Can Secondary on Account Reset Password?

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Question:

A wife is the secondary account holder to her husband on their account. She went online to make a transfer from savings and checking. The password was declined and she called to reset it. Can we allow her to reset the ebanking or does it have to be the husband?

Answer:

I'd really like to start a campaign against the concept of accounts having "primary" and "secondary" owners. In the case of a joint account, each account holder has the same rights to the account (and management of the account) as the others. For some reason, bankers have labeled the first-named account holder -- the one whose SSN is typically used for IRS reporting -- as the "primary" owner, and endowed him or her with some sort of mythical preeminence over the other owner(s). Putting it plainly: It just isn't so.

Of course she can reset the password once your bank has verified her identity as an account holder. You should encourage her to let the other owner know of the change, or you'll be revisiting the problem when he attempts to access the account. Actually, you might check with your IT folks to see if your system will accommodate multiple passwords for accounts.

First published on BankersOnline.com 12/12/11