<p>It is possible, with Bank of America at least, to set the account to “no phone changes” which means they simply say “you must come into the branch for that information” if you try to access any information over the phone. You can also block some forms of internet access to your account as well. </p>
<p>You really don’t want to know why I needed to learn this information. Let’s just say… it’s been a rough week.</p>
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I answer the question, but I’ve made one up. I use the same one, but it’s one only I know. It’s not my mother’s.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. We’re now debating to give BOA one more week (to see we stop triggering security threats) or maybe just checking into the Capitol One card. I didn’t realize that BOA now owned VISA.</p>
<p>I had an interesting security issue a few weeks ago when trying to activate a new business Mastercard. I called the 800 number from my home phone as instructed, tried the automatic activate and was switched to an operator. She wanted to tax ID # which I didn’t have at home. The next nght when I had the number and finally got around to calling it was nearly midnight & I had an early morning flight to Europe–reason I wanted to activate the card. </p>
<p>I went round and round with the (foreign) person. She wanted a SS# but told me the one I gave her was wrong. I gave her both my personal SS# and our tax ID#, not knowing which was used because she wouldn’t tell me anything but that it was wrong. She told me it was almost right but not quite and encouraged me to guess. I refused. </p>
<p>I called back a few minutes later and got a much more helpful person. She finally determined that the # (still don’t know which) was entered incorrectly. I assume she told me because I was able to give her every other bit of information on the account, but without that one piece, she couldn’t activate it, and, of course, I don’t know what is wrong (one digit off, transposed digits?). She gave me a customer service # to call to get the number corrected, but it is only open during regular business hours. During those hours I was at the airport or on a plane, and I had no desire to be broadcasting personal/professional information in a public place. </p>
<p>Funny that I’ve had the card for 4-5 years and never had a problem.</p>