Yesterday I received my bank statement from Banco Santander, delivered to my postbox outside, and am a bit concerned about confidentiality.

The statement shows every transaction I have made with my debit card. But, it seems this is a "new look" statement as my card number IN FULL is shown besides each transaction plus where I used it. Also the statement has full name, sort code and account number obviously.

So, anyone could, in theory, take my bank statement, and order goods over the phone as they have every detail they need.

Do you think I am being neurotic about this?

Sue,

You can ask your bank not to send you statements by post and send them to your email instead for piece of mind.

Also most internet websites these days for ordering things online need you to put the CVV (security code) from the back of the card before taking payment. This is not shown on your statements, so even if somebody was to get hold of your statements, they'd still need to know this code to order things online.

The best thing to do is monitor your account and if you see any strange transactions, inform your bank immediately, they will usually re-imburse you against fraudulent transactions.

hey sue.

i would not worry too much since nobody can do anything with just your acct. number, sort code and name.

i give out that info to people who want to pay into one of my accounts (clients and such) and have been assured by both hsbc (my acct. in uk) and la caixa (my acct. in spain) that it is safe.

one thing EP wrote...

quote:

You can ask your bank not to send you statements by post and send them to your email instead for piece of mind.

that is even less safe than the mail method. in this cyber age MANY more would be thieves and scam artists have access to your e-mail than nto your snailmail.

if you want to really be sure, don't have the statements sent at all, instead find a bank (if yours does not) that offers a safe online banking system and look at your statements there.

saludos,
jer...

Thanks for the replies. I am still concerned though, as I have bought stuff over the phone using the debit card and have not been asked for the security code on the back. That is what I am worried about more than anything

Yes, I realise that I have a duty to keep my statements safe, but its the "what if" scenario, like postie dropping a letter, or posting it in the wrong box etc etc.

It just seems to me to be totally unnecessary to include the complete card number. Even drawing money from the ATM only shows the last 4 numbers on the receipt.

Hi, Madsue, hi all. I'm perhaps hyperparanoid about bank security given my bad experiences with Caja Madrid in the past.

Are you sure that it's your CARD number as opposed to your account number that's on your statements? I have accounts at both Caja Madrid and La Caixa, have debit cards for both, and in both cases the number that's on the debit card is different from my actual account number. I would be quite worried about someone else having my CARD number, since with that, yes, theoretically, someone could put all sorts of charges onto my debit card. I've given my account number as well to people who need to pay me something; I don't worry about that since that doesn't enable them to take money out of my account.

If your statements indeed include both your account number and card number, I would second jer's suggestion of asking your bank not to send you statements and checking your balances by internet. Another alternative is to get a bank book (libreta) and just update it at an ATM machine as frequently as you would like to check your balances. That way there's no correspondence between the bank and you which someone could potentially get their hands on.