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Banking Ombudsman urges more care with PIN numbers
The Banking Ombudsman Deborah Battell is urging bank customers to take better care when choosing PIN numbers for their credit or debit cards, following an increase in complaints to the Office.
Ms Battell said she had raised the issue in her recent customer newsletter, current account, because it appeared many people weren’t aware that the onus was on them – not their bank – to select a secure PIN number for their credit or debit cards, and protect it.
“Selecting a secure PIN number is a responsibility that bank customers need to take seriously – or they risk breaching the terms and conditions of use.”
A number of complaints have come before the Banking Ombudsman recently where customers have had their credit and/or debit cards stolen and subsequently had unauthorised withdrawals made from their account(s). In one recent case the amount stolen exceeded $10,000. In some of these cases, customers have used a PIN number based on their birth date – making it an easy guess for a thief.
Ms Battell said that banks will usually settle cases quickly where customers have taken all reasonable steps to protect their PINs.
“Complaints to us have generally been due to dissatisfaction with the compensation offered by the bank for the loss incurred or because the customer disputes the bank’s view that he or she failed to take reasonable care.”
The terms and conditions for credit and debit cards oblige customers to select a secure PIN and to protect that PIN. They also warn against the selection of a PIN based on number combinations that can be easily guessed, such as birth dates and parts of numbers already printed on the cards.
“If our independent investigation also finds that a customer has not taken reasonable steps to secure and protect their PIN, we are most unlikely to find any basis for compensation,” said Ms Battell. “This means that the customer will have to wear any loss.”
The Banking Ombudsman offers a number of tips to remember when selecting a secure PIN number:
Use number combinations or sequences that cannot be easily guessed.
- Don’t use combinations like 3456 or 0000, birthdays, anniversary dates, home addresses, parts of your phone number or other numbers easily connected with you.
- Don’t use parts of numbers in the order in which they are printed on any of your cards.
- Don’t write your PIN down – memorise it.
- Don’t share your PIN with anyone else or let them have access to your card (not even the Police, bank staff or your friends and family).
- Don’t let anyone see you enter your PIN at ATMs or when using EFTPOS.
- Don’t use the same PIN number for different cards or log-ins.