Mother's maiden name

Ahh but at least you can say "I was born one and what's your excuse".

They don't know the name automatically. You have to give them the name at the beginning - there is nothing to stop you using a different name as long as you remember it. I assume it is used because they expect you will remember it readily.

James

James

Was this message posted from a timewarp? 'out of wedlock'? FFS. Just make one up, they dont go and check it, its only a password, its used because its relatively obscure but easy to remember, unlike passwords which tend to get forgotten.

Alasdair Baxter wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Use any name or word you like - it doesn't have to be your mother's real maiden name, but it's a convenient thing for banks to ask as everybody has (or had) a mother with a name.

I use obscure made up words in these situations, and I have only had this queried once (and I then explained that as a computer security expert I was using something that was not easily obtainable).

Daft, isn't it? So many companies ask for your mother's maiden name these days that it can hardly be considered secret, so it doesn't add any security at all.

Neil

But the most common one is 'Smith'?

My mother's maiden name is sufficiently rare that the relevant institutions tend to think it's a nonsense word anyway. One place that asks for `the third and fifth letters of your password' is always surprised when I say things like `zero' and `semicolon'...

I doubt it would be that difficult to find out someone's mother's maiden name. Find their birth certificate, and trace back to the mother's marriage certificate. Both are on the public record.

But who thought up the question in the first place is my quest?

In message , Alasdair Baxter writes

Fair question

Eh?

Eh?

Eh?

How can it be embarrassing, you can say give any word yo8u like, it doesnt have to be real.

Fair question

Unlikely. BBA doesnt get this involved.

The reason finance companies use it, alongwith date of birth is because they are both considered to be things even the most stupid customers would be able to recall on demand.

when companies tried to move over to security passnumbers and passwords, the British public moaned on the basis that they would need to adopt braincells to remember said information.

Regardless if you were "born out of wedlock" you still have a birthdate and you mother still has a maiden name - whether this be the only surname she carries for the entirity of her life or otherwise.

have you nothing better to moan about than this?

If your mother's maiden name has a semicolon in it it must be very rare!

I know several people wo have changed to their mother's maiden name rather than use their father's name after the divorce

My grandmother had the same surname as my grandfather, and so did not change it on marriage. Does it matter, anyway? You don't have to give the correct answer if you don't want to. You just have to remember what they have on record.