While we were in New Hampshire my wife used my AT&T Universal Mastercard (provided by Citibank) to make a purchase, but she didn't mean to use this card. Now the only reason we have this card is because we get 30 free calling card minutes a month, and we have not used it for anything but the free calling card minutes in at least 3 years.
My payment is due so I went on-line and logged into my account (remember this for later) to make my payment. Well, it turns out I don't have a bank account setup to make the payment from. Hey, no big deal, right? Just get the routing and account numbers out of the check book and away we go! NOT! After I entered the routing and account numbers I had to make it past the verification step which consists of entering the 3 digit code on the back of the card and entering the security word you chose when you setup the account. Remember I have already logged into the account and am trying to set up payment account, I'm not trying to get money, I'm trying to pay THEM! Of course I have no idea what my security word is, so I click on the "need help remembering your security word" link expecting to get a question like, "What's your mother's maiden name?". Of course this is not what happens at all, nope, just a list of "You may have chosen your mother's maiden name, the last 4 digits of your or a friend's phone number, etc...". Great! This is like Super Genius Jeapordy. Not only do you need to come up with the question, but you need to come up with the question AND the answer. Now I am ready to throw everything out the window. Why do they need to verify who I am when I am ALREADY LOGGED IN? Shouldn't they be asking this when I log in? I just want to set up an account to send them money, not take money. Hey if someone hacks into my on-line credit card account and wants to pay the balance, I'm all for it! As a matter of fact I wish they would choose to do it to the credit card I do use. Fortunately I made this attempt 5 days before the payment is due, so I may actually get it done before the payment is late.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for keeping my credit card data secure, but that should be done by not letting me log in, not AFTER I'm logged in.
Thanks for reading, I had to get this out of my system.
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Same problem... What a load of crap. They are just tyring to nail people who are making a last minute payment - making it more difficult so they will miss the payment and have to pay a late fee. I've been involved in eCommerce for the last 15 years - And the security logic in their payment set-up is just wrong - Why would you need the 3-digit CVV and a verbal security word or phrasse to link to your checking account?
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