DON’T TAKE YOUR PASSWORDS TO THE GRAVE! SHARE SAFELY
by Jerry Nicklow, API, AIS
Operations Manager
www.huffinsurance.com
It has become so very easy to do online-banking, electronic bill payments, shopping, and communication over the Internet. Just think about all the websites that require a User ID and a Password.
Have you thought about what would happen if you were seriously injured and could not communicate or if you died. Does anyone else have access to all your accounts? Does anyone else know your ID or Passwords? Do you have them written down somewhere?
A friend of mine had this happen recently. It took his family a considerable amount of time to locate a list with this information (the deceased did have it written down and taped to the underside of a desk drawer!). So many of us just carry this information around in our heads, or use the same User ID and Password for everything. That’s fine but who else knows that? Should your attorney have a list of these numbers? Your insurance agent? A trusted friend? A relative? A copy included with your will?
A spreadsheet would be very easy to set up with all of this information. Include account names and numbers, phone contact, ID and password. If the list includes bills that you pay each month, include the date you pay it or the date of the automatic withdrawal. And have several copies in two or three locations. As was discovered during Hurricane Katrina and other recent catastrophes, everything can be wiped out in a matter of minutes. Suggested safekeeping locations could include a disaster proof area in your home, a safe deposit box, an out of state location with a trusted relative. If you are married, don’t always think that your spouse would be there to take care of things. The possibility does exist that in an accident situation, you could both be incapacitated or killed.
Now you are probably thinking that you don’t have that many IDs or Passwords to think about (let alone all those answers to secret questions!) Start a list and I’m pretty sure you’ll be surprised.
Your computer and/or laptop
Bank accounts
Online bill-payment systems
Bank Cards – ATM/Debit
Credit cards
Brokerage accounts
Retail or seller accounts (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc.)
Voice mail accounts
Cell phone accounts and the unlock code
Email accounts
Home-security systems
Computer-security systems
Entry gate code at a gated community or storage facility
Keyless-entry locks
Safe combinations and/or the location of keys.
Insurance policies
As to the answers to those security questions, I recently discovered that if I just plugged in the same answer to ALL the questions, then I only had to remember one thing! Does anyone other than you really have an interest in the name of your first pet?