HSBC Introduces Telephone Access Codes

The other day I was logging into HSBC Direct when I inadvertently got locked out. As it turns out, I cut-and-pasted the wrong password out of my password encryption program and, after a couple of tries, I ended up getting locked out. Thus, I had to call in and get our account unlocked. Interestingly, as I was navigating through the voicemail prompts, I was greeted with a message stating that they are in the process of increasing the security of telephone access, and that they are assigning their customers a “Telephone Access Code.” They then asked me to key in my social security number, at which point I was informed that they will be send me the access code in the mail, and that I will need to begin using it for phone access as of September 18th. That gave them a window of five total days (three business days) to get the code to me… Hopefully it’ll make it. If not, I’ll just have to be sure not to lock myself out of my account until the access code arrives.