Chip & PIN - same PIN for all your cards?

dirtydog

dirtydog

dirtydog

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I have a number of credit cards, most of which I haven't used for years except to make purchases online. I only use one to make purchases in person (only because I get cashback on it) so that's the only one I know the PIN for.

Since the advent of chip & PIN, obviously I cannot use any of the other cards in shops. If I needed to use one of the other cards for some reason, I would be unable to as I don't know what the PINs are.

Sooooo... my question is, would it be sensible for me to change the PIN on all of my plastic cards to be the same number, so that I don't forget it? Or would that be very stupid? Bear in mind I never carry all the cards around with me, I only take out the one that I intend to use.
 
banks probably don't advise it, and personally i wouldn't. But these days the sheer number of passwords and pin numbers you have to remember is getting crazy, so i can understand why people do.
 
I am certainly minded to do the same, but I would like to know whether I would be protected for fraudulent use if they were stolen, and the card issuer learned that all my cards had the same PIN. I know there are certain obvious things which disqualify you from being covered, such as writing the PIN on the card (duh!) or giving it to someone else.
 
BUSH said:
banks probably don't advise it, and personally i wouldn't. But these days the sheer number of passwords and pin numbers you have to remember is getting crazy, so i can understand why people do.
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Yep I have a debit card and six credit cards, so remembering different PINs for all those, along with the PIN for security at work and so on is kinda hard :/
 
i don't know how the banks would find out, and as long as you don't tell anyone, write it down etc, I can't see how they could get you.

all the pin numbers i can cope with. The trouble i have is the passwords and security questions for telephone banking that I hardly ever use.
 
dirtydog said:
I am certainly minded to do the same, but I would like to know whether I would be protected for fraudulent use if they were stolen, and the card issuer learned that all my cards had the same PIN. I know there are certain obvious things which disqualify you from being covered, such as writing the PIN on the card (duh!) or giving it to someone else.
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There would be no way of one card issuer knowing the PIN for a card issued by another card issuer, so as long as you don't write the pin down, you're OK. PIN numbers are completely confidential.
 
i have the same one, but write 4 ramdom digits on the rear of each card, therefore if someone nicks it they will think its a combination on those numbers and the machine will eat my card up :D

as long as i dont let any of you lot nick my card i shouold be ok ;)
 
taliesyn said:
There would be no way of one card issuer knowing the PIN for a card issued by another card issuer, so as long as you don't write the pin down, you're OK. PIN numbers are completely confidential.
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I have a debit card and three credit cards all by the same bank though for one thing :) Also supposing my home was burgled and all my cards stolen, and the thief knew the PIN (eg. from observing me putting it in, in a shop).. if all of my cards were used fraudulently, it would be fairly obvious that my PIN might be the same on all the cards.
 
Stinky said:
i have the same one, but write 4 ramdom digits on the rear of each card, therefore if someone nicks it they will think its a combination on those numbers and the machine will eat my card up :D

as long as i dont let any of you lot nick my card i shouold be ok ;)
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Sneaky! I like it. :)
 
I have it done that way, in all fairness chip and pin is a lot safer and more secure than the old signature method (which would have been the same on all your cards anyway)
 
Dolph said:
I have it done that way, in all fairness chip and pin is a lot safer and more secure than the old signature method (which would have been the same on all your cards anyway)
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True, but you are definitely covered for fraudulent use if a thief just forged your signature. What the position is with PINs, I am not sure. Worst case scenario is the thief uses each card to steal £1000 from a cash machine, a minute either side of midnight, and the banks tell me I'm not covered as I used the same PIN. Not good.
 
dirtydog said:
True, but you are definitely covered for fraudulent use if a thief just forged your signature. What the position is with PINs, I am not sure. Worst case scenario is the thief uses each card to steal £1000 from a cash machine, a minute either side of midnight, and the banks tell me I'm not covered as I used the same PIN. Not good.
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You're still covered exactly the same. Contrary to the scare stories being banded about, the changes to fraud protection with Chip and Pin are not customer affecting, but retailer affecting. The big change was that from 14/02/06 if a fraudulent transaction was made in store and not pin verified the retailer, not the bank, is liable for the cost.

Certainly my bank does not expect me to use different pins for different cards (or they certainly haven't advised me to do so), and to be honest, I wouldn't want to. The banks also recognise that forcing different pins would be far more likely to lead to them being written down or stored in some form to help people remember, which is far more of a security risk (much like forcing strong computer passwords)

If you're really concerned, I'd have a word with your local branch.
 
Dolph said:
You're still covered exactly the same. Contrary to the scare stories being banded about, the changes to fraud protection with Chip and Pin are not customer affecting, but retailer affecting.
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As a retailer, I can confirm that Dolph is absolutely correct. However, the retailer has always been liable for fraudulent transactions. Taking a PIN verified card now means that the liability shifts to the card issuer and away from the retailer. If you take a PIN verified card fraudulently, the customer gets their money back from the bank/card issuer, and the retailer gets to keep the money for the goods bought fraudulently.

If a retailer bypasses the PIN feature and takes a card fraudulently with a signature, then the card issuer gets the money back from the retailer, and so the retailer loses the goods and also has to reimburse the card issuer (who ultimately returns it to the customer). Either way, the customer gets their money back.

dd, it doesn't matter that your PIN numbers are all the same, you're still offered exactly the same protection.
 
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Most of my PINs make a certain pattern on the keypad - but shifted along or back or up depending on which card it is - so if I forget which one, I can usually work out which one it is...

One of my pins is actually related to my ICQ number, lol.
 
Okay I am reassured :) I will go ahead and change the PINs to the same number. (I'll have to request new ones through the post first of course)

edit - Capital One's website actually says it is a good idea to use the same PIN as the one for your debit card :)
 
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