Here we go again.... It looks as though we will now be required to restrict the use of a mother's maiden name as an account identifier (eff. 1/1/03). I know it may be a bit early to ask, but here it goes. I know we'll probably have to do statement stuffers notifying our customers about this, has anyone even thought of a generic notice to be sent? And, would this be something that affect the revision of bank policy.

The bill has not yet been passed, it has a hearing in the banking and finance committee on June 24th. Assuming it does pass, I would just use the wording from the bill as the basis for a generic notice. This would definetely affect the revision of bank policy (if your bank uses mothers maiden name as an identifier). Senator Spier must not like bank's (or not trust them with all of the bank related bills she is pushing (privacy #773 etc.) I am undecided if I resent the extra work or appreciate the job security

I remember, awhile back, when we were all discussing Customer Information Security, we tossed around the idea of using "code words" rather than Mother's Maiden Name for identifying a customer.

The biggest problem I see is if (WHEN) a customer FORGETS their "code word", how the heck else are you supposed to identify them? Perhaps we should all give them the phone number for Senator Spier so she can tell them how to get their money?

Just make it policy to use the grandmother's maiden name although I like your idea of showing a representative the law of unintended consequences at work

I never give anyone my mother's maiden name. I always give my grandmother's. It has never been difficult to remember.

I honestly cannot remember my grandmother's maiden name!

Which grandmother should we use, paternal or maternal? What if the original set divorced and you have step grandmothers? How many id fields should we plan on storing?

The use of the grandmother's maiden name is a way to get around the soon to be prohibited mother's maiden name and is merely a suggestion. In other posts it has been suggested to use items such as a pets name, or something else that the person elects and can remember. If you want to use the grandmother's maiden name as the identifier, have the customer designate which grandmother's maiden name they want to use. I would only have one field and set the policy that if they cannot remember their password, they need to state other information about the account that only the person using the account would know (amount of the last deposit, checks written etc).

I wonder how long until a bill is written that restricts banks from recording drivers' license numbers...

Is there an update on this? I see that you stated the vote was scheduled for 6/24... any news?

The bill failed passage in committee. If you want to see the details of this or any bill follow this link to do a search http://info.sen.ca.gov/cgi-bin/pagequery?type=sen_bilinfo&site=sen&title=Bill+Information