system". It's probably best described by just calling it inept. I actually thought the web site had been hacked by Nigerian scammers, some ransomware pigs from Eastern Europe, or some group that was just as adept at fraud. The CU never posted any big alerts on their website saying "Big Change Coming This Weekend! Learn About It Here!". They never sent emails. They never communicated anything. Mrs. Graybeard goes to check something Friday night and the previous system of logging in, which involved echoing back answers to one of a handful of preset questions, is gone. In its place a simple User Name and Password. And it only allowed two tries before locking us out for the weekend.
We called in to get the password reset at about 9:30. We were caller 89. The call wasn't completed until close to 11:30. That's when we found out that we needed a special identifier for each computer that would log onto the system, which might have been what the system was waiting for Saturday. When I logged on a bit later, I found that a scheduled payment had been lost when the change was made, and wasn't paid when it should have been last Friday. Back to the phone for another couple of hours to track that down.
There are more aspects that wasted time - it really was total fustercluck. I've never seen a digital changeover this clucked up.
On the other hand, the day was gorgeous and it was nice to wander outside a few times. I rolled out the cold smoker and smoked a couple of pounds of cheese (cheddar and pepper jack), then switched to hot smoking and smoked 5/4 of a chicken (a tray of chicken quarters). Fall has finally arrived here in the Silicon Swamp. Thursday morning it was 53, Friday about the same, Saturday was rainy, and it cooled off again yesterday. It was 47 this morning and about the same is forecast for tomorrow, before warming for few days and settling into a string of more or less 70 low and 80 high for the next week.
Finally, I just have to repost this picture, even though it's completely unrelated to anything in this post.
Did you know if you put a marshmallow Easter bunny into a bell jar and subject it to higher pressure, it turns into Kim Jung Un?
That is as good as peep jousting at Easter. (The picture, not the CU.)
ReplyDeleteI should explain, two or more peeps, toothpicks and a microwave. Heh heh
ReplyDeleteThere goes another day! ... YouTube "peep jousting microwave"
DeleteMy wife spent about 90 minutes on the phone today with Comcast trying to unscrew the order we placed last week for "Xfinity" Internet service and TV at the new house.
ReplyDeleteAnd she spent almost two hours on that call!
Now I'm beginning to understand why people call them "Comcrap".....
"Two is one, one is none."
ReplyDeleteIt's undoubtedly a hemorrhoid, but it does pay to have a Backup Plan for financials, too. Banks, or things that look like banks, are a PITA because while the rest of the world runs on 24X7 they do M-F 0900-1400, even with their Magic Electronic Systems (make a cash ATM deposit at 2145 on a Friday and see how long it takes before the dollars can be sent somewhere).
It is inconvenient as Hell, but it pays to have a 2nd "financial institution" on tap; pick a reputable, reliable, IT-savvy bank (good luck with that....) which is both brick-and-mortar and totally different from your primary institution (brick-and-mortar because at some point you will need F2F to resolve some sort of issue). Once a month make a deposit, once a month make a withdrawal, to keep the account active. Maintain your account at a level allowing e-payment of the super critical stuff - mortgage, credit card, etc. - plus whatever the minimum amount is to avoid account closure. A couple hundred extra - whatever their maximum ATM amount is - provides an emergency cash buffer (this does not preclude keeping a 2-month (or greater) cash stash at home or someplace where it's instantly accessible; Backup Plan #3 is drive to the creditor to make a cash payment). Do not establish any sort of link between bank #1 and Bank #2; neither should know about the other.
When Bank #1 hoses you, the recovery mode is "pay from Bank #2." Yes, you may wind up double-paying some stuff when Bank #1 gets itself un-hosed, but that just means you get to skip the next month's payment. And, you'll probably have some monthly "account maintenance" fee if your balance isn't high enough, or drops below
a certain minimum balance. Consider it insurance; you don't complain about maintaining fire and theft insurance because you know it's something you must have to provide a reasonable degree fo protection. Look at the Bank #2 fees the same way.
You know, that's a really good idea, and one I'd never thought of.
DeleteLike you say, a bit of extra effort, but not a major effort. Have to investigate that a bit.
Sounds like you have been Launched!
ReplyDelete}:-]
I have an account with them for convenience in cashing checks, but my primary banking is with what used to be the Alamo National Bank Military Banking Center, which I joined whilst in Officer Training at Lackland in late 1972. Through the banking follies they have now become JP Morgan Chase. Yeah, I know, but in all that time they have never messed up my account. I'll settle for that.
So you've heard? ;-) Considering how bad the phones were yesterday, I'm guessing anyone who used their online banking services had a rough weekend.
DeleteFor what it's worth, I do all my online banking through the bank. I do not let any of my payees draw directly from my account. I expect that if Chase screws up, they will make me good, including covering any fees or penalties for late payment. On the other hand, if I let FPL or some other payee draw directly from my account and they were off by a couple of decimal places, I expect they would eventually make their part good, but I'd be on my own for any penalties or fees resulting from an overdraft even if it resulted from FPL's actions.
DeleteI am a member of four credit unions and I never use online banking. Every time there is a hack I am always left wondering who is it out there that didn't expect that to happen. Nothing of any value (especially relating to money or government secrets) should be online.
ReplyDeletePasswords are my pet peave. I have one retirement that insists on sending me stuff through email but I have to sign on to their site to actually read it. I can't choose a password, something I could remember but instead are forced to use one they create. So of course I don't remember it and can't sign on. I sometimes wonder if that is the intent, i.e. to make things so difficult that you won't use it.
I have four ATM cards and have always tried to get only ATM cards and not debit cards. But eventually three of the credit unions eliminated that option and they are combination ATM/debit cards. I have never used debit but I cannot get that feature removed for reasons known only to the credit unions.
I hope you understand that, just because you're not using online banking, it doesn't mean your account is not available online. That matters because most financial institutions use Billy's software, and Billy is not especially interested in making sure it's secure before he shovels it out to the world, nor in correcting problems with said software when they are discovered in the real world.
DeleteUsing online banking increases the chances that you will be hacked.
Delete"I've never seen a digital changeover this clucked up."
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or has IT in general been getting more and more "clucked up"?
I work for a very large - worldwide - "technology" company. The stories I could tell...
At any rate, I never do online banking. It's just too dangerous. Anybody can be hacked, including the US government.
Consider a backup credit union, rather than a backup bank.
ReplyDeleteSoviet Union policies produce Soviet Union results. Either voters stop obeying those laws, or America will come to resemble Cuba. Present Cuba has 50 years old cars, future America will have 50 year old laptops. When it progresses to mass starvation, remember you can eat voters.
Nothing of any value (especially relating to money or government secrets) should be online.
ReplyDeleteทางบ้าน
Mark, there's "sort of" a way around that. I requested, and got, a "junk account" at my primary bank; it's, technically, a second checking account, but no checks were ever issued for it, it has no features or functions (over draft protection, or any other bells and whistles), and is as isolated from all my other accounts as it can be and still be with the primary bank.
ReplyDeleteI created it because I get a huge discount by allowing a certain insurance company to auto-draft from it monthly. I hate allowing anyone direct acess to my money,but this constitutes the least of the evils. My bank requires $5 minimum to maintain an account, so that's what's in it 28 days a month. I've set up an automatic transfer to move X dollars from the "real" checking account to the junk account 2 days before the auto-draft from the insurance company. If the insurance company goes nuts, or rogue, they can move decimal points wherever they want - the account has their X dollars plus 5 bucks in it, so that's all they can get.
Could some ingenious hacker use mad computer skills to access my "real" checking account through the junk account ? I suppose that's possible, but again, there's a limit to how successful they'll be. The "real" account holds its $5 and only enough money to cover the month's scheduled expenditures, plus $250 accessible through the ATM.
Where's the rest? That's for me to know and you to wonder about, but some is in what's called a "Trustee Account" which, not only is completely separate from all my other accounts, the name of the TA is completely fictitious and non-identifying. On the originating documents I am listed as the primary trustee with my SS#, but that's on paper. As the trustee I have the ability to generate payments from the account, so I can logon uniquely (not shared with any other account), create a destination (any destination, including an account in my name), initiate a payment to that destination, and once I receive confirmation that the check has been created by the TA logging a check number, delete the destination. And yes, the bank will create a paper check - which is a nice audit trail, and the TA gets an electronic image of the check once it's processed - which issues from the TA and receipts in my checking or junk account. Does take 24-48 hours M-F, but as long as ones and zeroes are flowing, it can be done from anywhere. There's supposed to be a way to accelerate the process by phoning the 24X7 Customer No-Service department, but I've never tried it.