Bank of Montreal, I hate your security
Posted by Geoff | Filed under Rants
Oh. My. Lord.
I haven’t been this pissed off in a very, very long time. I actually yelled at the poor person on the phone trying to help me. It’s not her fault. It’s the Bank of Montreal. Who obviously has NO FUCKING CLUE what it’s like to live in the digital age.
Allow me to elaborate…
BMO (the short form of Bank of Montreal) recently introduced new security procedures for their online banking. In addition to your card number and PIN, you choose an image and provide a password. (This is all to prevent phishing.) I welcomed this, since I had similar functionality on my ING account for a couple of years.
So, choose an image, provide a little info, toss in a password. No problem.
Until I came back. Suddenly, my previously wonderful password doesn’t work. No idea why. Could swear I’ve got the right one. Try again. And again. And suddenly, I get a page telling me that my card is locked (thankfully, only online) and to call BMO to have it unlocked.
Which I got around to today. And boy, I can’t think of a worse experience. Ever.
When you need access to personal financial information through your institution, you generally get asked the Big 6:
- Name
- Birthday
- Address
- Phone number
- Social Insurance (or Social Security) Number
- Mother’s maiden name
Now, admittedly, anyone wanting to steal your identity could dig this information up and put it to nefarious means. So to that extent, I see that BMO’s approach for more information is necessary.
Their additional questions:
- What investments do you have? (I have none with BMO, so this question is invalid)
- What are your monthly mortgage payments?
- What were the last three transactions in your account — including the name of the institution and the dollar amount?
I need to get at least two of those right in order to be validated as me. Problem: I DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO MY FUCKING ACCOUNT! So how the hell am I supposed to know?
No, I don’t memorise every bloody number that goes in and out of my account. That’s what monthly statements are for. Or, better yet, the online banking website that I don’t have access to! I don’t want to know what my monthly mortgage payments are — I just want to know that they’re being paid, and that my mortgage is being paid down.
This is the digital age, folks. People actively try not to know numbers. I can’t count the number of people I know who don’t know their own phone numbers, let alone their last three transactions. Besides, as you already know (because you asked) — I’m married, so I don’t know the last three transactions because I might not have made them!
This is an open letter to BMO: Find a process that does not require someone to have up-to-the-moment financial history. It’s not feasible, and it’s (obviously) too difficult for some of us poor schmucks who are more worried about forgetting their wife’s birthday.
Tags: bank of montreal, banks, internet, security
November 14th, 2007 at 13:59
So I’m interested in the end result? Or did you hang up?
November 14th, 2007 at 14:23
Augh… in all my anger, I forgot to mention the rest.
I now need to physically walk to a BMO branch (one that doesn’t close at 5pm — not easy to come by, I’ll add!) and have them personally identify me as me, so I can get access to my account again.
November 14th, 2007 at 17:47
So I just went to the BMO nearest to my office. One I was assured would be open. Got there at 5:30. The sign on the door read:
Closed 5 to 6. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Argh.
November 14th, 2007 at 19:02
Okay, just got back from another BMO branch, having chatted with Jason — the same wonderfully helpful person who helped us buy our house. He alluded to the fact that the Bank of Montreal has had a lot of fraud problems lately, so this is their response.
To treat customers like thieves, and force them into the branches. (It happened to Jason, as well, for the record.)
Anyway, got my account unlocked, but was chewed out (!) by the clerk on the phone as I’d given Jason my pin so he could access my account. HE WORKS FOR THE FREAKING BANK, YOU MORON.
I hate stupid people.
November 14th, 2007 at 20:01
When I was in Calgary last week I read in the paper where BMO was opening on Sundays in Calgary – that is more than it does down here!!
November 15th, 2007 at 01:31
I hear they are shortening their name to BM. Sorry for the potty humour, I couldn’t resist.
November 15th, 2007 at 06:54
Certainly hope you’ve changed your PIN now!
November 15th, 2007 at 14:55
You should be doing business with the Royal Bank of Scotland (AKA Citizen’s Bank here in the States…… our local branch ATM’s first screen is in Spanish….. EXCUSE ME…. this is English country or used to be. Did I happen to mention that the lane approaching the ATM has had a “CLOSED” amber light glowing for the last 3 months???? ATM works fine. Today was a new experience….. received a check from a large health care provider drawn on JP Morgan Chase….. went to a branch of that bank, provided endorsed check and ID and was told that they could not cash check because health care company had not signed a “cash” option. Isn’t it fun in the 21st century???!!***…… am glad to see that you young people are frustrated as well as we seniors!!
November 19th, 2007 at 07:29
RBS has a branch in the USA? Weird… never thought that would extend out of, y’know, SCOTLAND.
Is there money in the ATM on the closed lane? Just wondering if they decided that maybe the cost of running the ATM wasn’t worth having it, and shut it down as a test. If there’s money still in the thing, though, really begins to make you wonder…
I’m also wondering what a “cash option” is. You received a cheque — something used to represent cash — to take to a bank, and they can’t turn it into cash? There are some really bizarre arcane rules in banks that just make me wonder sometimes.
January 25th, 2008 at 08:00
[...] in my personal sphere. At the time, I passed them off as mere inconveniences — although I ranted quite loudly (warning, objectionable language) on one of them. But it was only when I stopped and took a step [...]
July 26th, 2009 at 10:37
Well, I think my story takes the cake. Try going travelling abroad to a far-away place, like….China, and having BMO cancel your bank card without telling you. They explained it’s because they’ve been sending out new “chipped” bank cards which I have not activated yet. Well, they deem it necessary to cancel my current bank card when I haven’t activated my new one. That is one policy which really is a work of genius. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in a foreign land with no access to my account. When I finally got them on the phone and had my account re-opened (which only lasts for 30 days until I activate my new card, another brilliant policy), my fucking pin doesn’t work! I tried it too many times so that my account gets locked up again. So, back on the phone for long distance. Long story short, and two more phone calls later, they can’t give me any better advice than to try my original pin code. The agent, who was really at a loss when I asked her what else I could do because I’m fucking without money abroad, told me to try and set a pin for my credit card, a pin which cannot be given to me over the phone and must be mailed to my address in Canada whereupon I must call a family member to find out what it is.
To top it off, they have a branch where I am in Guangzhou and they told me that they do not dispense cash to account holders!
Totally, fucking useless. Talk about a catastrophic failure at making use of technology. In retrospect, I cannot fathom how I could have prevented this.
July 27th, 2009 at 08:34
Hey Screwed,
My sympathies, man. Yours definitely outdoes mine. That’s a rather crappy situation, and unless you have someone on the other end who can help you out, I’m not sure what else you could do. I take it BMO’s <sarcasm>ever so helpful</sarcasm> Direct Banking is of no help, eh?
August 28th, 2009 at 23:07
Wow…
I agree with you, BMO should compromise the security of other customers to avoid inconveniencing ignorant and irresponsible customers.
You don’t know (or even want to know) your mortgage payment?
August 30th, 2009 at 13:11
Sly point, Gasolene. I would prefer not to label myself as either “ignorant” or “irresponsible”, as I’m usually very careful about access to my accounts. Instead, I would prefer that BMO consider other alternatives for identifying a specific person, especially when there is no possibility of them going into a specific branch to identify themselves.