What about the 3 digit CSC code on the back of my credit card? I get asked for that a lot if placing an order by phone. I routinely refuse and tell them to contact me if they have problems processing the transaction. I mean...if someone has my CC number, my expiration date, and my CSC number, what's preventing them from going on an online shopping spree at my expense?

I would also recommend that after a break up, you change passwords. You learn a lot about people when you live together, especially their passwords. And sometimes an Ex is worse than an identity thief.

@SexWaxin'_GitEmSteveDave: And also security questions. Can't forget to change those as well.

Kyle M. Orton
5425 5256 7849 3363 -072
589 69 2478
Williamson
1245 5566 7365 6565 -6969
kyleo2478 - sexyrexy14

But I have Life Lock, so it's all cool. Right?

I've always wondered why mother's name is considered a security question. Anyone who knows any member of your mother's family can probably figure it out.

@Righteous: but if that actually works for you then they still have what they need as long as they speak to someone on the phone.

I guess I'll have to start meeting all my mom's relatives who still have her maiden last name in secret now and start giving them code names as well. I never understood why this was used since it's basically semi-public knowledge.

@Thorny: Yup -- my mom kept her last name. I never really thought of that question as being super secretive.

@KyleOrton: You failed the Luhn check, you dirty liar

@Elcheecho: So basically, no matter when we give out our credit card number for any order it's a matter of "close your eyes, hold on tight, and hope for the best"?

Regarding this mother's maiden name stuff ... since I kept my maiden name, it won't be any good to my kid as a security thing. Some families hyphenate so mom's maiden name is part of the kid's name. Some single mothers just give their kids their name. Now that those things are more and more common, will mom's maiden name as a security tool go the way of the dodo?

@ryan89:

My mother's maiden name means NOTHING for me security-wise...Not even my bank or credit card company know what it is...

When I fill out applications, I just put in whatever I want to use as a security answer...As far as I know, nobody ever actually goes to verify that what you tell them your mother's maiden name was is actually correct...

@SexWaxin'_GitEmSteveDave: Pfft. I've been married seven years and my husband doesn't know my passwords. Some things, like toothbrushes and passwords, just shouldn't be shared.

If you read the headline too fast on the front page it says "5 pieces of shit."

Just sayin... :)

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): well, McGee is very common anyway :)

Some of this is great advice- but some of it reflects our incredibly low expectations of those people (BANKS) who house OUR money--

Something is clearly fraud, you're out the money, and if you get it back, its months later.

We should have higher expectations of our banks.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Please, to any woman too proud to adapt her husband's name: don't make your children use a hyphenated name. We had two at my school, and they were picked on relentlessly. Either swallow your "pride" (as you would put it), and take the married name, or keep your own.
Personally, I wouldn't marry a woman who wouldn't take my name. You don't like tradition? What about the really expensive ring you expect me to buy you for no good reason but?
Also, I've known a few hyphos, and they're all pretty bitchy.

One thing I do is use different answers to common security questions. For example, for "What is your mother's maiden name" I substitute the answer for "What is your favorite coffe roast"
As long as you keep the answers consistent, somebody who is guessing isn't likely to get it right but you'll remember that "mother's maiden name" is really code for "favorite coffee roast"

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): My wife and I know each and every password each other uses. We don't have anything to hide from each other and it's nifty just in case she needs to pay a bill for me or in case one of use kicks the bucket.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Your mother's name could be anything you want it to me. C3P0 or Spockina, if you want.

@Righteous: pretty much, but rule #1 is to only use your cc when you have a reasonable expectation of trust. rule #2 is watch your statements like a hawk. do those 2 things & you'll be relatively secure against fraud.

I disagree with the first one. I had my credit card number stolen once and it was no big deal. The other items are another matter, though.

Don't forget driver's license number. (weak smile)

@Easton21: As a Belgian citizen it's not legally possible for me to take my husband's name. So you're saying you wont't marry me? Or buy me an overpriced piece of jewelry? I won't get to listen to your sweeping generalizations for the next 40 years?

But I thought you loved me!

@SexWaxin'_GitEmSteveDave: & also place fraud alerts on your credit reports. i encounter an alarming amount of post-divorce/breakup new account fraud that can be quite difficult to get cleared up.

@KyleOrton: sexyrexy14? really? when are you going to change your name to JayCutler?

@ryan89: Especially since some women never change their last name (or change it back after divorce).

@Easton21: Its a matter of personal preference. If a couple can't decide on their names between themselves then they probably shouldn't be getting married. That said, my wife's last name was much less horrid than mine but she still buckled down and took it.

Her mother is going through a divorce, and is not looking forward to the work required to return to her maiden name.

Those security questions are a joke, and the companies asking have no way of verifying your answers so make stuff up Mothers Maiden Name? Captain Kirk What is your pets name? Microsoft

The answers aren't important, as long as you remember what you answered. That's the part that always trips me up

@David Brodbeck: Agreed. If somebody steals my cc number, it is rarely a problem to get the transaction killed and a new number issued. I'm not exactly going to go put it on a billboard, but I don't lose sleep about it either.

What do you suggest we do to prevent people from finding out our mother's maiden name?

When did Captain Obvious start writing features for the Digest?

@sean98125: Somehow that reminds me of this.

@zentex: He's been a regular contributor for many, many years.

they were picked on relentlessly

@Easton21: Their classmates were jerks. It's a pretty dumb reason to pick on someone; they were obviously looking for some reason to harass them.

@GyroMight:

Thats cool and dandy till someone has a nasty break up. The reason to keep them a secret is not because you dont trust them/have secrets from them, but because you dont want shit to get ugly when you hit a rough patch.

Not that I wish that on anyone.

Though yeah, I am very much in favor of sharing passwords with the spouse, at least for bank and CCs where he/she can get to them in an emergency, especially if the emergency involves something bad happening to the other half.

Wise thing to do would be to start changing them silently when you start going downhill ;)

@Megalomania: Whats a Luhn check?

Now humanbook.com has everyone listed so they come up in Google. Search for your name and city. On humanbook it shows all your addresses and at least in my case grouped me with all of my family members including my mother given all of our complete names. So mother's maiden name is no longer private for anyone in the U.S. and is just a Google search away. Banks need to stop using it immediately. The only thing secure nowadays are strong passwords.

Now I can stop being mad at my idiot cousin who put everybody's personal info on a genealogy website, complete with birthdates, city of birth, and of course mothers' maiden and married names.

@Easton21: Good lord, dude. Find a chill pill. I wouldn't put it as "pride" that had me keep my name, although I AM proud of my birth family.

Personally, I married a man secure enough in his identity and masculinity and in our relationship that he didn't particularly care if what I did about my name.

And not everyone's "traditions" are the same. Yours seem ... unpleasant and angry, frankly.

@Rectilinear Propagation: I'm kind of intrigued by this. They leapt past the dumb kid, the klutzy kid, the poor kid, the dirty kid, the minority kid, and the farter to make fun of the hyphenates?

I'm thinking this was staff, not kids.

@Easton21: (Also, you haven't been at Consumerist long if you think big sparkly engagement rings are popular here.)

@sean98125: But don't some places use it to verify your identity, like banks issuing loans and things? Not, like, internet security questions, those you can totally lie to as long as you remember your lies. :)

@Areia: +1

@Homerjay here for OxyClean!: Glad to know im not the only one.

@Gene Gemperline: Gimme a couple of minutes....

@GyroMight: Some passwords we share, but my personal e-mail? Not so much. (Nor the various internet message boards I visit, like this one.)

Sadly, yes, if I kick the bucket tomorrow, my G-mail will disappear into the digital ether, but somehow I doubt anything of earthshattering importance would get lost as a result.

Couples need personal space as well as shared space. People negotiate that in different ways. For us, passwords is a big one. Not that I wouldn't tell it to him if he needed it, but I can't think of why he needs it, and I don't need his. :) Having personal space doesn't mean I have anything to hide, it just means I have a healthy separate identity as well as a shared identity.

@Easton21: I hope you enjoy your single life and/or your "humble" wife.

Also, I like my last name, and plan on keeping it. My initials are nice, and I've already established a name for myself with, well, -my- name.

Since when is a name a sign of how much you love someone? Or a ring for that matter? Yes I would like to have an engagement/wedding ring and keep my name. Sorry, but I don't think personal identity and a piece of jewelry are on the same level.

Now, if it were a big deal for my husband/future husband, I might reconsider, because I believe in compromise. But him just telling me he won't marry me because I'd like to keep my own name? Well, probably not a guy I'd want to be marrying anyway.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Yeah, I wouldnt know about all the subtler points of being in a relationship >_<

@amhorach: Those security questions are bad in general. They're usually something that either doesn't have an answer or has an answer that will almost certainly change.

I like the sites where they let you define both the question and the answer.