Following the “issue” yesterday I was mulling on PIN changes in general, and I’ve realised that for my main account with NatWest which I’ve had since 1989, I’ve always had the same PIN on my cash card. That’s THIRTY YEARS with the same PIN! I’m always careful but it has made me think that this is probably not the most secure thing to do (thankfully I will be going full monzo soon)…
Am I alone here? When do you change your PIN usually? Not just on Monzo, but other cards too?
I think this poll is highlighting one of the reasons this issue is so irritating.
Most people (myself included) don’t change their pins regularly or at all! This error not only was a problem as an unreasonable breach, but it changes the comfort we’ve had for a long time.
Obviously not saying people shouldn’t be annoyed by this error, but it’s interesting if others feel this way too. I know one of my thoughts was “but I don’t want a different pin…”
I guess it’s part of a larger conversation about security and how we should be changing passwords and whatnot regularly but I’ll admit that the votes so far are a bit disturbing!
Thing is, we have mechanisms in place to hold our logins and passwords, but PINs are such a physical presence there’s no corresponding system to use (that I know of?), so it’s all got to be held in your head. I can barely remember my own name some days, so remembering multiple PINs (credit cards and bank cards totalling 8 cards for me!) which need to change fairly frequently…? Hard nope.
Added: I’m afraid a lot of my PINs are the same to ease the burden on my little grey cells
I think the thing is that the security around your PIN, in terms of what is needed for it to all go wrong from a USER perspective (not like what happened yesterday) is quite large.
You can see FOS rulings where the bank are pretty confident the user has given someone their card AND given them the PIN but yet have had to begrudgingly refund the money because they can’t prove it. Almost all Current Account Ts&Cs I’ve seen/ read suggest that “Negligence” is needed, that is a very very difficult thing to prove.
Hence the societal decision almost to not change PINs unless to make it the same as the only one we can remember.
Pins and Password are different things.
There are only 10,000 PIN combinations(This is why pin lock is so good, you only get three tries before it locks out)
There are thousand of Password combinations.
It really comes down to your perceived value to a criminal and also the level of time and money they need to invest in order to get your data.(This is why phone scamming is profitable,little time and money need to do it)
I’d argue that contactless fraud is more profitable than PIN skimmers and way easier to do if the crypto tables are done poorly using a pseudo random one time generator)
I did research(Undergrad on this type of thing)(I can take chapters out for you to read if anyone would like). Ironically your medical records have more value than card details, at least in the states.
Similar to passwords, unless you believe your PIN has been compromised there is no reason to change it. It’s counter-productive. Change it too often and you’ll end up writing it down.
3 Likes
Anarchist
(Press ‘Help’ search ‘Contact us’ or email help@monzo.com or call 0800 802 1281)
8
I’ve had the same PIN on every card I’ve ever had for I guess about 25 years. There’s no way I’d remember it otherwise, every time I had to type it in in a cafe or restaurant I’d scramble to find my phone and get a reminder. Most of my bank/credit card apps do let you get a reminder now, but its still a pain.
When I read the opening question I didn’t mind answering the poll honestly. Having read the rest of this thread to date I am mightily relieved to see that so many folk do as I do - and use the same number. That is for debit cards [4] - my credit card [only one] has a different number, my little grey cells are not what they used to be. I shall be 68 in a couple of months and its got me this far without a problem. Oops, should not have said that R-
Ha - I just looked up a web site giving ideas on how to remember your PIN number - and confess to being even more confudulated than previously. Still get the same problem though, that site gives about 5 ways [which add an unhelpful level of complexity] to remember ONE number, not many. I’m going for a lie down. R-
Anarchist
(Press ‘Help’ search ‘Contact us’ or email help@monzo.com or call 0800 802 1281)
18
I mentally assign a four letter word to each card which might have some meaning. So Monzo, for instance, might be “easy,” then it’s just a question of typing the word in.
R-