10th
ok, can someone explain those little secure “site key” pictures the banks and credit card companies are using on their sites these days? They make no sense to me? There is nothing about those pictures that helps to feel secure about the site I’m entering. Nor do they help me remember the extremely criptic password I had to create in order to prevent someone from stealing my identity.
I get it - security is important, and I appreciate the efforts, but why can’t it be more usable?
Here’s a great case-in-point: yesterday, I went to log on to Bank of America to pay a credit card that I opened for the sole purpose of using their 0% interest on a large purchase. So, needless to say, i don’t really use the card that often and therefore don’t have all of the information memorized. So, I attempt to log in - something that was tricky at best. They asked me for my “online id” ok - Is that my password or my username? or something different? My credit card number? So as to not risk entering the wrong thing and shutting myself out of the site completely, I followed the “forgot your id” link. It asked me for a few things - one was my SS# (!!!!) - can’t I just give you my credit card number and email and you can make sure those things match on the back end? They also asked me to identify my security image - its a picture of a necklace and all I have to do is say - yeah - that’s my picture - they don’t even try to trick me - how is that secure? Anyway, they also asked me some security questions like “in what city did you meet your spouse?” Anyway - I entered the city - and there’s no question on this one. The system told me I had given the incorrect information. It occured to me that I don’t remember ever telling Bank of America where I met my husband.
Anyway - I ended up on the phone with tech support and they started me down the process by saying “enter your USERNAME in the field at the top left side of the page.” Yes, that’s the one that says “Online ID.” So, I entered the username I try to use for everything and whatdoyouknow - it worked.
Me thinks you should do some usability testing BOA!
